Ask any parent, and they would tell you that 2025 has been a roller coaster ride. School schedules witnessed unprecedented disruptions, the kind that were last seen during the covid-19 pandemic years. Early on, the Indo Pak conflict led to classes being suspended for some days, bringing with it a sense of uncertainty as well. Kids went back to hybrid classes several times this year\u2014be it due to rain, storm or the never-ending smog. As Wi-Fi networks groaned under the demand for increased bandwidth, parents scrambled around to fix their schedules to accommodate these changes, which often were announced at the last minute. Given the anxiety that news of conflicts and disasters brought, many urgent conversations took place to soothe worries. After this year, many parents plan to update their resumes with newly-acquired skills of \u201canytime anywhere counsellors\u201d and manic multi-taskers.<\/p>\n
2025 also saw new words being added to the Gen Alpha lingo. Parents, who had just about begun to level up, found themselves back to square one as tweens and teens updated their vocabulary with words like \u201cbussin\u201d, \u201cgyatt\u201d, \u201cmewing\u201d, and \u201cfanum tax\u201d. New trends such as Ghibli aesthetic and \u201c6 7\u201d went viral\u2014I am yet to fully understand what the latter means.<\/p>\n
2025 will also be remembered as the year the Swifties woke up from a trance as their idol\u2019s new album, The Life of a Showgirl, was not all they thought it would be. Some even shifted their allegiance to K-Pop Demon Hunters, which became a global phenomenon. Gen Z lost its head over Saiyaara, and later 1975\u2019s Sholay turned out to be a big bonding exercise for families, with three generations watch ing the classic on the big screen together. Kids got newer idols in the form of the Indian women\u2019s cricket and squash teams, who showed a lot of grit.<\/p>\n
With new visa rules and increasing intolerance towards migrants in the West, families started to look towards South-East and West Asia for higher education, a trend that was buoyed by new partnerships between leading universities. This is a shift that will continue to unfold in the coming year as well.<\/p>\n
Also Read | Why it’s important to give the kids a glimpse of your younger self<\/a><\/p>\n If there was one issue that kept parents awake, it was vaping\u2014with students as young as 12-13 turning to e-cigarettes and vape pens due to peer pressure. Parents, counsellors and teachers started working together on preventive education, though many are still struggling with it. One also heard of different styles of par enting this year\u2014\u2018plastic wrap parenting\u2019, marked by excessive control of the child being the most talked about.<\/p>\n Singers from the ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters’ perform in the US on Christmas. The film has become a global cultural phenomenon(Getty Images via AFP)<\/p>\n All in all, it turned out to be a busy and exciting year for both kids and parents. For me, it was a landmark one as my daughter entered her teen years and became my unofficial tech support. Small new rituals entered our lives: Bonding over Lego, thriller series and theatre. 2025, to me, was defined not by milestones or internet dictated labels, but by these small-big moments with her. There are many like me\u2014fellow parents, educators, counsellors, authors\u2014whose year was enriched by such conversations with children about books, apps, OTT series, and social media, that led them to reflect on the world in newer ways.<\/p>\n Expression over perfection: At The Art Studio Mumbai\u2014a studio that provides art education programmes for all age groups\u2014facilitator and founder Purnima Sampat noticed that by the time children reached grades 3-4, something changed in their art. The fearless scribblers begin to hesitate. \u201cChildren began to sense a gap between what they imagine and what their hands can make,\u201d she says. They started to equate \u2018good\u2019 art with realism, and the gap started to feel like failure. This year, she came across Ish by Peter A. Reynolds in a bookstore and read it in class. In the book, Ramon stops drawing because his brother laughs. So many kids identified with that. And then came the word ish. \u201cMy animal is horse-ish\u201d. \u201cThis is sort of castle-ish\u201d. \u201cOne child looked up and asked, with genuine relief, \u2018So\u2026 ish is allowed?\u2019,\u201d she shares. \u201cFrom that point on, fewer papers were scrunched. Children stayed with awkward marks longer. They explained what they were trying to do instead of apologising for what they hadn\u2019t achieved.\u201d Ish did what no amount of explaining could\u2014it gave children permission, in a language they understood, to keep going.<\/p>\n Understanding pride: For Siddhant Shah, Granddad\u2019s Pride by Harry Woodgate was an eye opener. \u201cWe never think of discussing gender and queerness with our grandparents, especially in India. This book broke so many mental barriers for me as well,\u201d says the disability access consultant and founder of Access For ALL. It gave him newer tools to work on themes of gender and intersectionality with kids. Granddad\u2019s Pride is now part of Access For ALL’s pop-up library called READ_ Inclusive at schools and corporate spaces. The teachers were a bit skeptical of allowing the team to keep this book in the schools, but it led children to have complex conversations on the topic in a non-judgemental space.<\/p>\n