Invariably the New Year of all — not merely the Gregorian — calendars fill people with hope, optimism and good cheer. The air of celebration and positivity prompts people to dismiss the failures and bad times of the year past as bygones and set new lifestyle improvement goals for personal fulfilment and happiness. It’s a time for making New Year Resolutions (NYRs) in pursuit of happiness.
NYRs are a centuries-old tradition dating to the 6th century when Babylonians made promises to the Gods at the beginning of the year to pay their debts. This tradition has persisted and many (including your editors) continue to make them despite awareness that in the hurly-burly of daily life, most of them will fall by the wayside. According to the US News & World Report, the failure rate of NYRs is 80 percent with most people losing their resolves by mid-February. But despite NYRs being so ephemeral, a University of Scranton study highlights that people who make them are ten times more likely to realise positive change in their lives.
Therefore with 2025 — according to the globally dominant Gregorian calendar — having commenced, this is a good time for parents and children to evaluate the past year’s lapses and resolve to adopt better lifestyle practices. In our New Year cover story, we suggest ways and means for families to quit normative bad habits and develop healthy, life-enriching lifestyles. Unlike impulsive resolutions that tend to focus on a specific goal or change, changing deeply entrenched injurious habits is a more worthwhile resolution. In this New Year issue, we present curated actionable advice from a panel of reputed pediatricians, psychologists, nutritionists, parenting and lifestyle coaches to break five common bad habits and resolve to improve family life, especially children’s physical health and mental well-being.
In our Middle Years section, we highlight the dangers of noise pollution to children’s health — hearing loss; stress and mental health disorders; sleep disturbance, and impaired cognitive functioning. Also check out the insightful Adolescence essay in which parenting coach Nikhil Gupta makes a strong case for parents to rethink rewards and punishment parenting. According to Gupta, while it may give short-term results in some cases, transactional parenting diminishes the natural intelligence of children and their capability to determine what’s right for them. And in our informative ‘Ask your counselor’ and ‘Ask the doctor’ columns, experts answer parents’ queries ranging from hyperactivity to remedies for dehydration and appetite loss.
Wishing all PW readers a great start to 2025!
