Mother’s Guide!! #Exam Stress!

The word “Examination” creates a fear in the minds of school-going children, to some extent, it’s healthy because it creates attention to do better in the subjects and bring good scores in the exam. Even the studious child, who is regular in studies and k eep himself updated, still the word Exam has an effect on him to concentrate on his subjects…but if exam disturbs the
child to such an extent that he runs away from appearing, then that’s a concern and he needs the attention of his parents and if still he is unmanageable, then the opinion of counselor should be taken to drain out the fear from his mind.My kids are no more in this stage, they are settled in their jobs, but in my society, there are many school-going children, so I get the opportunity to watch the reactions of the kids and their parents.Since a decade or more, I have been observing that the exam pressure is not only built in the minds of the children but their parents too are much tensed and they are after their child to mug up all the answers to
score high in class. I too took care of my children & sacrificed my ME time investing in their study hours but I never got tensed nor never ever did their homework or project work….These days, I find the parents completing their children’s project and homework and they spoon-feed their children. I find few reasons behind this behaviour…they have fear instilled in their minds that their child won’t score high if they invest their time in doing homework…for project work, they think that they will mess the
house so they better do it to maintain cleanliness around and further, they feel that their parents didn’t spoon-fed them and they take spoon-feeding in right notion.But here, I wish to say to the parents of this age to drop fears from their mind & take care not to instill fears in the minds of children. Their children can do much better if he is left to do it on their own…Man learns through trial & error method and by the mistakes, one corrects himself…same way if you let your child do his project on his own, there are
certainly chances that he will mess the house but he will learn how to do it skills and his creativity will bloom…same way if he does his homework on his own, the contents will remain in his mind and he won’t need a lot of extra time to learn….Stop spoon-feeding…let him evolve, learn & use his intellect.I observe that the parents are quite easygoing before the
exams and when exams approach, they confine the kids and themselves and start forcing the child to complete the assignments & the portion that is due to be asked in the examination…but this practice should be stopped. My thoughts differ from the crowd of today and I wish that all parents of today should adopt & inculcate healthy habits in their children and keep their life in routine in normal school days and not pressurize them during exams.

• Regular in Studies: Inculcate habits in your children to revise the taught lessons. The child should cover up all the portions of every subject on daily basis. If the child is regular in studies then he doesn’t have to invest a lot of time during exams. Regular study & revision is a must to minimize exam stress.

• Stop Spoon-feeding: Already mentioned above, Stop spoon-feeding. Out of affection, parents indulge in this practice but with this technique, your kid won’t be able to explore his ideas or use his creativity. Dropping this practice, you will find immense improvement in your child because
  using his own brain, he will become independent & his quality of thought
  will improve too with the passage of time.

• Give him a healthy Diet: Mommies instead of fretting & fuming over exams or mugging up lessons of your children, concentrate to cook a healthy diet for them including much of green & protein & avoiding junk or readymade food….I hear mother’s saying that she couldn’t cook due to the kid’s exam nearing or getting the homework completed & ordered from market. This practice will stunt physical & mental growth of the child and a school going child needs enough nutrients to boost his growth in all spheres.

• Assign time for Extra-activities: Assign fixed time for
  watching TV, playing computer or video games or any hobbies that your child has.
  Extra activities release the stress of the children and it refreshes their mind…Even
  during exams, they should be provided time for these activities.

• Proper Sleep: Adequate sleep is a must for growing children. Don’t let them over-stress during exams, rather they need to be peaceful during exams so that they can write the exams efficiently…at times, overstraining eads to a nervous breakdown. Sleep is essential to repair the cells of the body.

• Boost the morale of your child: Instead of saying, “You can’t do it”. Boost them that he can do it…It has a very positive impact on the child’s mind and his confidence builds up.

Exam time can be fun if the child is regular in revision. I have followed the above practice with my children and it yielded a positive result and it reduces exam stress to a great extent. Try this & you will see a wonderful change in your child’s behavior pattern. It’s solely my take and my observations.