Au Pair Virgin needs help!

[scarymamma]

After 8 years as SAHM, going back to Uni to retrain. Both dd and ds are at school and youngest will be 7. I will be home by 5.30, 6pm latest, so thought AuPair is best option (hate our school's after school club - run by dissaffected teenagers and kids fed junk - marg and plastic bread sandwiches) Have already advertised our little family on Aupair-world.net and within 30 minutes have 6 replies!! What do I do now!

Should I contact more than one to draw up a short list?

What questions do I ask in the first instance?
Is £60pw the going rate? (we're 'up North' not London)
How do I check references?

What age is too young?
Aaahhh!!! Totally clueless how to start!
All advice from experienced hands greatly appreciated!

Cheers MrsR

OK, so I've got my short list and I've had my in depth questionnaire returned. Do I do a telephone interview and if so what on earth can I ask them that hasn't already been covered by my 20 question questionnaire!!!! (Sorry, I obviously lack the nouse for this and the imagination, but I haven't had to interview any bods for 8 years!)

SM - I don't do a telephone iv until I am completely happy that I have found the right person. I keep up a dialogue of correspondence of mails with the shortlisted few. Once I've received 4 or 5 replies from each (striking up a conversation about what we've been doing/they've been doing) I then think about doing the telephone iv.

I don't have specific questions but I normally run over some of their answers and see what they've been doing the past week. I ask them a bit more about their childcare experience. If the conversation seems to flow then I know they're going to fit in well.

Here's a thought, SM: The prettier they are, the more likely they are to think you're husband is a sad old git and not worth bothering with....it's the unnattractive ones you want to be careful of...as my DH put it in one of his confessionals about his single days "if you're on the pull and haven't had any success by 11pm, you go down the evolutionary scale, the lower you go the better your chances and the more grateful they are". It's disgusting but from my conversations with friends we all agree that we get more worried by the desparate women than we do the pretty ones. We've had a 20yr old Swedish stunner as an au-pair for 18 mths and it hasn't even dawned on her that guys my DH's age (40) are still blokes. Our males mates all get the same - she treats them like they are no different from my 70 yr old dad, but she's been known to simper over the young muscly gardener like a lovesick teenager. (Mind you, I'm gulty of that too, on occasion ).