au pair advice

Advice wanted: How to Keep Track of Au Pair’s personal car use?

by cv harquail December 17, 2008
SuperStock_1597-36851

How do you and your au pair keep track of her personal use of your shared car, so that she pays for her own gas while you pay for the gas used when she’s on duty? I must admit, I’ve had the luxury of (most times) having a third car that was pretty much only […]

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Au Pair Moms: Be my päkapikud?

by cv harquail December 15, 2008
elves

I have a little Christmas wish, prompted by a few comments from you readers over the last 2 weeks or so. I’m wondering, would you be my holiday päkapikud? What’s a päkapikud? A päkapikud is a little Estonian elf. Our very first Au Pair, Margit, used päkapikud as a nickname for my daughter. How can […]

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How much should you tip your Au Pair at Christmas?

by cv harquail December 12, 2008
peace house

If you celebrate Christmas and if you don’t, the quote-unquote Holidays are a time of year when many people think about giving, some people think about getting, and most of us think about both. If you were to search for information about Christmas Tips for au pairs, you’d discover that the commonly-advised amount is "one […]

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Advice wanted: How to navigate the Au Pair rematch process?

by cv harquail December 12, 2008
hope

Hey moms- We are in rematch and are having our Exit Interview this Saturday. Can anyone please share their experience and tell me what to expect? Our au pair has been with us for almost 4 months and we have struggled with this decision, but it is necessary to make it and move on. She […]

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Tip: Family Fun for Thanksgiving

by cv harquail November 21, 2008
thanksgiving au pair celebrating, blogs about au pairs

20 Fun Things You Can Do with Family on Thanksgiving Hi Host moms—  I found this great list of ideas for Thanksgiving on the DumbLittleMan Tips for Life blog. It’s such a great list that there is no way to summarize it and do it justice, so I’m excerpting it in large chunks… but if […]

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Can This Relationship Be Saved? Should It Be? Your Host Mom advice wanted….

by cv harquail November 18, 2008
disgruntled au pair, resentful, au pair advice, low cost childcare

Hi Moms- Just got this request for advice from another mom– It’s one of those questions that I find especially vexing: Can this relationship be saved? And, even before that, Should it be?   What do you think?  Here’s the story: I’m having a personality conflict with my au pair and am really unsure as to […]

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