au pair

How to stay happy as a Lame Duck host parent

by cv harquail December 28, 2009
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There comes a time in your relationship with your au pair where your ability to influence her behavior vanishes- just vanishes. This usually happens as she is getting ready to leave, either to go back home or to go on to an extension with another family. [When this happens during rematch, it’s an entirely different […]

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Out Overnight: Okay, or Not? (Poll)

by cv harquail December 28, 2009
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On New Year’s Eve, we can expect that our off-duty au pairs may want to be out all night celebrating. And for one night a year (especially, when everyone else seems go be out celebrating) you might not have a problem with your au pair being gone overnight, even if she has to be on-duty […]

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Temporary Eviction: Would you make your Au Pair stay somewhere else while you are on vacation?

by cv harquail December 17, 2009
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Host parents, we got a request for advice from an au pair who is facing temporary eviction while her host parents are on vacation. The situation is a bit of an emergency, since the family is slated to leave within the week. Your ideas? Here’s the situation: Dear Au Pair Mom readers, I am an […]

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If you have a housecleaner, does s/he clean your Au Pair’s room?

by cv harquail December 14, 2009
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I admit, I was a little surprised to learn that some of us who pay to have our houses cleaned include the au pair’s room in the housecleaner’s duties. Probably it’s because I’m always trying to save money and have needed to have the housecleaner’s energy all on the main parts of the house, but […]

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Your Au Pair’s Room: How much mess can you take?

by cv harquail December 14, 2009
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A host mom sent me a few photos of her au pair’s bedroom (taken with the au pair’s permission). The host mom was agonizing, because the room was a freaking mess. This family’s au pair was following the two most important bedroom-related rules: No dirty dishes and no candles/incense. But otherwise the place was a […]

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Will your Au Pair be On Duty this Thanksgiving? (Poll)

by cv harquail November 22, 2009
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Every holiday my DH and I have the same holiday conversation: Should we ask our Au Pair to be on duty? Scheduling your au pair to work on and around holidays, family vacations, and birthdays (yours and hers) can be challenging, because you’re once again right on top of the question– What does it mean […]

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Thanksgiving Day Tip: Involve your Au Pair in Story Corps’ National Day of Listening

by cv harquail November 21, 2009
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Here’s a Thanksgiving activity that you can involve your au pair in, that can keep her engaged, keep family members engaged, and create something special for all of you. Have your au pair lead the family in the Story Corps’ National Day of Listening. The actual National Day of Listening is the day after Thanksgiving […]

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On celebrating each other’s religious holidays

by cv harquail November 9, 2009
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Only 4.5 weeks till Hanukkah, 8 weeks until Christmas, 9 until New Years… Time to think about weaving your Au Pair into your family’s celebrations. You should think ahead, and talk with your au pair, because holidays can be important times to feel in or out of a family, acknowledged or overlooked, celebrated or taken […]

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Birth Control and Your Au Pair

by cv harquail November 5, 2009
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I wasn’t really ready to blog about this particular topic, even though it’s on the list of 378 topics I brainstormed 18 months ago… We got an anonymous comment on a different post that raised the issue… so here we are. It can’t be any harder to blog about than it is to do! You […]

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Matching: What should a potential au pair tell you about herself?

by cv harquail October 23, 2009
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Coordinating with the previous posts about questions an Au Pair should ask a potential host family, what would you like an au pair to tell you about herself? There are perhaps 4,387 categories of things that an au pair could tell you about, so challenge yourself to offer maybe the top 2 or 3… This […]

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