The Happiest Kids in the World

The secrets of bringing up the happiest kids in the world- the definitive guide to raising content, confident and well-adjusted children.Why do-Dutch babies seem so content, and sleep so well?Dutch parents let their kids play outside on their own?The Dutch trust their children to bike to school?Dutch schools not set homework for the under-tens?Dutch teenagers not rebel?What is the secret of bringing up the happiest kids in the world?In a recent UNICEF study of child well-being, Dutch children came out on top as the happiest all-round. Rina Mae Acosta and Michele Hutchison, both married to Dutchmen and bringing up their kids in Holland, examine the unique environment that enables the Dutch to turn out such contented, well-adjusted and healthy babies, children and teens.Read this book if you want to find out what lessons you can learn from Dutch parents, to ensure your kids turn out happy!

“Clear and concise, with plenty of anecdotes from family life to illustrate the argument, this is one of the most convincing parenting books to come across my desk in the last year.”

Clear and concise, with plenty of anecdotes from family life to illustrate the argument, this is one of the most convincing parenting books to come across my desk in the last year. Sunday Times
An eye-opening and badly-needed dose of perspective. In my next life, I want to be Dutch. -- Pamela Druckerman author of French Children Don't Throw Food
A fascinating book - one I wish I had read sooner! In fact, the more I read the more I became tempted to move our entire family to the Netherlands... -- Sarah Turner author of The Unmumsy Mum
Considering 2016 was the year Brits embraced the cosy Danish concept of hygge,then 2017 may be the year in which we tire of candles and adopt the rougher and readier Dutch version: gezelligheid.......Entertaining.....I would say all parents should read this book. Daily Mail
What a joy to discover that the eternal secret to happy kids just might stem from routine, family time, independence, reasonable expectations — and chocolate sprinkles. New York Post
We’ve learnt how to embrace ‘hygge’ (Danish for the art of being cosy) but we can learn a lot from another of our European neighbours about raising contented children. Sun

Michele Hutchison is an editor, translator and blogger. She was born in Solihull, grew up in Lincolnshire and studied at the universities of East Anglia, Cambridge and Lyon. She worked in British publishing before moving to Amsterdam, heavily-pregnant, in 2004. There she worked as an editor and became a prominent translator of Dutch literature. She lives in a leaky, old dyke house with her Dutch husband and two children.Rina Mae Acosta is an Asian-American writer from California currently living in the Netherlands with her Dutch husband and two young sons. She holds degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, and Erasmus University in Rotterdam. She is the author of a successful parenting blog, Finding Dutchland.

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