Parents Queries
Should I allow my child to go out during the exam period?
I'm not really the one to say. I mean it would differ depending on your relationship with the children. Whether or not it will work. I mean if it works then do it. And the same with bribes, if it works bribing them, who am I to say not to bribe them. But I just don't think it's a good direction to aim in. You've got to act as a parent and do what you consider to be the right thing. But I think you have got to understand that beyond the call of duty, it is difficult for them. There is a lot going on during examinations that they're taking. They're under a lot of pressure, and you need to give them a bit of space. And they need to take responsibility themselves and until they take responsibility and feel ownership for examinations there always will be a difficulty. There old enough , their either sixteen or eighteen generally speaking. And they are more or less adults and certainly should be into the stage of taking responsibility. And they should know the outcome of course if they don't do well on the exams. But they are at the stage of making there own decisions and soon they'll be away from home.
When should I discuss revision with my child?
I suppose the pundits would say that you should have a relationship with your children right throughout their life, but it's not always like that. There are periods when that relationship might not be as good as it should be, and you might find it difficult to discuss revision. Certainly the wrong time to be doing it is just in the lead-up to the exams. If you start having battles over them going out for an extra evening - "You were out the night before. When are you going to do your studying?" and "You haven't been studying long today". The truth of the matter is that you don't know whether they're revising once they go up to their room. What you need to avoid is having a conflict, where there's an argument between you and the child over revision. Basically, this is you trying to assert your position. All effort will go into the battle as to whether they can go out this evening or not, rather than concentrating on the examination. Nobody will win that situation.
