The organizers of the Decade for Childhood have formulated Ten Pillars of a Good Childhood as basic requirements for an optimal childhood. The pillars can be used to analyze the quality of childhood in homes and nations, and to guide policies and practices related to the experience of childhood. In this article, the author shall illustrate, pillar by pillar, a few high points about childhood today and also touch on issues that erode childhood, taking her examples from Finnish culture. People have grown interested in the Finnish approach to education and child rearing, due to the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) results showing that, for the past decade, 15-year-old Finnish students have been among the highest-performing students in all the 34 OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. (Contains 1 figure and 4 notes.)