BONUS! How to Raise a Viking audiobook extractBONUS! How to Raise a Viking audiobook extract
How To Be Sad with Helen Russell
Helen Russell shares an audiobook extract from "How to Raise a Viking", reflecting on pregnancy, birth and early parenting in Denmark and across the Nordic countries. The story blends humour, research and personal experience to show how strong social support and equality shape calmer, more confident parenting.
21:20•20 Mar 2024
Raising Little Vikings: Nordic Parenting, Birth Stories and Big Feelings
Episode Overview
- Nordic pregnancy care focuses on low-intervention, high-trust support, with midwives holding significant responsibility and respect.
- Finland’s baby box is part of a wider commitment to prenatal care and equality, contributing to very low infant mortality rates.
- High taxes in Nordic countries are framed as investment in healthcare, education and reduced inequality, which is linked to greater happiness.
- New parents are encouraged to rely less on consumerism and more on practical support, hand-me-downs and community resources.
- There is growing recognition in Denmark that parents need honest conversations about the emotional shock and vulnerability of early parenthood.
“Vikings don’t change their lifestyle just because they’re pregnant.”
What drives someone to seek a calmer, more grounded way of raising kids? This bonus episode offers a sneak peek into Helen Russell’s audiobook "How to Raise a Viking", giving you a front-row seat to her decade of parenting in Denmark. The extract drops you into Helen’s life as she moves through pregnancy and birth in a Nordic system that feels both stripped back and surprisingly supportive.
From midwives using an old-school ear trumpet to check the baby’s heartbeat, to hospitals where the official packing list is literally just "toothbrush", you’ll hear how much trust the system places in parents – and how that trust lowers the pressure. Helen shares funny and sharp observations about "Viking" attitudes to pregnancy: “Vikings don’t change their lifestyle just because they’re pregnant,” she notes, as she recounts cycling, eating sushi, and side‑eye from more anxious internationals.
The story then widens out to cover Finland’s famous baby box and what it says about equality and safety, especially around SIDS and early parenting fears. The episode also touches on tough realities: shell‑shock after birth, breastfeeding struggles, and the pressure on Nordic women to be endlessly strong. You’ll hear from figures like Nana Schultz and midwife Louise Simsick, who talk about control, vulnerability, and why it helps to admit when parenting feels hard.
Woven through it all is a clear link between welfare systems, lower inequality, and reduced stress, backed by researchers such as Shigeru Oishi, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. If you’re sober, rethinking life choices, or just curious how different cultures support parents emotionally and practically, this taster offers humour, honesty and a few mesh-underwear war stories. It might leave you asking: what would raising a "little Viking" look like in your own life?
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