The Happiest Kids in the World: How Dutch Parents Help Their Kids (and Themselves) by Doing Less

The secret to raising the happiest kids in the world? Whatever it is, it’s somewhere in the Netherlands.

Would parents rather their children be successful or happy? Kids in the US face lots of pressure to excel—often at the expense of happiness. But does it have to be this way? Not in the Netherlands! In The Happiest Kids in the World, expats Rina Mae Acosta and Michele Hutchison—both married to Dutchmen and bringing up their kids in the Netherlands—examine the unique environment that enables the Dutch to turn out such well-adjusted, independent children. With heaps of good humor, and no shortage of amazement, the authors are delighted to find that

Babies get an average of fifteen hours of sleep per day,Children learn bike safety and proficiency in school,Teenagers are less likely to get pregnant than their counterparts in almost every other nation, andParents really do serve chocolate sprinkles for breakfast!Along the way, they discover that the most commonly strived-for grade is just passing—six points out of ten—how to achieve the perfect work-life balance, and that being normal is crazy enough.