Choosing an Au Pair

Saying No to an Au Pair Candidate: Ideas for Kind Email?

by cv harquail January 21, 2016
choosing an au pair

MassHM wants your text. Would anyone like to share their “no-go” email? I hate this part and need to have an easier way to get through it. I don’t want to say “You’re not the right au pair for us” or even “No, thank you” in a way that hurts a candidate’s feelings. I’ve found […]

14 comments Read the full article →

How To Evaluate An Infant-Qualified Au Pair Candidate

by cv harquail December 27, 2015
au pair, infant-qualified

For many of us Host Moms and Dads, our first Au Pair arrives shortly after our first baby. Twice in one season you become a new parent– first of your own baby, and then of your Au Pair. I look back on those times now and think how absolutely naive I was about both new […]

59 comments Read the full article →

When It Makes Sense to Cancel Your Au Pair Match

by cv harquail November 16, 2015
nancynance

Sometimes with big decisions we feel some “buyer’s remorse”.   Maybe you should’ve gotten a station wagon instead of a mini-van? Or the size 12 instead of the size 10…? Often, the buyer’s remorse just goes away. Other times, you take the jeans back to Target and exchange them for a larger size. Whatever. That’s […]

52 comments Read the full article →

Would You Consider a Transgender Au Pair Candidate?

by cv harquail October 21, 2015
8517817538_40e8611612_m

As more Americans become aware of transgender people’s concerns and rights, we’re seeing more transgender people coming forward to participate fully in our society. We’ve got transgender actors like “possibility model” Laverne Cox, transgender television hosts/media personalities  like Janet Mock (whose autobiography I recommend to everyone), transgender characters at the center of TV dramas, and of […]

101 comments Read the full article →

Finding an Au Pair for a Situation That’s Not a Cakewalk

by cv harquail August 13, 2015
13744861463_a364243aec_m

Host Mom Dorsi writes what she claims is a rant… but what we know is simply the reality. It can be hard to get responses from Au Pairs when the situation you’re offering doesn’t look relatively easy.  We are in the early search for a new AP. I have contacted 8 candidates from one agency […]

61 comments Read the full article →

Don’t Fret Over the One That Got Away

by cv harquail July 14, 2015
missedconnections2

It’s easy to obsess about the candidate or host family that seems perfect for you.  We each have an idea of the ‘perfect’ au pair, the ‘perfect’ family, that we conjure up from our imaginations. Sometimes these images are based on previous experience “She’d be just like Elrina, tall, outgoing, fun, thoughtful…” or from a […]

12 comments Read the full article →

Would You Recommend An Au Pair to This Family?

by cv harquail July 5, 2015
should we get an au pair?

We have a new and unconventional need for childcare.   Would an Au Pair be the right choice for us?  How would we know? My husband and I have had an awesome nanny (who does not live with us) for the last year since our son was born. However, my husband has to leave the […]

66 comments Read the full article →

Would You Match With A “Returning” Au Pair?

by cv harquail June 26, 2015
5223654744_b3507dcb69_m

You can’t step into the same river twice. So says Plato, quoting Heraclitus. Ancient wisdom suggests that, even if that candidate loved being an Au Pair two years ago, the experience might not feel the same the second time around. We might hope that someone with previous experience as an Au Pair would have a realistic sense of […]

25 comments Read the full article →

Texas Host Mom’s 12 Step Au Pair Matching Process (guest post)

by Texas HM June 6, 2015
hiutwig

Here’s TexasHM’s step-by-step matching process: 1. Send email template #1 (open ended AP questions) Review email #1 answers and decide go/no go  Send email template #2 and area links/info email (our explanations and area)  Review email #2 answers and decide go/no go  Skype session #1, review AP application and ask Skype questions list, mutually decide […]

64 comments Read the full article →

Reading the Tea Leaves to Find Your Perfect Au Pair

by cv harquail March 26, 2015
1030734_f520

I am driving myself crazy with thinking through this matching process, but this current fabulous AP kind of messes with all my algorithms and criteria. Maybe it’s just a one-time thing to get someone like this. … Maybe we are all just reading tea leaves and astrological forecasts.  I wish I knew that were the […]

151 comments Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →