Postscript
How to Combat Exam Stress (for parents only)
One of the basic experiences that all parents will go through at some point in their lives is exam stress. As the time for the examinations draws closer, parents go through symptoms that may be likened to the sympathetic labour pains that some fathers feel when their partners are about to give birth.
The worst thing for a parent at this time is to see their child lolling about in front of the TV, apparently unfazed by the impending disaster. Many a parent will have unexplained headaches, high blood pressure and that nagging feeling of dread that causes violent summersaults in the stomach. Usually the urge to blow a fuse and scream like a hysterical hyena within earshot of the brat, is hard to resist. In most cases it is impossible, to resist that is.
Funnily enough, there is little reaction on your child's face, indicating a level of nirvana that only the most dedicated of ascetics can attain. Actually it is a similar stage - achieved from the booming, screeching noise they are listening to with those ear phones.
Those parents who, during exam time, remain cool as cucumbers, sip on ice tea and watch their favourite show on TV - well hats off to you. You have produced offspring that thrive on studiousness and glow with total confidence during exam time. And you are a minority.
It is also annoying when these contented parents say after you have ratted out to them about your child's lack of priorities: “Oh I'm not worried at all. I never have to tell my daughter to study, she does everything herself, she doesn't even need a tutor...” The throbbing headache will come back with a vengeance.
What's more, the apple of your eye is wondering at 1 am, how to start her 3,500 word essay due next day as part of her exam course work.
Some parents get so involved that they end up solving quadratic equations in the middle of the night while the little devil has happily dozed off. You may feel utterly defeated and deflated at moments like these, especially if you have the wrong answer. In such catastrophic scenarios, parents need to know how to cope with stress.
Tutors are therefore a Godsend at such times, no matter how much of a dent they put on the wallet. They are the ones who can save you from a coronary and near insanity. They exist to take away your stress and take on the challenge of turning your academically disinclined child into a mathematical genius. Of course seldom does this happen. But the illusion that it might will keep you going.
Listening to music (not what your child is listening to) but soothing jazz or classical music, may help you take a break from the ugly world of exams, grades and parents of overachievers.
Reading has also been recommended for parents whose social life has come to a deadening halt and when even watching TV cannot be done guilt-free. It will be killing two birds with one stone. While you are monitoring your little ward, you will be exercising your brain again, maybe after a very long hiatus. It could be a second reading of 'Life is Elsewhere', most of which you will still not get. It could be a personality test to find out if you are a boring fool or an incorrigible flirt. It could be tips on how to cook high calorie study snacks for your child. You could be doing all those crossword puzzles you didn't have time solving, editorials you missed out on and mammoth articles on the Fijian economy that you unnecessarily avoided.
A strongly recommended stress reliever is to bond with parents who share the same stress and have children who are members of the Cramming at the Last Minute cult. You can exchange notes and crib about your respective child's unfathomable aversion to textbooks and their zero obedience level. Soon you will be more than relieved to know that there are fellow sufferers out there, equally stressed and losing fistfuls of hair everyday at the lack of preparedness, irrational regularity of bathroom breaks, de-stressing TV breaks, snack breaks and so on.
The future examinees meanwhile, will heave sighs of relief to get their maniacal parents off their backs. It may cheer them enough to actually study.
On the other hand it may give them the golden opportunity to chat, facebook and watch 'One Tree Hill' while you are having your stress-busting jamboree.
The worst thing for a parent at this time is to see their child lolling about in front of the TV, apparently unfazed by the impending disaster. Many a parent will have unexplained headaches, high blood pressure and that nagging feeling of dread that causes violent summersaults in the stomach. Usually the urge to blow a fuse and scream like a hysterical hyena within earshot of the brat, is hard to resist. In most cases it is impossible, to resist that is.
Funnily enough, there is little reaction on your child's face, indicating a level of nirvana that only the most dedicated of ascetics can attain. Actually it is a similar stage - achieved from the booming, screeching noise they are listening to with those ear phones.
Those parents who, during exam time, remain cool as cucumbers, sip on ice tea and watch their favourite show on TV - well hats off to you. You have produced offspring that thrive on studiousness and glow with total confidence during exam time. And you are a minority.
It is also annoying when these contented parents say after you have ratted out to them about your child's lack of priorities: “Oh I'm not worried at all. I never have to tell my daughter to study, she does everything herself, she doesn't even need a tutor...” The throbbing headache will come back with a vengeance.
What's more, the apple of your eye is wondering at 1 am, how to start her 3,500 word essay due next day as part of her exam course work.
Some parents get so involved that they end up solving quadratic equations in the middle of the night while the little devil has happily dozed off. You may feel utterly defeated and deflated at moments like these, especially if you have the wrong answer. In such catastrophic scenarios, parents need to know how to cope with stress.
Tutors are therefore a Godsend at such times, no matter how much of a dent they put on the wallet. They are the ones who can save you from a coronary and near insanity. They exist to take away your stress and take on the challenge of turning your academically disinclined child into a mathematical genius. Of course seldom does this happen. But the illusion that it might will keep you going.
Listening to music (not what your child is listening to) but soothing jazz or classical music, may help you take a break from the ugly world of exams, grades and parents of overachievers.
Reading has also been recommended for parents whose social life has come to a deadening halt and when even watching TV cannot be done guilt-free. It will be killing two birds with one stone. While you are monitoring your little ward, you will be exercising your brain again, maybe after a very long hiatus. It could be a second reading of 'Life is Elsewhere', most of which you will still not get. It could be a personality test to find out if you are a boring fool or an incorrigible flirt. It could be tips on how to cook high calorie study snacks for your child. You could be doing all those crossword puzzles you didn't have time solving, editorials you missed out on and mammoth articles on the Fijian economy that you unnecessarily avoided.
A strongly recommended stress reliever is to bond with parents who share the same stress and have children who are members of the Cramming at the Last Minute cult. You can exchange notes and crib about your respective child's unfathomable aversion to textbooks and their zero obedience level. Soon you will be more than relieved to know that there are fellow sufferers out there, equally stressed and losing fistfuls of hair everyday at the lack of preparedness, irrational regularity of bathroom breaks, de-stressing TV breaks, snack breaks and so on.
The future examinees meanwhile, will heave sighs of relief to get their maniacal parents off their backs. It may cheer them enough to actually study.
On the other hand it may give them the golden opportunity to chat, facebook and watch 'One Tree Hill' while you are having your stress-busting jamboree.
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