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Parents must support children during exams

Parents, your children desperately need your help during this testing time. Especially, if they have just written their Class 12 exams and preparing for a series of entrance exams.

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Parents, your children desperately need your help during this testing time. Especially, if they have just written their Class 12 exams and preparing for a series of entrance exams.

At this crucial juncture, parents need to be their children's pillars of support, on which they can lean for all their needs. Be it in solving academic problems or dealing with the psychological and emotional duress that accompanies the entrance tests, parents have varied roles to play, experts say. Be for them 24X7.

CET, COMED-K, IIT-JEE, AIEEE-…  all these entrance tests are stressful and strenuous for teenagers. “Parents play a pivotal role in students’ success in these competitive examinations. Remember, entrance exams also test students mentally. That is why constant support of parents is needed for youngsters to perform well in such exams,” says Manjula Raman, a student counsellor and principal of Army Public School, Bangalore.

Their primary advice: don’t pressure students to perform well in their exam, as it only stresses them out. Parents also have to take the lead in creating a conducive atmosphere at home, to help children concentrate on their studies. “It’s an opportunity for parents to build friendship with their children and be a guide. Be a source of encouragement, help them build confidence and beat the exam blues,” she adds.

Children absorb parents’ feelings. If the parents get worried and stressed out over their performance, the children sense their feelings and adopt them. Expert advice: Stay calm and relaxed. Even if your are doubtful about the result, make sure the children don't sense that.

Sometimes, there might be a crisis in the family during this crucial time, let it not affect the child's studies and performance in the exams.

SN Omkar, career counsellor and principal research scientist of the aerospace engineering department at Indian Institute of Science (IISc), says: “Parents should reassure their children that they are more concerned about their well-being than results.” Lay stress on healthy eating habits and ensure that your children don’t lose on nutrition. Avoid sugary snacks and junk food and instead insist on proper meals and healthy foodstuff like fruits and nuts.

Student counsellors also ask parents to explain to their sons and daughters that studying at the eleventh hour doesn’t help much and the importance of a good night’s sleep before the exam day.
See to it that they take regular study breaks, that’s another important thing. If you want your ward to take a break from the idiot box and concentrate on studying, the whole family should restrain from watching TV. Noise can be the primary source of distraction for studying kids.

“Parents need to create a healthy routine while their wards are preparing for the exams. Parents can break the revision time into small chunks. Hour-long sessions with short breaks at the end of each session often work well,” Raman suggests. Parents can also offer to help with testing or ask if there is something that you can do for them. Most importantly, if your child is using the Internet to aid studies, ensure that s/he is using it exactly for that.
Exam season is a testing time for parents as well.

Many Bangalore parents have taken a month-long break from work to help their children in their final exams. “I am trying my best to provide as much support as possible to my son, who will be taking up his AIEEE exam on May 1. I never force my son to study. He follows a routine and I am confident that my son will perform well,” says Amrita K.

It’s mandatory for a parent to know the son’s or daughter’s revision timetable, as well as know exactly the date, time and venue of each examination. Students too agree that parent support is of paramount importance. Kavya Sharat, who topped both the medical and engineering streams at COMED-K 2010, credited her supportive parents for her success. “It would have been simply impossible for me to accomplish the feat wasn’t for my parents’ support. Good or bad times, they always stood by me. They believed in me whole-heartedly and I too did not disappoint them,” Kavya sums up.

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