Finland has been crowned the happiest country in the world, according to the 2026 World Happiness Report. Nordic countries have topped the happiness list for decades, and Denmark has consistently ranked in the top three.

American author Jessica Joelle Alexander believes the Danes have some habits worth importing in the U.S. to raise happy kids.

The author of the best-selling book "The Danish Way of Parenting" told CBS News about some of the child rearing customs that she thinks have helped keep the northern European nation so happy.

She sums it all up with a simple acronym: PARENT.

The P is for play.

"The most important thing for a child here is to play," she told CBS News.

"Free play is seen as so fundamental," she said, because it teaches "empathy, negotiation skills, critical thinking, collaboration, and an internal locus of control."

The A represents authenticity, and Alexander said it's about how Danes speak to their kids regarding the state of the world.

"I find that they're actually incredibly honest with their children, in an age-appropriate way," Alexander told CBS News. "I think the approach here is that, if it's part of life, it should be part of education, because life is not a fairy tale."

Denmark is famous for fairy tales—it is the home of Hans Christian Andersen, the 19th century author whose works include "The Little Mermaid."

"But the real fairy tales are actually very sad," Alexander said. "'The Little Mermaid,' in the real version, she dies of sadness. I read both versions to my daughter and I found she preferred the sad version. It opened up meaningful discussions."

Alexander said the honesty helps build resilience in children.

The R is for respect, the E for empathy, the N for "no ultimatums," and the T stands for togetherness.

A lot of factors likely contribute to Denmark's overall happiness: It scores high on the World Happiness Report in trust within society, for instance, and has low levels of inequality and a strong welfare system.

Parents, mothers and fathers, are allowed to take up to a year off when they have a baby.

Alexander said the U.S. is very different, but "just like Italy has great pasta and pizza and we've imported that in the rest of the world, Denmark has some great parenting practices I think we can incorporate."

The United States ranked 17th in this year's happiness report, below Mexico and Panama.

The report includes research, citing data from U.S. market research company Gallup and other studies, suggesting a drop in wellbeing among young people who use social media heavily.

Source