stipend

Why You Shouldn’t Round Up Your Au Pair’s Weekly Stipend

by cv harquail January 12, 2015
P1000288

What is “One Hundred Ninety-Five Dollars and Seventy Five Cents“? A:  The amount of an Au Pair’s weekly stipend, or B: An awkward, not-round number? Both. Which is why many families ’round up’ from $195.75 and pay their au pairs an even $200 per week. Rounding Up seems to make sense. If you pay your […]

63 comments Read the full article →

When An Au Pair’s Thriftiness Shortchanges Her Adventure

by cv harquail April 4, 2013

Frugality is an admirable trait. It takes a lot of restraint and self discipline for an au pair to save money from her/his weekly stipend. Whether s/he’s saving for a vacation, a laptop computer, or to send money back home, au pairs who are carefully watching their expenses deserve our support. But when an au […]

114 comments Read the full article →

When You Give Your Extension Au Pair a Raise, And She Wants More

by cv harquail January 29, 2013
bitofwhymsyprims.jpg

What a conversation we’ve been having about whether (or not) to offer an outstanding extension au pair a raise above the mandated weekly stipend! This all was prompted by an email from the aptly self-named “Host Mom Who Wants To Be Fair”. HM2bFair writes: Dear Au Pair Mom, I’m hoping to get some good advice […]

113 comments Read the full article →

Does Your Extension Au Pair Deserve a Raise?

by cv harquail January 24, 2013
i love raise.jpg

The experience of a happy au pair year is its own reward. And extending this positive experience is a great way to turn this reward into a bonus. When an au pair and a host family extend their contract with each other for an additional 6, 9, or 12 months, everybody gets a bonus. The […]

80 comments Read the full article →

Should au pair rules be changed, to allow for “extra vacation without pay”?

by cv harquail January 25, 2012
4084926_1756c3fe93_b.jpg

Within the legal boundaries of the au pair program, both host parents and au pairs like to have a bit of personal discretion. We want to be able to satisfy family demands and any sensible au pair dreams. We want to be flexible when issues come up, and we want to be accommodating and reasonably […]

45 comments Read the full article →

Au Pair Extension Fees: Why so high?

by cv harquail December 15, 2011
286988969_29057a0ed8_m.jpg

Why is it so expensive to extend an Au Pair for an additional year? A reader emailed to raise the concern that it costs almost as much the second year as the first, because there are fewer special discounts. (For one agency, that’s about $5,600). Not only that, but the au pair herself or himself […]

39 comments Read the full article →

Too Good to be True?

by cv harquail October 7, 2011
201110070947.jpg

A while ago I got a request for advice — a host mom was mystified that her desired au pair candidates seemed uninterested in the opportunity she had to offer. After all, what au pair wouldn’t want a situation that required only 20 hours per week, paid vacations with the family, her own apartment underneath […]

71 comments Read the full article →

When you’re away, you still have to pay: Stipends when your Au Pair isn’t working

by cv harquail April 8, 2011
201104081704.jpg

Dear AuPairMom- Do I have to pay a stipend to my au pair is s/he isn’t needed for childcare? I will be out of the country with my son for three weeks and am not taking the au pair with me since i am visiting my parents. Our au pair already took one week off […]

28 comments Read the full article →

Au Pair Pocket Money: Do you pay more than the required stipend? (Poll)

by cv harquail February 15, 2011
201102151706.jpg

[This post addresses customs and Au Pair regulations in the USA. It may or may not be relevant to host parents in other countries.] The amount of weekly pocket money (or stipend) that a host family is required to provide to an au pair is set by the Federal Government. Right now (as of Feb […]

46 comments Read the full article →