There is really not a huge or predictable difference between breeds as far as personality goes. It's all down to individual personalities. I've heard that abyssinians tend to be more high-strung and shelties tend to be more laid back, but have heard of and met enough who don't fit the stereotype to be dubious about these claims. You may want to look into rescuing a pair that are used to being handled, because most of the skittishness comes from young pigs who are not accustomed to humans. They are prey animals and will naturally try to make a run for it. If you're rescuing adult pigs you will also have a better idea of what their personalities will be. My experience as a mom with kids is that the pigs will adjust to the kids, but the kids need to be gentle and realize that it takes some time. Our most recent pig, Hadley, we brought home in mid January at about three months of age. She spent a week being terrified of us, another couple of weeks tolerating us but being very quick to dash for it if something startled her (my son managed to peer at her over my shoulder and frighten her right off the couch!) After that it's been smooth sailing and she is now fine with us all. She figured out we won't hurt her (and might even feed her!) My recommendation is to try to handle new pigs a bit every day, even if they initially are spooked. Frequent handling will get them accustomed to you. Depending on the age of your kids, teach them how to approach the piggies quietly/gently/without big movements. I would often feed new pigs on my lap so that there was a positive association between being held and something they liked, like food. So far, my experience has been that once they get through their initial adjustment, most pigs like interacting with people, though some are more busy and some are more willing to sit still.
