Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So my son didn't have a great day yesterday. He's 9. He was whiny/sassy yesterday, but not crazy, over-the-top from what the au pair told us. Some things she needs to let roll off her back and others she needs to give him a consequence and follow through. And he did apologize to her before the end of the day -- without a parent demanding it. Not saying that excuses everything, but he recognized his behavior and apologized, which is pretty good for 9.
I told her I would talk to him, which I did this morning. I tried to give her some strategies as well.
Then she drops, if this continues, I don't know if I want to stay for 5 more months.
I said I think we need to calm the conversation down a bit.
We've had other au pairs, but this is the first time we have gotten this far into our year and still fear that the au pair may pull up and leave. (There's that first month or two where they are adjusting, getting past homesickness and cultural changes, but then things settle).
Do we just have a sit down conversation and try to get her to commit? How do you handle that kinda bomb. Just a long frustrating day for her too so pump her up and tell her she can do it.
We already have our next au pair lined up so it becomes finding someone that fits in the time frame.

What do you mean by whiny/sassy?

Anonymous wrote:So my son didn't have a great day yesterday. He's 9. He was whiny/sassy yesterday, but not crazy, over-the-top from what the au pair told us. Some things she needs to let roll off her back and others she needs to give him a consequence and follow through. And he did apologize to her before the end of the day -- without a parent demanding it. Not saying that excuses everything, but he recognized his behavior and apologized, which is pretty good for 9.
I told her I would talk to him, which I did this morning. I tried to give her some strategies as well.
Then she drops, if this continues, I don't know if I want to stay for 5 more months.
I said I think we need to calm the conversation down a bit.
We've had other au pairs, but this is the first time we have gotten this far into our year and still fear that the au pair may pull up and leave. (There's that first month or two where they are adjusting, getting past homesickness and cultural changes, but then things settle).
Do we just have a sit down conversation and try to get her to commit? How do you handle that kinda bomb. Just a long frustrating day for her too so pump her up and tell her she can do it.
We already have our next au pair lined up so it becomes finding someone that fits in the time frame.

Anonymous wrote:I offered her a substantial bonus to stay until the end and I regret it. I will never do that again. We should have gone into rematch earlier. Just a personality conflict. I'm living with a moody teenager who seems ungrateful of anything we do offer. Counting down the days...