Safety

What do Host Parents think about Nanny Cams?: Au Pair Asks

by cv harquail May 8, 2013
kid spy

It’s been a long time since we had our last conversation about Nanny Cams. We’ve had a couple of suggestions for a post about them, but I have always resisted.   Only about 15% of host parent readers who took our poll back then reported that they even considered using a nanny cam. Personally, I […]

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Did You And Your Au Pair Get Your Flu Shots?

by cv harquail October 29, 2012

Some folks seem to love to prepare for emergencies. Here in the New York Metro area folks are darting around getting water, batteries, and in my case lots of chocolate, so that they’ll be ready for whatever Hurricane Sandy as in store for us. You can’t believe the lines at the supermarket. This morning there […]

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Au Pairs and Online Romances: Your role as a Host Parent

by cv harquail June 10, 2011
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As host parents we feel responsible for keeping our au pairs safe, since they are under our roofs and with our families. However, we recognize that what they do on their own time is (largely) their own business. Au pairs deserve social autonomy, privacy, and the chance to experiment with new things and new relationships. […]

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Plan Ahead for Disasters: Tips from CalifMom

by cv harquail March 14, 2011

We know what we ‘should’ do, but we often just don’t get to it. Who wants to think about how she or he can respond to horrific tragedies, like terrorism, earthquakes, and floods? That’s the kind of thing for action movie heros, not ah pair host parents, right? We’ve brought this issue up before and […]

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Have a 9-11 Plan for your family and your au pair

by cv harquail March 14, 2011
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(First published on 9.11.09.  Republished with original comments.) Thinking about ‘lessons’ from 9-11 can often be heartbreaking, especially in my community where so many of us lost family, friends and co-workers in the WTC attacks. It’s almost disrespectful to bring up the idea of a “9-11” plan, but maybe thinking ahead about how we might […]

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Traveling Together — Managing your Au Pair’s independence and Safety

by cv harquail January 18, 2011
And his voice had the sound of water leaving a vaseline bathtub

Dear AuPairMom Readers– I would love the input of some other host families regarding our upcoming cruise vacation with our Au Pair. We have never done a vacation like this with an AP and I am concerned about how best to make it work. Going along on the cruise are me (Host Mom), my husband, […]

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5 Ways to Assess an Au Pair’s Driving Skill when Choosing an Au Pair

by cv harquail November 4, 2010
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The original title I had for this post was “In which we address, once again, the issue of driving skills”.  However, since that’s neither SEO-friendly, nor really helpful, let’s see if we can actually come up with ways to assess driving skill. Everyone who has ever driving a car can call say that s/he’s an […]

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Halloween Party Safety Concerns for my Au Pair

by cv harquail October 28, 2010
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Halloween is a favorite holiday of… just about everyone. I think it has become a quintessential American experience that every Au Pair should get involved in. But how should they get involved? Handing out candy at the house? Taking your kids out to trick or treat? Helping to make costumes? Or getting involved in the […]

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Can you train an Au Pair to be conscious of safety?

by cv harquail October 7, 2010
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Hi AuPairMom, I can’t believe I’m sending this email, but I am at my wit’s end and don’t quite know where else to turn. I’ve been lurking on your blog for about 3 months, ever since we decided that an au pair situation would be a good one for us (we’re first timers). Here’s a […]

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The Three Phone Calls I Want to Get From My Au Pair at 2 am

by cv harquail June 3, 2010
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I’ve had too much to drink and I can’t drive home safely. Can you come and get me? My friend has had too much to drink and she can’t drive us home safely. Can you come and get us? I don’t feel safe and I don’t know how to get home. Can you come and […]

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