The Danish Way of Parenting

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A book review of The Danish Way of Parenting: What the Happiest People in the world Know About Raising Confident, Capable Kids by Jessica Joelle Alexander and Iben Dissing Sandahl

A book review of The Danish Way of Parenting: What the Happiest People in the world Know About Raising Confident, Capable Kids by Jessica Joelle Alexander and Iben Dissing Sandahl

Stars: ***

TarcherPerigee (2016)
Parenting
208 pages

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Summary: What makes Denmark the happiest country in the world–and how do Danish parents raise happy, confident, successful kids, year after year? This upbeat and practical book presents six essential principles, which spell out P-A-R-E-N-T:

Play is essential for development and well-being.
Authenticity fosters trust and an “inner compass.”
Reframing helps kids cope with setbacks and look on the bright side.
Empathy allows us to act with kindness toward others.
No ultimatums means no power struggles, lines in the sand, or resentment.
Togetherness is a way to celebrate family time, on special occasions and every day. The Danes call this hygge–and it’s a fun, cozy way to foster closeness. Preparing meals together, playing favorite games, and sharing other family traditions are all hygge. (Cell phones, bickering, and complaining are not!)


With illuminating examples and simple yet powerful advice, The Danish Way of Parenting will help parents from all walks of life raise the happiest, most well-adjusted kids in the world.

The Danish Way of Parenting

I picked this up from the library because it sounded interesting. I’m aware of Hygge and how Denmark is the happiest country on the planet. So I wanted to see how they raised kids.

It was a pretty good book but would have been much better if my kids were younger. I recommend ideally reading this when you are pregnant or your children are 5 and under. You want to change your way of parenting to the Danish way before you are set in your ways. It’s harder to change how you handle issues when you’ve already been doing it that way for 17 years.

Chapter 1 is about recognizing what is usual for Americans. I’m Canadian but I took that to mean North Americans because we are similar in how we parent. After that each chapter is a letter of the word PARENT. The summery above already says what each one stands for. Each chapter goes over why that word is important as well as what is usually means to the average American. Doing it a different way is discussed. The chapter ends with tips for that section.

The book is not very long which is good for a parenting book as parents don’t have a lot of time to read when their kids are young.

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About Kathleen

I've been a nonfiction lover for as long as I can remember. I love children's nonfiction as well and love to share my knowledge and the books I gained them from, with the world. I wish more people would give nonfiction a chance.