LESSON SIX - BONUS

Raising happy kids the Dutch way

I used to live in the Netherlands, learned to speak Dutch, and still use it with my wife if we want to have a "secret language" from our kids.

I read an article about how Dutch kids are considered the happiest of kids around the world. National Public Radio host Lulu Garcia-Navarro must have heard the same claim, as she brings it up in her interview with Dan Kois, who was traveling the world with his family to discover exactly what makes families in other cultures click. Here's what Dan Kois had to say about his visit to Holland:

Family Life Around The World

The bottom line of the interview, is that kids are happier when they feel they have a "voice" in the family. Kois talked about "The Polder Model" of consensus building, which can take hours of communication – and American families are lousy at! I found the NPR article fascinating, and I recommend you use the skills you've learned in the lessons so far, on your kids! Hear, Understand, Validate – and move into meaningful Negotiation (Lesson Five, Section Three).

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