welcoming your au pair

Tips for a Nervous First Time Host Mom

by cv harquail March 16, 2016
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Do you remember how excited you were, once you’d matched with your first au pair? Wondering what s/he’d really be like? How the kids would take to her/him? How you’d all get along? I myself was in a bit of a haze, getting ready to return to work from maternity leave, starting up classes again, […]

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5 Ways for Au Pairs to Find Other Au Pairs

by cv harquail September 9, 2015
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It’s the season to Welcome New Au Pairs! A time for orienting, driving lessons, checklist making, getting lost, and — sometimes for new Au Pairs — feeling lonely. When a new Au Pair arrives, it’s critical that s/he make a few Au Pair friends right away. Only another Au Pair can understand the unique situation of […]

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Welcome Your Au Pair With a Fully-Stocked Bathroom

by cv harquail May 24, 2015
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When your au pair arrives in your home, the way that you’ve prepared for their arrival can say a lot about how excited you are to get to know them. We’re all away of the basic things we should have ready —  a clean, happy bedroom, a freshly printed handbook, a personalized map,  a training schedule, […]

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Welcome Your Au Pair With A Custom Google Map

by cv harquail March 19, 2014
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HostMom Pippa takes advantage of easy online tools, and comes up with *surely* one of the greatest ideas for helping your au pair visualize her/his new surroundings (aka your world). She recommends creating a Custom Google Map:  An easy way to share information with your incoming AP before he or she arrives is to create […]

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When Au Pairs Overlap, who gets the room? (Poll)

by cv harquail May 11, 2011
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Sometimes, the right thing to do as your family transitions from one au pair to another is to have your au pairs overlap in your home. As we know, overlapping au pairs can create some emotional difficulty for the incoming au pair, the outgoing au pair, your kids and you. And, it can also create […]

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Enough with the Gift Baskets!

by cv harquail February 21, 2011

A long time ago, I was experimenting with doing a vlog (a video post), but I never posted it because I looked kindof dorky. Also, a few months later, the lovely Susan Robinson of Cultural Care started her AuPairAnswerMom vlogs, and does them so well that I thought I’d just stick to text. But then […]

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The Best $98 You Can Spend on Your New Au Pair

by cv harquail May 20, 2010
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One of the best things a host parent can do with a new au pair is to pay some professional driving lessons. Driving lessons are something that you should consider in addition to having the au pair go out driving with one or more host parents, and in addition to having the au pair study […]

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Your Au Pair’s Room: Give her a choice of pillows

by cv harquail March 15, 2010
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When it comes to bedding for your au pair’s room, there are three criteria that must be met: The bedding must look clean. The bedding must smell clean. There must be enough bedding. It’s a bonus if the mattress is new, if the bigger bed fits the room, or if the sheets are her or […]

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Maximizing a Warm Welcome from first-time Host Kids

by cv harquail July 30, 2009
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Getting an au pair for the first time is a big deal for host parents, and it’s a particularly bg deal for host kids. They too will be switching from one form of care to another, and they too will have someone they don’t know (yet) living in their house, drivin their car, petting their […]

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15 Tips from 15 Host Moms

by cv harquail January 5, 2009
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Cruising through the comments and wincing at the many that I haven’t answered adequately, I was reminded how many little tidbits you all have been sharing on the blog. It can be overwhelming to provide advice for a knotty problem, or for a first timer, because there really is so much to share. Funny thing […]

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