The article reflects on nurturing relationships in 2025, covering parenting challenges like child care and tech use, and dating trends such as belief in love despite fewer relationships. It offers advice from Atlantic writers to strengthen connections in the new year.
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Meditations on how to nurture and strengthen your relationships in the new year Katie Martin / The Atlantic The approach of a new year is an opportunity to reflect on time spent with friends, family, and partners who have played a role in your life—and how you can improve these relationships.
For parents, 2025 might have been a year that felt fraught with questions about what it means to raise a child today. In 2025, Atlantic writers explored the challenges that can come with finding child care, the debate about whether to avoid ultra-processed foods, the questions of when—or where—kids should gain access to technology, and more.
Dating, a once classic rite of passage, is also changing, Faith Hill wrote this year. Yet even as fewer young people are getting into relationships, they do believe in love: According to one study that included more than 5,000 Americans, 60 percent of single adults said they believe in love at first sight, a nearly 30 percent increase from 2014.
With a new year comes the hope of change and betterment—so let these writers help you nurture and strengthen your relationships in the year ahead.
