Board examinations are far more important for your child’s future than anything else. Class 10 CBSE board exams determine the academic streams students must choose, and class 12 CBSE exams prepare them for a new world of promise and hope. These are the times when students are most concerned about their futures.
Exam stress and anxiety about their future can affect your child's mental health. At this juncture, they need a gentle tap on their shoulders and emotional support to help them prepare for exams. This article dives into six proven time-tested hacks to help your kids cope with exam stress and ace their CBSE board exams.
Six Tips to Help Your Child Manage Stress
Here are six practical tips to help your child stay calm and collected during the board exams.
1. Talk to Them When Needed and Maintain Silence When You Have To.
There is no better way to relieve your child’s exam stress than to support them whenever needed. At this point, they need counselling rather than advice.
Sit with them, talk, be open to their views and ideas, and give a neutral viewpoint. Whether they are suffering with their exam preparation or worrying about their future, remain silent and listen to them speak about their problems. Every child needs a listener, and if it is a parent, it makes them feel secure. Remember, now is not the time to dish out study tips but to demonstrate compassion.
2. Make Time Off Interesting by Engaging in Activities With Them.
During the break time allocated in the exam prep revision schedule, you can engage with them through activities like dumb charades, hanging out with them, visiting the park, or watching a TV show that calms their anxieties and helps them confront exam stress.
Whatever activities you indulge in, ensure you spend quality time with them. Assess their revision timetable and align their breaks with your free time so that you can be with them. If needed, take some time off from your day to support them.
3. Remain Calm and Lead by Example.
In any successful team, the captain leads by example. When the leader is calm and composed, the entire team follows suit. If you notice your child doom-scrolling or watching their favourite shows even after the allocated break time, understand why they are doing it and remain calm. Nagging and scolding can be counterproductive in these situations. Set an example by avoiding those activities yourself and gently remind them to stick to the schedule. Remember, calm leads, chaos concedes.
4. Encourage Them to Spend Time with Friends.
Generally, during board exams, time with friends is restrained. Instead of confiscating their phones entirely and preventing them from talking to their friends, set healthy boundaries and time limits for mobile usage. Allow them to spend time with their friends.
All of them are chasing the same cause and know the seriousness and importance of CBSE board exams; restraining them would lead to more unhappiness, causing them to lose focus.
Exam stress is real, and when they spend time with their friends, it will make things better for them. Encourage and allow your kids to meet their friends, and even let them study together.
5. Teach Mindfulness, Yoga, and Meditation and Remove Distractions.
The three M’s to success during CBSE board exams are mindfulness, mental health and meditation. All three fall under one ancient activity, namely Yoga. When someone engages in Yoga, their focus shifts from general thoughts to the actuality of what they are doing, and it calms their nerves and moves their muscles. Mental and physical health are intertwined; one cannot exist without the other, and Yoga ensures both.
Meditation also relaxes one's mind, cutting out distractions. Teaching your child the essence of Yoga and meditation would lead to sharper focus. It will help them with exam prep for their CBSE board exams.
6. Understand Your Child, Set Realistic Goals, and Avoid Adding Too Much Expectations.
Gone are the days when we would enforce our engineering ambitions and doctoral dreams onto our kids. The most imperative aspect of helping your kid during their class 12 CBSE board exams is not to set unrealistic goals and enforce your dreams onto them.
Speak to them like they are your friends and understand what they want to do and where they often feel troubled. Again, parents are supposed to pave the way and not force them onto a different road.
Do not pressure them to score more marks and draw comparisons with their friends or cousins; own your children’s achievements, and avoid having massive expectations.
Final Thoughts
The CBSE board examination time proves to be a testament to the kind of parent you are. This is the first time your kids are stepping onto a massive challenge in their lives, and it is time you prioritise their mental health and teach mindfulness instead of setting unrealistic goals and pressuring them. By ensuring their mental well-being, you can help them retain focus on their studies for a prolonged period and enable them to study smart for the CBSE Board exam.
FAQ
Exam stress is the uneasiness and anxiety a student feels right before an exam, worrying about the results.
The key is to avoid worrying about the results and focus on the process. Have a structured plan and study accordingly.
Prepare well. If you have prepared well, you need not worry much about the exams. It is indispensable to revise right before the exam and avoid discussing it with your friends before and after the exam.