With most of the boards declaring the results for grade 10th and 12th exams, the parents, teachers, and counselors have been struggling to calm down the anxious teenagers. According to the mental health study, there is an increase in the stress level among students by 20 per cent.
We need to look at this problem from three perspectives. What is the reason for this menace? How does it affect our children? And what can we do to protect our children from this situation?
Reasons are many such as excessive workload, poor time-management, poor stress-management, lack of proper planning, peer-pressure, impractical goals set for themselves, cut- throat competition but the major reason is obviously over-expectation of the parents from their wards in terms of academic excellence. ‘Marks, more marks, better scores are the clichéd words used by parents that most of the children grow up hearing. Poor academic performance doesn’t imply that a child would never taste success in his life. There are innumerous examples of people across the world who couldn’t fare well in school and college exams, but turned out to be very successful as professionals.
- Identifying that your child is stressed out due to your demands or expectations is the first step towards helping your children.
- Trying to figure out the reasons for it would serve as the second step.
- Changing your attitude from ‘marks to no marks’ would be the third step.
- Supporting your child emotionally and practically would actually solve the problem.
As parents and teachers, we want our kids to lead a happy life. That is our ultimate goal but excessive stress causes anxiety in the students that finally results in physical, mental, and emotional health issues.
Is this what we want for our kids?
If not, change your mindset before it’s too late to reach out to them.
Shift your thought process from ‘MARKS to NO Marks’. It doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t score well. It simply means that neither should a child be forced to perform against his capability nor should he be reprimanded for his poor academic performance if he has put in efforts. Students can just put in efforts. They can’t control the results.
Being sensitive towards them would help us build a happy society with happy families.
By Meena Mishra
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of AFTERNOON VOICE and AFTERNOON VOICE does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
