Please help me choose between these 2 APs

[Mendi]

Haven't had an AP before and have struggled in interviewing to find any suitable. Then today I Skyped/spoke to 2 who sound great. No idea how to choose between them. Can the collective wisdom of MN help?

AP1: age 25, Spanish, never been an AP before. Qualified teacher looking to improve English level. Spoken English was good. Seemed lovely. Desired start date is a bit later than I wanted but is manageable.

AP2: age 25 Italian. Already in UK au pairing for another family where she's unhappy. Told me its because she's here to improve her English and the children of the family are infants and so there's no opportunity to practise English. Has told the family she wants to leave and says this is all agreed. Can start whenever I want. Reading between the lines I suspect she will have to leave the current home before I need her to start. I believed her story. She sounded really nice and like she's just had bad luck first time round. She's already had practice driving on the left, which the other one will need some help with.

In our family, we speak a little Spanish (really just a little), but no Italian. Both girls had a reasonable - slightly faltering but perfectly ok - level of English but with the Spanish one I would be able to help out more.

Spanish one seemed a bit more outgoing and confident but that might just be because she was on home turn while the Italian one has had an unhappy time so far and is stuck in a house she's not comfortable in.

I don't know how to choose. I feel sorry for the Italian one but that's not a basis to choose.

Maybe I should ask both for references and choose that way?

Help me MN!

Phew, I thought Jan might be hiring too far in advance! I generally don't start looking until 1 month prior to the start date because my first aupair was a no-show, lol.

Year is always the school year for me.

I would def ask to speak to the other family this Italian girl is working for- they know she wants to leave..so I can't see why it would be a problem.

I would probably go for the Spanish lady- she is teacher trained and your children are at school so she is likely to be more knowledgable on children similar aged to your DCs.

Well, I have asked to speak to the current family and she says that is fine. Today I took the DCs to meet her and we all got on well. I've no doubt the Spanish one is equally positive, but having actually met one I really like, my gut feel is to go for this one.

On the other hand I will have a chance to meet the Spanish one in a couple of weeks when she is visiting London too. But not sure how I could keep the Italian one hanging on that long.

It's very hard, isn't it?! Choosing someone to share your home with for up to a year, based on just a few chats and (if you're lucky) one meeting.

I think you should speak to the au pair's referees. You are going to get a good indication by speaking to the referees. I always do this. If you don't speak Italian or if your Spanish isn't good enough you can get your au pair website to do it for you. I did this and I found it great