We are so excited to see our newest book The Happiest Kids in the World: How Dutch Parents Help Their Kids (and Themselves) by Doing Less by Rina Mae Acosta and Michele Hutchison making headlines!

Happiest Kids spills the secrets to raising the happiest kids in the world using the proven Dutch model of parenting. Starting today, you, too, can become privy to those secrets! A 2013 UNICEF report rated Dutch children the “happiest in the world,” and Acosta and Hutchison are here to teach you how to parent the Dutch way.

The New York Post says, “… the good news here is that Dutch parents aren’t doing anything crazy, over-the-top or challenging. . . Instead, the secret to their happiness success seems to lie in a combination of factors: routine, regular family meals together and allowing for plenty of independence.”

What a relief! Who’d have thought that the key to great parenting is actually to do less?

In Salon, Rina and Michele wrote that in the Netherlands, “education has a different purpose [than in America]: the route to a child’s well-being and their individual development. . . To get into most college programs, all a student needs is to pass high school exams at the right level. As a result, there is no real pressure to get straight A’s.”

Imagine a childhood unencumbered by academic stress! Without it, children are free to be just that—children.

The New York Times writes that, though “many of the ways those children are being raised today may look old-fashioned, that is more of a conscious choice by contemporary Dutch parents to resurrect old-fashioned family values: fresh air, nature, unsupervised play.”

It goes on to tell tales of neighborhood farms where children can go to be surrounded by, care for, and feed wildlife—all while still too young to attend school. Right away, kids are encouraged to be caretakers and free-thinkers.

Finally, an excerpt from the book – all about the Dutch traditional breakfast treat – hagelslag, or, a piece of bread piled high with unsalted butter and chocolate sprinkles (no wonder Dutch kids are the happiest kids in the world) has been published on Scary Mommy.

So, what are you waiting for? Grab your copy of The Happiest Kids in the World: How Dutch Parents Help Their Kids (and Themselves) by Doing Less by Rina Mae Acosta and Michele Hutchison and start parenting the Dutch way!