The Happiest Kids in the World

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! 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.