Have you tried to listen to dutch radios on the internet?
My dad found me a free sofware to listen to all the french radios and that's great! I know you can also go on the radios website and the have some 'webradio' which are really nice too (so you can listen to the music, the adverts etc...). May be worth a try?

Sophie, if you find a good system advice for Dutch stuff, please post for the rest of us. I keep asking my local satellite suppliers, who say they'll do some research and get back to me, then don't.
What about pre-Christmas trip to Holland? Do they/you have great markets at this time like in Germany? You could stock up on dvds etc. Incidentally, most of the French dvds I get at great expense on amazon or ebay also have dutch as well as english.

Oricella, thanks for your comment. Again, the support is great and its great to not feel alone in this. We actually have 2 cd's of VOF de Kunst and I love it, but my kids were not interested last time I played it...LOL. Olleke-bolleke still does the trick though ,even though my eldest is now nearly 5!
I know...perhaps leave DH at home and go to Holland for a week or so. I have silly excuses to stop me (if I fly I won't have a car to move around, and it will cost so much, bla bla) but really why not, I should just try.
Nice to hear from another 'dutchie'.

Racingsnake, thanks to you too. We love the Aristocats here (I try to play it in Dutch as often as I can). I am also trying to find satelite systems for Dutch tv. I think you just need a dish, a decoder box and point it at the french stuff. Another dish (or a rotating one) for the English stuff (like for freesat). Aks a satelite specialist; they'll know.

sophie (sophieploeg.com)

Hi Sophie, it's tough with those Dutchies isn't it? They switch to English so quickly that it is really easy not to speak any Dutch, even in Holland.
I've got two DD's (3 & 1) and DD1 understands Dutch fluently & is getting the concept that there is a mama and a papa language. She mostly speaks english, but will translate words (but not full sentences) to Dutch if asked. I try and be consistent and speak Dutch to her, but do slip into english a lot of the time.
My top tips to keep it going: spend as much time in Holland as you can (leave DH at home if needed); get some groovy Dutch music (we LOVE VOF de Kunst's (Muziek op schoot) & schedule regular calls/skype with friends & family. I think the thing is to stop worrying and do as much as you comfortably can and it'll all click into place.

I have the same problem trying to bring up a bilingual French dd in England. I am English but both French dh and I try and speak French to her at home. The trouble is, DH always speaks to me in English, even though he speaks to dd in French. Then gets irritated with me!

DD is now sitting on my lap, watching CBeebies, which has underlined the importance of French TV. Can anyone tell me how I can find a satellite which will get French TV as well as English? (Although much French TV is also rubbish, imo)

We have lots od French dvds, but there is a limit to the number of times I can watch Merlin or Les Aristochats.

Move to holland, I know that would be a great solution. I often tease DH with it. But packing up and moving house and country is no mean thing. Not least of all because of work - I wouldn't want my husband to commute back to the UK all the time! I am hoping for more holidays in The Netherlands, perhaps that will help too.
Thanks Belgo! I am going to keep on trying.....

Welcome to mumsnet - dutch TV may be rubbish - but flemish children's TV - Studio 100 on Canvas- is of a very high standard from Piet Piraat and Bumba to Anubis, Amika, Mega Mindy etc.

It is well worth the effort to teach your children dutch! It is such a waste if you don't.

I do understand why your dh can't speak dutch - it is virtually impossible to find a good dutch classes in teh UK, and you never hear dutch spoken, so it is very hard to learn. I only learnt flemish when I moved to Belgium, took an intensive flemish course, got a flemish speaking job and lived with my flemish in laws.

I do know of an irish family who were in the same position as you so moved to Belgium for a year and put their children into flemish school for a year. After a year they were virtually fluent, and then they all moved back to Ireladn. The father commuted to and from Ireland for that whole year.

Thanks girls - really nice to hear we're not alone!
We've decided to invest in a satelite and get Dutch tv (as the kids don't watch enough tv yet...). Hopefully that will help get the 'Dutch switch' on for me and it will help them to hear a bit more.
But I must admit I am still struggling to speak Dutch to them. It requires constant thinking! I realise I just don't know some words in Dutch anymore and I am really turning into an English girl. How sad! But it'll be hard to stop it.

Thanks for the support.

shameless plug: www. sophieploeg. com.....sorry...

I'm the same - I cannot switch constantly. So ds speaks English and will continue to do so. We will try to slowly teach him Spanish (dh is better at this than me ) and hope that holidays with his cousins, etc. will do the rest.

It's just the best I can do.

Hi Sophie,
God, I have exactly the same problem, and just posted a thread to discuss it! I'm so glad I'm nit the only one! I'm german but my husband is welsh so at home we speak english all the time and it feels so strange and unnatural to speak german now unless I speak to my family back home. I also find it difficult to switch back and forth between languages. I regret it dearly not having spoken enough german to my older children. My ds is 9 weeks old now and I have made a promise to myself that he will be fluent in german when he is older. I try to be strict now and only speak german to him but it's really hard!
My oldest girl is 9 and my little one 4, so I will try with them too. Not sure how it will go though!
Have you heard about MUZZI? It's a language programm for kids. I just bought it in german, not sure if they do it in dutch too. It's expensive though!
Jen xx