As an author and cultural researcher, I have spent a lot of time in Danish schools studying parenting and education for my books. I’ve especially focused on the ‘Class’s Hour’ (klassenstime), which is a core part of the Danish curriculum that essentially teaches empathy to children aged 6-16 and is generally set for a special…
As an American married to a Dane, I have spent more than 15 Christmases in Denmark. It’s truly a magical time of year that I have studied for many years trying to understand what makes it unique. Here are six signs you might be Danish at Christmas. Not just wishful thinking The saying “be careful…
I recently contributed to the LEGO Play Well Report, a study of 13,000 people in nine countries, which found that families who play for five or more hours together a week were happier than those who played for less. I concur that Denmark’s belief in the importance of play is one of the main reasons…
We have all thought about what it means to be a parent from time to time, but have you ever wondered how our culture affects the way we view what we think is the right way to parent? In Norway, parents regularly leave children to sleep outside in -20 degree weather, in Belgium children are…
As we head into 2018, it is the time of New Year resolutions being put to the test. Many, if not most of us, will fail. According to Forbes, only 8 percent of us will achieve our New Year resolutions, and this is mainly because people give up when they have a few setbacks and…
Not only has Denmark been voted one of the happiest countries in the world for over 40 years, but apparently Danish babies cry less as well! Blubbering British babies A meta-analysis published in the Journal of Pediatrics looked at parental reports of fussing or crying among newborns assessed by 28 different studies covering countries such…
Recently there has been some uproar about the new French president Emmanuel Macron’s older wife. Double standards There was some speculation that “he cannot love his wife” because she is 24 years older than him. “If I had been 20 years older than my wife, nobody would have thought for a single second that I…
Some weeks ago I was conducting research at Danish schools trying to gain a deeper understanding of how Danes actively teach empathy there. Standards set at school Seeing as empathy is now considered one of the single biggest factors in predicting successful leaders and businesses, as need as general well-being, it’s no wonder the Danes…
If you haven’t already been hit by hyggemania, you probably will be soon. There have been nine books and counting launched on hygge in 2016 alone – a year in which it was named one of the top ten words by both the Collins and Oxford dictionaries along with the likes of Brexit and post-truth.…
Recently I wrote an article for Time Magazine about Danish children’s TV and in particular the show ‘Vild Venner’ (wild friends). Let’s talk about death! It’s a sweet show about two kids who rescue animals. I sat down very unassumingly one evening with my seven-year-old daughter to watch the friends save a bird in trouble.…
Queen Elizabeth II died and, despite not being British, it felt like a significant moment. Evidently, it has moved a great many people around the world. Conversely, many feel that this is no significant event at all. So what does all this tell us? Strongly symbolicMonarchies symbolise tradition, establishment, the familiar and a not-to-be-underestimated sense…
A few years ago, we realised we couldn’t survive as a weekly newspaper. Monthly didn’t cut it either. Ideally, we’d publish fortnightly during the sunlight months, monthly during the darkness, but who are we trying to kid … the answer I normally give to how often we publish is “When we feel like it”. We’re…
