Chinese New Year and PY habits

On Tuesday 1 February, the Chinese New Year begins. It is a 16-day festivity that is celebrated according to the Chinese lunisolar calendar and is observed by millions of people in China and abroad. It is the most important holiday in the Chinese calendar and was traditionally a time to honour the household, heavenly deities and ancestors. Like most New Year celebrations, the Chinese New Year is centred around removing the bad and the old and welcoming the new and the good. Following the western New Year, PY carried out a series of reflections on habits. 

I begin the new year with New Year’s resolutions, because one of our PY values is goal setting – Ms Emily, PY Deputy Principal 

The Chinese New Year traditionally starts with a big cleaning of the house, as it is a way of clearing out the old by sweeping away the dust. This year’s Chinese New Year is marked by the Tiger, the king of all beasts in China, and well known for its bravery, confidence and strength, a creature with very good habits.  

In PY it is the goal-setting gorilla that is the animal of focus as the new year rolls in. For the last couple of weeks, both PY teachers and students worked on New Year's resolutions, focusing assemblies on the importance of different habits. “We talked about setting SMART [Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely] goals, and being able to achieve the goals in order to develop good habits”, says Ms Emily.  

Students discussed and explored what good habits are, acknowledging that there are bad ones and how to possibly change them. Ms Amba carried on with a video based on Charles Duhigg’s book on ‘The Power of Habit’, which talked about the habit loop. Inviting PY’s Grade 5 sport prefects, they went on to explore different kinds of exercises, as well as their values for physical and mental wellbeing. 

Many students have made a post on a Padlet page to announce their habits, old and new ones. Here are a few student examples: 

“I would like the change habit of watching tv. Instead I want to start reading more books.” – Ashanur, Grade 3 

“Bad Habits: Procrastinating, not eating enough vegetables, interrupting my mom when she is on the phone, breaking new year's resolutions. Good Habits: Drawing everyday, playing with my dog, exercising everyday with my friends, badminton class, being open to some new things, helping my friends and my dog.” – Arzoo, Grade 3 

“I want to do well this term, exercise and stop getting angry for the smallest things.” - Saanvi, Grade 3 

“Old habit: Picky about food. New habit: Developed a new taste for different varieties of food.” – Revant, Grade 4 

“Old habit: Keeping work pending for a long time. New habit: I would like to change is to start finishing my class work. Old habit: Reading only 4-5 pages daily. New habit - Read more books on Epic and physically, and finish 1 book per week.” - Samarth, Grade 4 

“I would like to start making a timetable for the week and write down habits that I will follow and mark if I'm done.” - Dheekshita, Grade 4 

“Bad Habit: Pronouncing words wrong. Good Habit: Finishing tasks quickly and with good quality. A habit I would want to change: I would like to slow down when I speak and try to pronounce and say sentences better.” - Unnati, Grade 5 

“I would like to read more books and reduce my screen time. I would also like to run for at least 10 minutes every morning and make it my daily routine.” - Siddhartha, Grade 5 

“I would like to make my bed every day. I would like to keep my desk organised. I would like to finish all my work then go to play.” - Riya, Grade 5 

As the New Year has begun, what are your old habits and new ones?