How to Raise the World's Happiest Children

The secret to raising confident, contented children - the Finnish way

By: Kaija Puura, Claire Ruaro - translator

The happiest children don't have perfect lives; but they do have calm, consistent and clear parenting.

That's why in Finland - ranked the happiest country in the world - parenting is shaped by sisu: a quiet strength that values steadiness over control, trust over pressure and resilience built through setting boundaries and navigating everyday life with purpose and clarity. In How to Raise the World's Happiest Children, leading Finnish child psychiatry expert will help you to do just that with your own family.

This book, and this way of parenting, isn't built on trends or quick fixes; instead, it's a reassuring hand on the shoulder, showing you how love and limits can co-exist and how children thrive when they feel safe and capable. Grounded in everyday situations, How to Raise the World's Happiest Children offers practical, non-judgemental guidance on the moments that shape childhood - handling toddler tantrums, building routines around meals and bedtime, navigating transitions and protecting time for free play.

In line with the idea of sisu, Kaija Puura offers strategies for helping your child become independent at the right time, adapt and cope with bumps in the road, collaborate, manage big feelings and show empathy to others. Children are not born with these traits - they are skills, patiently taught and modelled brilliantly in this clear, compassionate book, which shows how true happiness is grown, not grabbed.