New Year Resolutions 2021

Turning a New Leaf

It’s here at last. 2021 has begun and we can finally say goodbye to the annus horribilis that was 2020. A new year is an opportunity for a fresh start and people have been making new year resolutions for a very long time. Whether they have been able to stick with them is another matter!

Last year we ran a survey asking children if they make resolutions and, if so, how many. For this week’s poll we decided to ask the same question to see whether the results had changed. By the way, if you would like to see the results of last year’s poll just follow this link: New Year Resolutions 2020.

We asked 2,723 school-aged children how many new year resolutions they had made, offering a choice of none, one, two, three, or more than three. Here are the results:

• Almost half of children (46%) said they had made no resolutions
• 18% have made the traditional one resolution
• 11% opted to make two resolutions
• 6% have made three resolutions
• About a fifth (19%) said they have made three or more resolutions

How the Results Compare

As you might expect, the results of the two surveys broadly match – with one exception: the number of children making no resolutions has jumped sharply, from 34% last year to 46% this.

The numbers making one, two or three resolutions have barely changed. For one resolution the percentage has dropped by one, from 19% to 18%. Two resolutions is also in the same area, now 11% down from 13% last year. Three resolutions has also dropped slightly from 8% to 6%. But the biggest change comes in the number of children making more than three resolutions. That has dropped from over a quarter last year (26%) to less than a fifth (19%).

Do Children Care Less About Self-Improvement?

The number of respondents to both our polls means that the results give a good idea of how children think. That being the case, it seems that children might be making less of an effort to better themselves. After all, that is the whole point of resolutions – to kick our bad habits and to pick up better ones.

It is tempting to think that the events of 2020 might have affected children. With exams being cancelled and schools being closed for much of the year, perhaps this has dampened children’s drive. The lockdown and all the measures associated with it have taken their toll on us all in their own way.

Perhaps that is reading to much into the results. It may well be just a blip. It will be interesting to see how the results of next year’s poll go. But that might depend on what sort of a year 2021 turns out to be.

Happy New year, from all of us here at Education Quizzes!