household chores

Share The Fun and the Not-So-Fun with Your Au Pair

by cv harquail November 11, 2014
200909282010.jpg

Prompted by our conversation over the weekend about the au pair who was unhappy with the ratio of chores-to-child interaction in his work week, I’m reposting something from 2009: One super-helpful piece of advice my friend Adelaide gave me when we got our first au pair was “Be Sure to Share the Cream.” Share both […]

4 comments Read the full article →

“Pitching In”: What does that mean in your host family?

by cv harquail July 15, 2014
Print by OrangeTwist, available for purchase at Etsy

What does it mean to “pitch in” with host family chores? Pitching In (defn): To join the family in doing some everyday household upkeep, to help keep the household running smoothly In anticipation of an au pair question that will get posted later this week, I wanted to sketch out the basic advice (okay, my aupairmom […]

76 comments Read the full article →

Should Au Pairs be expected to do chores on their Day Off?

by cv harquail March 12, 2013
au pair chores

In our earlier conversation about what chores are appropriate to ask an au pair to do, AussieAuPair raised an interesting question– When an au pair is officially having a day off, should s/he still be expected to do household chores? We need to make two sets of distinctions first, between — family member household chores […]

87 comments Read the full article →