Raising a Dutch bilingual daughter (16 months) and would like to increase her exposure to Dutch. Any ideas?

[annester]

My hubby is English so my daughter is being raised bilingual (at least, that is the hope). She goes to nursery (had no choice because of work) but ideally I'd like to find a Dutch speaking nanny/child minder to ensure her exposure to Dutch is increased. Currently I am worried she won't get enough exposure to my language. Does anyone feel the same? P.S. anyone know of Dutch speaking nannies in Berkshire area??

do you speak to her in dutch? my sister is english, married to a frenchman and lives in paris. she speaks only english to their dds, and he speaks only french.

their english was slower to develop, but the eldest is six and speaks perfect english now, despite going to a french school and being immersed in french.

a dutch nanny sounds like a nice idea, but i'm not sure how necessary it is, based on what my sister was advised. (she works f/t by the way, so it's not a case of her being at home speaking english all day with them.)

hope this helps!

I only speak to her in Dutch, have bought Dutch DVD's and cd's so am almost brainwashing her

You do hear that the language development is slower. In fact the only things she says at the moment is mama and papa.

Feeling slightly relieved re: nanny message too as might make things even more complicated as she's already going to nursery.

Thanks for your feedback!

I have found reading aloud to mine is invaluable, as it gives a far wider vocabulary and range of expression than just one person talking to them.

annester have you seen this thread about a Dutch au pair?

here

Have you read this?
A friend recommended it and I'm really enjoying it.
Feeling slightly odd typing in English to another Dutch person but I've also got English (well, Irish) hubby and a DS aged 4. I have to admit it's been harder than I thought to keep the Dutch up with him. Now he is at school we have mixed English-Dutch conversations. Staying back home in Holland especially with cousins/friends is the best way of bringing it all back to him. I've found that even with his Dutch friends in England he speaks English.. In the end I don't want it to become a battle field.
But Sinterklaas is coming soon and he DEFINITELY needs a letter in Dutch!

Hi ya, I sympathise with you as I'm doing the same with ds. he is 2 now and speaks a lot in both languages, I think, if you just make it as natural as possible and talk to her loads, ie describing everything you see, do.
The good thing being that Holland is so nearby, she'll be able to go on holidays in the summer as she grows older!

Hello everyone!
I am Irish but will be raising our DD bilingual Flemish (my husband is Belgian). I spotted this thread as was looking for some advice on where to find a Dutch / Belgian live in nanny to live with us in LOndon. Does anyone have any ideas? I did see that other thread, but we wont be looking until March!

Hello, I'm doing the same with my 17m DS. I'm Dutch, DH is english.

I wouldn't worry too much about increasing exposure. I don't have any Dutch cd's or DVD's and he's been going to a CM since he was 7m. I just explain everything and talk to him all the time in Dutch.

DS reacts to both of us. Last week we asked him to point to the car/auto and plane/vliegtuig in a book. Me in Dutch and DH in English and he got them both. Also I used to think that he only understood Dutch with me but when my parents come over he has no problems in understanding them.

Sometimes there might be a slight delay in speech, but I believe that that also depends on the child itself. My DS talks more than any of his NCT friends. It can get a bit confusing now that that he uses both dutch & english. His favourite new words are "me die".

Hope this helps a bit.

Thanks everyone, dank jullie wel! Nice to meet some other Dutch parents facing similar challenges. Sinterklaas will definitely be brining some chocolate letters this year. I just bought some Nijntje DVD's which are really very sweet so she watches that for 15 minutes before bed time.

If any Dutch (or Flemish) parents live in teh Berkshire area, maybe we can correspond on email some more.