In the first cover story of 2022, PW brings actionable goals-setting advice from a panel of reputed psychologists, nutritionists, parenting and lifestyle coaches to improve overall family health and well-being, writes Aurelin Ruth, Cynthia John & Mini P. The recently concluded year 2021 was transformed into an annus horribilis by the devastating Covid-19 pandemic which has officially claimed 485,000 lives countrywide and unofficially almost 5 million. In particular, the second wave of the pandemic which peaked last April-July destroyed lives and livelihoods on an unprecedented scale, forcing millions of parents and children to work and learn from home, best as they could. Unfortunately, the pandemic is not over. Omicron, a new variant of the novel Coronavirus, detected last November in South Africa, is spreading wildly in India and across the world. Therefore New Year 2022 celebrations were sombre and tentative. But the initial good news is that the Omicron variant is likely to be less lethal with medical experts predicting this third wave of the pandemic will flatten quickly. Nevertheless, onset of the New Year is traditionally a time for optimism and New Year Resolutions, even for forcibly domiciled, besieged families. In this pandemic era expert opinion recommends setting household en famille goals for health and well-being, academics, finance, and relationships building. Though traditionally, New Year resolutions are associated with individual goalssetting, to transform these worst of times into better, lifestyle gurus and parent counsellors recommend collective family resolutions and goals setting. “Being goal-oriented is like having a sense of direction in life. Where do you hope to go? What are you doing to get there? These kinds of questions are important for everyone. Therefore it’s important to set family goals together — and also help young people set and work toward their own goals in life. Goals setting can be particularly significant for teenagers, who are sorting out who they are and their place in the world,” says an essay published on www.searchinstitute.org (USA). In the first cover story of 2022, PW brings actionable goals-setting advice from a panel of reputed psychologists, nutritionists, parenting and lifestyle coaches to improve overall family health and well-being. Getting started “The past pandemic year has been challenging for most families as they coped with the stress of lockdowns, parents working and children learning, from home. The start of 2022 is a good occasion to reflect on the past year’s learnings and set new directions and goals for the year ahead. This serves the important purpose of connecting all family members towards common goals and realising positive change,” says Rajat Soni, a Mumbai-based parenting coach and positive discipline educator. Brainstorming. To get the family goalsetting process started, Soni recommends convening a meeting of all family members and encouraging everyone to share their dreams and desires for self and the family. What are their prime aspirations for this year for themselves and the family unit? “Record all resolutions and ideas in a notebook. After that, brainstorm on ways and means to make these goals work…
