For all 260 million households of the world’s most populous democracy — and perhaps for households worldwide — the year 2021 has proved to be the most tragic 12 months of the new millennium. The recently concluded year was defined by images widely circulated on social media, newspapers and television of people gasping for breath outside crowded hospitals; desperate citizens scrambling for oxygen cylinders; mass funeral pyres and exhausted doctors and nurses. Officially, the novel Coronavirus and its variants have claimed 484,000 lives in India, but according to unofficial estimates, ten multiples of that number. The New Year 2022 promises more of the same. Omicron — a new mutation of the novel Coronavirus — has precipitated an alarming spurt of virus infections across the country with new cases touching 250,000 on January 12. Schools which had cautiously opened their doors to students last November after an unprecedented education lockdown of 60-70 weeks, have been ordered to shutter again countrywide. Children fortunate to afford Internet connectivity and digital devices are once again back to learning from home best they can, while millions of children in rural India lacking connectivity and digital gadgets are compounding their already heavy learning loss. The good news is that the third pandemic wave will flatten quickly and perhaps the worst is over. In this New Year issue of ParentsWorld we recommend ways and means for parents to put the past disabling, disruptive year behind and make new, positive resolutions for themselves and their families. In this upbeat story, we present actionable goals-setting advice from a panel of expert psychologists, nutritionists, parenting and life style coaches under five basic heads — health and nutrition, family bonding, financial planning, good habits, and physical fitness. There’s much else in this New Year issue of PW. Check out our Early Childhood story featuring recovery guidelines for new mothers, Middle Years essay in which child psychologist Aarti C. Rajaratnam offers advice on making New Year rules for the family, and Health & Nutrition story recommending energy boosting foods for children. Wishing all PW readers a happier and healthier 2022! Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp
