As the world welcomes 2021, your editors interviewed several lifestyle gurus who advise a reset of minds and attitudes to practice FRESH — Fitness, Return to minimalist living, Education, Slowing Down and Home Life — to restore the physical, social, emotional and educational well-being of parents and children in the post-pandemic era – Archana N, Mini P & Cynthia John

Although officially mandated social distancing restrictions in countries around the world prevented people from publicly celebrating the end of 2020 — the worst annus horribilis in recent memory — publics worldwide were undoubtedly more than happy to witness the end of a year during which the Coronavirus aka Covid-19 pandemic rained disease and death — 82.6 million infections and 1.8 million fatalities worldwide (December 31).

In India, thousands of MSMEs (micro small and medium enterprises) have closed shop, GDP is set to contract by 7.7 percent in the fiscal year ending March 31, adult unemployment has risen to 37 million and schools, colleges and universities with an aggregate enrolment of 290 million children and youth have been shuttered for over nine months.

But, even as a second wave of Covid-19 infections has hit the UK, Europe and the US, the new year has signalled a new dawn. Several big pharma companies — Pfizer, Astra-Zeneca, Bharat Biotech among others — claim to have invented new anti-Covid vaccines and mass vaccination campaigns are being rolled out worldwide. In India, the first despatches of Astra-Zeneca’s Covishield, manufactured by the Pune-based private sector Serum Institute of India — reportedly the world’s largest serums producer — and Covaxin manufactured by the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech have begun. India Inc expects business as usual with a bang to begin after presentation of the Union budget on February 1.

Yet, though 2020 will be etched in millions of minds for the horrors of the pandemic, it also forced considerable introspection. Stay-at-home orders which forced families indoors enabled family members to spend quality time together; health, nutrition, fitness and mental well-being assumed great importance; and education changed radically with teachers, parents and students quickly adopting digital online technologies to maintain learning continuity. As the world welcomes 2021, your editors interviewed several lifestyle gurus who advise a reset of minds and attitudes to practice FRESH — Fitness, Return to minimalist living, Education, Slowing down and Home — to restore the physical, social, emotional and educational well-being of parents and children in the post-pandemic era.

Fitness

Fear of contracting the Covid-19 virus has focused the attention of the great Indian middle class on health and fitness as never before. Although gyms across the country remained closed for most part of 2020, living rooms, terraces, and bedrooms have transformed into makeshift workout hubs with parents and children logging on to television channels and Youtube exercise videos and signing up for health and fitness apps. Family workouts and parent-child exercise sessions have become the new normal.

Lifestyle and mental health gurus are unanimous. To recover from the trauma of the prolonged national lockdown of the pandemic, it’s critical that in 2021 households integrate regular exercise into the daily regimen. “Regular physical exercise and healthy diets are vital to recover from lockdown blues. Just 30 minutes of daily exercise can do wonders. Especially yoga sessions which involve meditation and breathing exercises to strengthen the lungs and alleviate stress. A good new year resolution is to make a time window for daily exercise, online or offline,” says Sunayna S.P, a Bengaluru-based yoga instructor.

Some 2020 fitness trends which should be continued in 2021.

Zoom boom. From pilates to yoga, belly dancing to aerobics there’s an array of excellent online fitness programmes which should be persisted with. In the new year, Chennai-based software engineer Sangeetha J. and her two children have signed up for an online dance class coordinated with their cousins in the US, taught by a teacher in Salem, Tamil Nadu. “This is a truly global classroom with families from around the world connecting through Zoom to exercise together,” says Sangeetha.

Bodyweight training. This requires minimal equipment and became super popular in 2020 when the pandemic forced families indoors. Push-ups/yoga are examples of self-directed bodyweight training.
Family workout sessions. With outdoor travel and socialisation not advisable, families should continue to work out together either from home or outdoors.

Return to simple minimalist living. In a 53-minute documentary The Minimalists: Less is Now trending on Netflix, minimalists Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus discuss why minimalism is a lifestyle change that should be adopted for mental well-being and reasons of environment sustainability. They advocate sharp reduction of personal consumption and unbridled consumerism.

“The prolonged lockdown forced the public —including the middle and upper classes — to learn to live with less of everything — food, shopping, travel, partying. This forced new lifestyle has prompted reflection and introspection. People have become aware that they can manage with less. Less consumption and consumerism reduces throwaways and trash which is good for the planet. It would be in the public interest if people minimised their wants and parents especially teach children the connection between excessive consumerism and damage to the environment,” says Durga Yadulla of the Aahawan Foundation, Bengaluru.

With minimal living emerging as the new lifestyle mantra, social media is awash with implementation ideas and recommendations. Among the immediately actionable are disposing five-ten items of clothing and apparel from jammed cupboards, de-cluttering homes and limiting shopping to needs rather than wants.

