And what America can learn from them — A little over a year ago, my husband and his two daughters moved from Denmark, voted the second happiest country in the world, to America, the eighteenth country on that list. Here’s what they think so far. American schools look like jails When my 10-year-old step-daughter joined a (well-ranked) public school in Brooklyn, she asked…

Sometimes I’m just as puzzled as he is — For a year and a half since moving to New York and then Los Angeles from his home country of Denmark, my husband has been asking me questions about this weird country of ours that I sometimes struggle to answer. It’s not that his questions are difficult. It’s just that…

Two polar-opposite people from two polar-opposite countries — You couldn’t find two countries more different than America and Denmark. The huge vs. the tiny. The loud vs. the quiet. The money-obsessed vs. the equality-driven. The huge egos vs. no egos at all. The fourteenth Happiest Country on Earth vs. the second. …

We can’t all move to Denmark, but we can bring some of it to us — When adjusting to life in Copenhagen, I noticed that things were very different in Denmark from back home in New York City. Locals seemed more relaxed, less addicted to their phones, more present with one another. Streets were quieter, shops and restaurants played gentle music on low volume. …

Seven ways to think like one — Reading Charlie Brown and Melissa Frost’s Medium articles got me thinking about minimalism. To my surprise, I quickly realized that I was, in fact, a budding minimalist. As Melissa cleverly pointed out, it’s not about living in a house with white walls and three pieces of furniture. …

Life is a series of screw-ups, you might as well embrace them — Every time I think I have life all figured out, I mess it all up again. “Life is an up-and-down trajectory,” my best friend recently told me. “As long as every up is a little higher, you’re good,” she concluded. I liked the idea. It gave me room to screw…

Confessions of a bad mom — Like a bipolar mom, since the birth of my daughter 2.5 years ago, I’ve been swinging between “I’m a great mom” and “I really suck at this.” And who’s to tell me which one I am? Certainly not American media. Or my mom (back in her days… blah blah). Or…

Forget cheerios on napkins; it gets worse — Five months ago, I wrote about my daughter starting her part-time attendance at a local preschool in Santa Monica, California. Back then, I was surprised by the lack of food education, the amount of paperwork, and the lingering anxiety among teachers. I’m happy to report that the teachers seem less…

Tax returns and dirty diapers — My Danish husband is anything but a romantic. Yet he became even less so since we moved to the U.S. According to him, it’s impossible to have the time and energy left for anything romantic when you live in America (with three kids). So, needless to say, I’m in charge…