In my last column, I complained quite a bit about Dutch food. But for children, the Netherlands is paradise on Earth, according to a 2008 World Health Organization report and a 2007 UNICEF survey, rating Dutch children to be the "happiest kids in the world."

The UNICEF survey, the first comprehensive assessment of its kind, compared the position of children in 21 OECD countries based on their wealth, health, education standards, behavior, and family and peer relationships. It also assessed their subjective perception of well-being by asking children at ages 11, 13 and 15 to rate their lives using a "life satisfaction ladder."

As a result, Dutch kids' relative happiness ranked highest while that of the United States and Britain came lowest.

This was no surprise to the Dutch.

First, parents here have a lot of time to spend with their kids, backed by the social system that allows many to work part time. Then, there's the freedom the kids enjoy, with standards that are unthinkable compared to many of their peers.

Sixty percent of female workers and 30 percent of all workers work part time, with many moms and dads working just three or four days a week. The free weekdays are dedicated to children. Dutch parents are also ranked among the highest in the survey for the time they spend "just talking" to their children.

Many don't mind bringing kids to and from school four times on such days because it is considered preferable for young children to have lunch at home with their parents.

Close contact of parents with the school seems to create good communication. Dutch children were found to suffer much less from school bullying than many others.

The possibility of working part time and the very little overtime Dutch workers do made Holland's average yearly working hours the lowest among OECD countries, at 1,391 hours.

So at 6 p.m., many children are having dinner at home with both parents.

The above may be common in many countries that ranked high in the survey. But a second aspect about freedom is probably what brought Holland to the top of the list.

Eighteen-year-old Charlotte said she sometimes smokes marijuana at parties but that her parents are cool about it.

"They don't say anything because, at my age, it's legal. But I don't smoke that often because it's no fun. They are not provoked by it," she said.

Many Dutch parents also take a tolerant attitude about sex at a young age while trying to control the situation in some way.

The neighbor of my mother-in-law started giving contraceptive pills to her daughter at age 14, allowing her boyfriend to stay over in her room on weekends.

"We decided it was better to let things happen under our own roof, than not knowing where our daughter is in the middle of the night," she said.

Dutch children's freedom goes a step further.

At school, they address their teachers by their first names and very casually (for example, "Jan! Can you explain a bit more clearly?").

And because they are encouraged to express their opinions, they are even allowed to negotiate rules, at school and at home.

"In this country, everything is based on negotiations, not on dictation," said Nicole, a good friend of my family and a mother of a 4-year-old.

According to Nicole's partner, Pieter, the habit of negotiating comes from the "polder model" (the consensus decision-making in politics that Holland is famous for).

But while that in itself is a good concept, it's tiring if it takes place at home all the time, he said.

"They should do a survey to see if Dutch parents are also happy," he said.