I liked this book, it made me laugh out loud. As always, reading about parenting in other cultures is fascinating to me. However, other than move to Amsterdam, this book really did not have a lot of practical advice for life here in states.

I've gone around Europe in terms of parenting books this past year. Through France, Denmark, Germany, and now the Netherlands with this book, and the main difference with this one is the lack of transferable advice to one's own situation.

The other's had nuggets of wisdom, from cooking together or prioritizing cozy family time, but the section in this book that tried to do that ended with suggesting a "social revolution" to change the way parenting operates in the US. That was a bit frustrating as I feel like there were ample opportunities to tie in the Dutch success back to the reader.

Nevertheless, I really enjoyed learning what the priorities were for the Dutch parents and their very pragmatic approach to child rearing. My favorite tidbits I learned were the passion for biking, that the average Dutch family has 3 or 4 kids due to the culture of part-time work and subsidized child care and that they really focus on a family dinner around 6pm. Oh, and sprinkles on toast for breakfast! I'm definitely going to do that with my toddler as I did find that a magical way to start the day when traveling Holland!

I'm now on the hunt for a similar book that highlights the positives of parenting in the US/Canada as I'm starting to get jealous of all these expats, but I'm sure there's something to say in this space!

I think this book was attempting to copy Bringing up Bebe- as an imitation, it fails quite significantly. As a standalone, it is intriguing to learn more of Dutch culture.

If that Fil-Am author from the Bay Area can do it, then so can I goddamn it 😭

Quick easy read and it was nice to see the perspective from two different mothers of children in different age groups. Always enjoy a book that describes or explains how another country's perspective on raising children and the different philosophies.