Parents! It is all too easy to put too much pressure on our kids. We sometimes think that our kids do not know how important the exams that they are doing actually are. My experience mostly is that the kids know precisely the importance of the exams. Your support and how you help them can often help or hinder their progress.
Read the following article for some more help about how to support your kids.
A few key pointers
1. Don't keep going on and on about the lack of revision your child seems to be doing. Try to be supportive and positive. If you feel you need to push your child to more work - do this positively
2. Offer your help - offer to help with organising files, asking questions etc But try to be interested and ask questions like 'What did you learn about tonight?' - better than 'How much did you do tonight?'
3. Don't be fooled by the door closed - must be working! Kids do need silent atmospheres to do learning. Turn the TV off. Some music without words is ok during written work but in the last days before exams - no music should be coming through the walls at all!
4. Support by treat! Pop in with a cup of coffee, a choc bar etc from time to time. This is called 'positive intervention'. You can even push it further by offering to tape fav programmes or sit on the bed for a quick chat.
5. Kids should have breaks - current research is that kids should have breaks every 45 mins or so - for 5 - 10 mins. Help to manage these - but positively - instead of saying 'right, back up for another hour.' say something like 'ok, do want me to get you a coffee and bit of cake ready for your next break - when will that be?'
6. Take care - more and more kids are starting to burn out because of exam stresses. Help your kids by watching for too much work. Order them out to the cinema or with some mates!
Go back to Revision page