Blended Education

The Covid-19 pandemic has radically altered teaching-learning norms. With preschools, schools, colleges and universities in lockdown since last March, institutions, teachers, students and parents were forced to adopt and adapt new IT-enabled online technologies to maintain learning continuity of children. The huge benefits of new technologies-enabled learning should not be surrendered. Therefore, even as school campuses reopen, blended learning — optimal combination of conventional classroom and online learning — should be retained.

R. Manoj, clinical & child psychologist, Manoj’s Psychotherapy and Counseling Clinic, Chennai, believes that blended learning provides parents “a wonderful opportunity” to encourage children to develop self-learning skills. “The positives of home-based online learning are that they make children technologically adept and simultaneously encourage them to self-learn. Self-directed learning is critical for children to become independent learners, thinkers and problem solvers. This is a great time for parents to encourage children to learn to discover, experience and self-learn,” says Manoj.

Moreover, as online schooling transforms homes into centres of learning, parental involvement in children’s education will substantially increase. “In 2021, parents should continue providing children academic support at home as schools may not be fully functional. Though for most working-from-home parents this is a difficult balancing act, many have reported that supplementing children’s learning at home has been a rewarding experience,” says Sharanya Eshwaran, founder and managing director, Pentad Academy, Bengaluru, an after-school learning centre.

Geetha Iyer, a Bengaluru-based naturopathy doctor, and mother of an eight-year-old girl child concurs. “Children don’t learn enough in online classes. Parents have to supplement online learning at home especially for preschool and primary children, who need individual attention and mentoring which is rare in formal classrooms. In the new year, parents should continue to discharge the role of secondary teachers even after children return to school campuses,” advises Iyer.

Slowing down

2020 was the year for introspection, self-reliance and slow living. The dread virus put a brake on fast-lane lifestyles of the new millennium years. Work, family, academics, education, travel… all came to a standstill. Retaining the gains of slowing down will enable parents to alleviate stress and develop well-adjusted, emotionally stable, happy and healthy children.

Indeed, parenting experts and counsellors are almost unanimous that the advantages of ‘slow parenting’ — encouraging children to learn, live and grow at their own pace in non-stressful environments — should not be lost. “The pandemic has given children and parents a well-deserved break from hectic school schedules, academic tuitions and after-school music/sports classes. The forced slowdown of the pandemic has had the beneficial impact of reducing parental and child stress. Parents need to retain the benefits of the slowdown and wind down stimulation and pace of children’s lives. This is the best gift we can give them. When parents slow down, they will realise that their own stress and anxiety levels also reduce considerably,” says Dr. Geetha Appachu, a Bengaluru-based psychologist.

Home LIFE

The prolonged national lockdown necessitated by the pandemic has had the unintended effect of transforming residential homes into offices and classrooms, thanks to sophisticated information communication technologies (ICT). Suddenly, homes — at least of the middle and upper classes — have transformed from dormitories into buzzing workplaces where family members work, study and dine together. This metamorphosis with profound lifestyle changes is likely to persist in 2021 and beyond.

“The home is now the centre of all activities. Parents work from home, children study from home and all socialisation happens at home. On the positive side, this transformation has bonded families and prompted spouses and children to share household chores. But on the negative side, parents are also experiencing the stress of having to balance work, childcare and household chores. It will take some time — perhaps years — before an optimal balance can be achieved. But homes also becoming centres of economic activity and teaching can’t be a bad thing,” says Dr. Padam Kanwar Bhati, psychologist at Wings Within, Bengaluru.

Dr. Sarat Sundar, clinical psychologist, Government District Hospital, Kerala Health Services, Palakkad, believes this development will have the beneficial effect of strengthening family bonds and relationships. “The lockdown has highlighted the importance of home and family relationships. Going forward, parents who divide their time between home and office will spend more time with children and enable and support their goals without burdening them with unrealistic expectations. My advice is don’t neglect the relationship-building skills learned and built during the lockdown period,” says Dr. Sundar.

4 ways to boost family immunity in 2021

Dr. Gita Mathai, well-known Vellore-based paediatrician and author of Staying Healthy in Modern India (2016), has four suggestions to boost the body’s innate immunity in the new year:

• Exercise regularly. It increases the heart rate and circulation, pumping blood through dilated vessels and supplying an army of white bloodcells and immunoglobulins to the body.
• Eliminate or reduce alcohol and tobacco consumption.
• Balanced diets are important for boosting immunity. Introduce 4-6 helpings of fruits and vegetables and 10 nuts such as almonds rich in antioxidants and micronutrients, into your daily diet.
• Immunity-boosting foods include curry leaves, papaya, broccoli, spinach, capsicum and citrus fruits. Spices such as pepper and turmeric and additives like garlic and ginger also boost immunity. Probiotics are naturally present in yoghurt and other home-made fermented foods which ward off infections.