au pair

Do you let your Au Pair drive in the snow?

by cv harquail January 23, 2012
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Snowstorms in weird places (like Oregon) and snowstorms in predictable places (like Chicago) have raised the question for many aupair host parents — Do you allow your au pair to drive in the snow? Of course, there are a million variables that affect this decision. Here are the ones I came up with off the […]

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Au Pair Extension Fees: Why so high?

by cv harquail December 15, 2011
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Why is it so expensive to extend an Au Pair for an additional year? A reader emailed to raise the concern that it costs almost as much the second year as the first, because there are fewer special discounts. (For one agency, that’s about $5,600). Not only that, but the au pair herself or himself […]

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Holiday Gift Idea: The Gratitude Jar

by cv harquail December 14, 2011
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Another favorite, handmade memory gift is a Gratitude Jar. A Gratitude Jar is just a decorated jar, with slips of paper and a pen attached. Parents, au pairs and kids can use the jar to remind them to write down funny or sweet things that happen, and then put the slip in the jar, to […]

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Have a 9-11 Plan for your family and your au pair

by cv harquail March 14, 2011
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(First published on 9.11.09.  Republished with original comments.) Thinking about ‘lessons’ from 9-11 can often be heartbreaking, especially in my community where so many of us lost family, friends and co-workers in the WTC attacks. It’s almost disrespectful to bring up the idea of a “9-11” plan, but maybe thinking ahead about how we might […]

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New baby, New Challenges for your Au Pair

by cv harquail October 19, 2010
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When a new baby arrives, so do lots of new family dynamics. We’ve discussed so of these already, in the conversation about Having another baby? How to tell your au pair. But, we recently got this request from an au pair, who’d like some help in thinking about the challenges of a new baby in […]

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Birthday Gifts for Host Kids: Yes and No

by cv harquail July 26, 2010
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YES Any au pair with any sensitivity to the host child under her or his care should get that host child something to mark the child’s birthday. NO It doesn’t have to be expensive. It can be something as simple as a specially-selected yet store bought card with a photo insider. But, no, you Au […]

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Au Pair Advice: New App to Manage Texting While Driving

by cv harquail April 14, 2010

Local mom and blogger Kristen Kemp wrote a post so important that I’m borrowing heavily from it to share with you all. It’s all about: Parental Control Feature to Stop Texting While Driving If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that most host parents are preeetttyyy concerned about safe driving. Talking […]

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Au Pairs and Cell Phones: Concrete tips to hold down costs?

by cv harquail March 5, 2010
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When a host mom emailed to ask for some specific suggestions around keeping the cost of cell phones down, I flinched. The whole cell phone thing, like recycling, is delegated in our house to my DH. Why? Because I just can’t stand to deal with it. Though I should deal with it, and stop avoiding […]

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My Au Pair got a speeding ticket

by cv harquail March 1, 2010
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Has your au pair ever gotten a speeding ticket? That you know of? Or that you found out about later, after several summonses arrived in the mail? How have you handled this? Tell it to this Host Mom: Our au pair got a speeding ticket– a surprise for her and for me. Now I have […]

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Do Au Pairs have to pay income tax?

by cv harquail February 22, 2010
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I never really thought much about whether Au Pairs have to pay US income taxes. I always thought that one of the benefits of using an Au Pair Agency was that the agency somehow dealt with that? Or maybe they don’t make enough money really to have anything to pay? I honestly don’t know what […]

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