Costs

How to Reduce the Costs of Having an Au Pair

by cv harquail July 23, 2016
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Parents who are researching childcare options for the first time invariably experience “sticker shock”. Who knew that a year of childcare in America could cost as much as a year at a good instate university? Whether childcare is provided by a retail day care center, a someone-else’s-home-based childcare center, a nanny, or an au pair, […]

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When Your Au Pair Loses Your Smart Phone

by cv harquail May 7, 2013
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Yeah, it happens.  The phone falls out of a pocket into a puddle. Or a purse gets stolen. Whatever the reason … If your au pair loses or breaks the smart phone that you provided for her/him, it is up to her/him to replace it, or to pay to replace it. One of our au […]

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Host Parent Wish: That Rematch would fix things, not send problems to another family

by cv harquail August 25, 2011
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If host families could change the au pair ‘system’, there are many things we would improve. Chief among these would be how au pairing is advertised, how au pairs are recruited and interviewed, how au pairs fulfill education requirements, and most of all, how au pair rematches are handled. Rematch and transition processes are the […]

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Settling Accounts — *Before* she departs

by cv harquail August 17, 2009
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The comment from PA AuPair mom in the post about docking the au pair’s pay sent a chill down my spine, and reminded me that I need to write and post this bit of advice: Before your Au Pair leaves, be sure to settle all accounts with her. This advice is not for host parents […]

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Our AP’s appetite is so big, we can’t afford to feed her!

by cv harquail July 7, 2009
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Looks can be deceiving. Many of us have been surprised to discover that the petite young woman who is our Au Pair is actually a bottomless pit or a fledgling linebacker, in terms of how much she can eat. Obviously, no one wants to starve her au pair– part of what we provide for our […]

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Groceries: How much ‘extra’ can your Au Pair ask you to buy?

by cv harquail July 3, 2009
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As part of our conversations about grocery shopping, food, costs, and being ‘part of the family’, many of us have mentioned that we invite or allow our au pairs to add items to the family grocery list, which we then pay for out of our family budget. Usually, we do this to accommodate our au […]

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

by cv harquail December 17, 2008
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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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When your Au Pair has a Fender-Bender — Who pays, and what, and how?

by cv harquail September 24, 2008
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I have dreaded writing about au pairs and car accidents, because fear of accidents is one of the scariest things about having children, and even scarier when you are entrusting your children to someone else’s driving. Even the best of au pairs can have car accidents. (Heck, even the best of drivers can have accidents!) […]

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Au Pairs: Still "low-cost" childcare?

by cv harquail September 15, 2008
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One of the biggest selling points for having an au pair rather than other kinds of childcare is its relative cost.  For years, having an Au Pair was less expensive for me than employing a full time professional nanny, and (especially for people with more than one child) less expensive than using an out of […]

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