Facebook

Easy Ways to Get to Know Each Other Before Your Au Pair Arrives

by cv harquail April 3, 2015
insta

Once we’ve matched with each other, Host Families and Au Pairs usually have a good bit of time to wait before the Au Pair physically joins the family. We’ve already shared a bit about how often we like to check in with each other between Match and Arrival.   We agree that keeping in touch […]

27 comments Read the full article →

Do you really want to know what your Au Pair is up to?

by cv harquail July 9, 2014
au pair, breaking rules, advice, secrets

‘Let me live in my fantasy world, where where Au Pairs drink only Diet Coke.’  This is what I’d say to Potential Tattletail AP. How about you? Dear AuPairMom-  I have a bit of a delicate question that I would love to get some feedback on from a HF perspective if possible.  I was an […]

45 comments Read the full article →

Photographing Host Children: What’s appropriate to shoot, and what’s appropriate to share?

by cv harquail April 7, 2014
picture-060.jpg

All children are beautiful. When we, our au pairs, our families, and our friends see our beautiful child, it’s oh-so-tempting to try to hold that image of beauty still, to want to preserve it as a memory forever. When we adore these children, when we are proud of them, when we love them, we want […]

42 comments Read the full article →

Do Facebook Groups Really Help Au Pairs Find Host Families?

by cv harquail July 7, 2013
owl sunglasses

When it comes to looking for a new au pair, I’m a big fan of staying “inside the box”. Maybe it’s the cautious side of my nature, or the lazy side, but I’ve not been tempted to look beyond the official agencies. Meanwhile, unaccredited websites and facebook groups have sprung up all over the ‘net, offering […]

28 comments Read the full article →

Au Pair Confessions: All the stuff we don’t want to believe Au Pairs actually think

by cv harquail June 11, 2013
au pair confessions

Last month a regular reader/commenter brought to my attention the Facebook page called “AuPair Confessions” . It’s almost as bad as looking at Pinterest. It took me a long time to get up the energy to go check it out, because I just didn’t want to see what disgruntled au pairs might ‘confess’ about — […]

41 comments Read the full article →

Uncommunicative Au Pair Turns Passive Aggressive

by cv harquail July 14, 2011
4336251275_bed86fa08b_o.jpg

I believe in talking things out when you and your au pair have challenges. Awkwardly, tentatively, enthusiastically, skillfully, however you can manage it. If we can’t share what we think and ask for what we need, we can’t improve relationships. That said, what can we do when talking doesn’t work? Sometimes our talk hits a […]

40 comments Read the full article →

When Facebook Information Raises Concerns: Should she match, or pass?

by cv harquail July 7, 2011
201107071337.jpg

Oh, the complexities of Facebook. And the generation gap. And the generation gap regarding Facebook. If it’s “true” that “young people” use Facebook differently from us (slightly older) parent people: How much should we infer from an au pair applicant’s Facebook page? Now that many of us ask to ‘friend’ our au pairs and prospective […]

93 comments Read the full article →

My Future Host Mom’s Sister is Creeping Me Out

by cv harquail November 28, 2010
201011271944.jpg

Okay, “creeping me out” is clearly an American idiom that I have supplied as a headline, but that phrase seems to capture the dynamic going on for this cautious au pair. She’s matched with a family, and getting to know them through emails, etc. before she joins the family in a few months. The family […]

10 comments Read the full article →

Checking Facebook for Insights About Your Au Pair’s Experience

by cv harquail October 13, 2010
201010131011.jpg

Who needs to snoop in an au pair’s room or flip through an au pair’s journal, when there is Facebook to tell us our au pair’s inner thoughts? Not that any of us would intentionally snoop.  (As we’ve already discussed, there are very few and very specific times when snooping seems even remotely reasonable.) And, […]

49 comments Read the full article →

O. M. G. My Au Pair is “Sexting”

by cv harquail December 29, 2009
200912291557.jpg

I can’t even figure out how to begin this post! Where do you start, when you find out that your au pair is sending lewd photos of herself from her/your cellphone, and downloading lewd photos of someone else onto her/your computer? We got this request for advice from a host mom who is, to put […]

20 comments Read the full article →

← Previous Entries