Would you hire an au pair for an infant and toddler?

[Anonymous]

I'll chime in with a different vote here. We are expecting #2 in August, when #1 is 26 months old, and we will be transitioning from our nanny to an au pair for a variety of reasons. We focused on selecting an older (over 24) au pair who has a lot of experience with young children, who has experience with multiple kids, and for a sustained period of time (some au pairs have only sporadic experience, or only provided childcare for one summer, etc). We also looked carefully for someone who is mature and has good reasons for being an au pair. Finally, we are asking the au pair to join us in September, so she will be with us for 3 months before I return to work - lots of time to perfect the still slightly rough English, and to observe how we do things with the children before I return to work. I agree that younger children require a higher degree of vigilance in selecting the right au pair, but given that you have already enjoyed having an au pair for your one infant, you should feel confident that your new au pair, selected carefully, can handle two. (As a side note, our au pair coordinator is a former au pair who worked for a family with 4 kids, including 2 pre-schoolers - she was from a large family and loved the chaos - she is still close to the children 10 years later.....)