I never quite understand it, yet I see it every time. Au pairs like other au pairs from their country- and in many cases- their country only. It is simply a reality of the au pair program.<-- Read more -->

My son recently celebrated his 5th birthday and what a blast!

While I tried hard to keep the volume of presents under control, family and friends got the best of me. Former au pairs sent cards, called and one even visited! But, what I didn't expect were presents from my current au pair's family back in Brazil! You heard me correctly- presents from my au pairs real family!

For my sons birthday, my au pair's family sent him a package filled with all kinds of goodies: dragon figures, flip flops, cool pens, etc. They so went above and beyond.<-- Read more -->

Our au pair recently left after 18 months and my daughter, 3.5, was very torn up about the transition. She resisted my new au pair and would shout out each morning "I dont want to stay with you. I want my old au pair!"

It was a horrible situation and I felt terrible. But, my new au pair was wonderful about understanding.  She just kept calm, and kept trying each morning to win my daughter over. I saw that despite my au pairs best efforts, my daughter wasn't budging! She was being so stubborn!

I didnt want my au pair to get discouraged or feel badly about the situation, so we scheduled a time to brainstorm ways that she could better connect with my daughter.

Here's what we did to foster a better connection between my daughter and my au pair:<-- Read more -->

Since we have launched Host Family Handbook we have heard from a lot of host parents  that there aren't a lot of outlets for them to connect with each other. They are especially interested in sharing au pair advice, sharing personal stories and swapping au pair experiences.

It's such an interesting situation given how there is exceptional effort put into community meetings for au pairs, building relationships among au pairs, etc. (which I think is great!) Yet, that same support network doesn't seem available for host parents. Honestly, it probably is because most host families have no interest in meeting other host parents on their weekends or during their free time.... . However, I do think many host families would be interested in a networked, online solution-- especially when they have a question.<-- Read more -->