Last year, in preparation for my daughter’s toddler years, I started looking for books to prepare myself for the inevitable
“terrible twos.” That’s when I stumbled upon the book, 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. They
suggested that there was not actually such a thing as the “terrible twos,” and it turns out, they are right! With a focus on
empathy and positive reframing, this book changed me as a parent, but also as an educator.
It seems that the Danish are the happiest people on earth, and have been for over 40 years. The authors are an
American mom who is married to a Dane, and a Danish psychotherapist who have worked together to answer the
question, what makes Danish kids the happiest people on earth?
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