Rematch & “transitions”

Au Pair Asks: Should I offer to rematch to solve a driving problem?

by cv harquail March 24, 2015
au pair, driving problems, liscence

Hi Au Pair Mom, I am currently an Au Pair on the East Coast. I arrived in Jan 2014 and extended another 6 months. Everything is amazing and we have had no issues in the time I have been here. But now a pretty big problem has arisen and I dont know what to do. […]

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Evaluating Progress As Your Au Pair Aims to Improve

by cv harquail January 8, 2015
au pair performance, au pair rematch, host parent advice

How much improvement is ‘enough’ to shift an au pair out of  “on the way to rematch”? When there are performance issues with an Au Pair and we ask for an improvement, we expect that: (1) The au pair’s performance will improve, (2) Performance will improve enough to satisfy the Host Parent’s original concerns, (3) The […]

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AuPair in Rematch? Best Places to Find a New Family Fast

by cv harquail July 25, 2014
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Sharing from behind the scenes here at AuPair Mom — I often get emails like the one below from either AuPairs or Host Parents hoping to help someone make a rematch quickly. As we all know, au pairs have only two weeks or so to find a new host family before they get ‘sent home’ […]

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Au Pair lies, but my kids love him. Should we rematch?

by cv harquail March 31, 2014
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Just when you think the answer is clear, a situation comes along that makes it foggy again. Only last week, I claimed that repeated lying was an automatic, unquestionable grounds for rematch. Then, we got this email, below, from DevastatedHM. DevastatedHM has an au pair that she and her family adore, but who has broken […]

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Two Weeks, Three Lies, and One Next Step: Rematch

by cv harquail March 26, 2014
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Unsafe behavior. Confirmed serious lying. These are the two unquestionable reasons for rematching– even if your au pair is brand-new. Of course, the agencies and even we ourselves ask that we give each new au pair situation a chance to work itself out. Many of us have had au pairs who turned out to be […]

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First Impressions: Can you ‘just know’ you need a rematch, already?

by cv harquail March 14, 2014
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Did you ever just “know” you needed to rematch?   Dear AuPairMoms! Our incredible first AP left last week – tears all around; she loved our 3 little kids so much and was an amazing friend to us too.  We live in a desirable area and have a separate studio for the AP, have a third […]

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Do Au Pair Agencies Really Rematch Au Pairs Who’ve Violated Safety Rules?

by cv harquail December 30, 2013
martin

When it comes to host parents asking for a rematch, there are many grey areas. Whose fault was the problem? Did the parties try hard enough to fix things? Is the issue worth rematching over? We can debate these questions in almost every case. Except one– when an au pair violates a safety rule. If […]

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When Host Moms Need Support and Not Just Advice

by cv harquail November 23, 2013
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AuPairMom gets two kinds of emails– emails asking for advice on how or what to do, and emails asking for support in just dealing with whatever is happening. Interestingly, every email we get is BOTH of those types. Sometimes we know what we need to do. For example, almost every email asking ‘Should we go […]

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How To Rematch: Share your best practices

by cv harquail April 16, 2013

Rematching with your au pair is both a horrible drag and a great opportunity. Rematching au pairs is a drag. Rematches are always hard to execute and fraught with anxiety and second guessing– and that’s just on the au pair’s side. Host parents have to tell the au pair that the match isn’t working, deal […]

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Should Au Pair Agency Contracts Have a “Flame Out — Opt Out” Clause?

by cv harquail November 5, 2012
hang in there unicorn.jpeg

Host Families can easily get screwed when the au pair that they match with is so bad s/he can’t or won’t make it through the initial two weeks. When an au pair/ host family relationship breaks, there is an emotional and financial cost to everyone involved. Au Pair Agency procedures are designed to push au […]

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