The Danish Secret to Happy Kids

A curious and deeply-researched guide to the Danish way of parenting, taking inspirational lessons from the happiest people in the world to raise your own content, well-balanced little Vikings.

How to Raise a Viking shares the story of what author Helen Russell has learned first-hand and through talking to Nordic psychologists, sociologists and teachers about rearing content, well-balanced children. Combining intellectual curiosity and deep research with witty and heart-warming observation, this is a positive, thought-provoking parenting book for readers that are curious about how people in other cultures do things differently.

Helen has been living Danishly for almost a decade now. Along the way Helen has learned that Scandinavian countries regularly top the UNICEF rankings in terms of happiness, education, equality and behaviors. By contrast, youngsters in the UK and US are more likely to suffer from mental ill-health than in almost any other rich country, and in the US, a third of all teenagers have symptoms that meet the criteria for an anxiety disorder. So, what are Vikings doing differently? What are the secrets to Viking parenting? And what can the rest of us learn from them?

HELEN RUSSELL is an author, journalist, and speaker whose initial interest in the subject of happiness has grown into a fascination with exploring cultural approaches to emotions. She lives in Denmark.

Paperback. 384 pages.