How parents can sail through exam season

Don't let the fear of your child failing turn you into a nag. Move, eat well and mute competitive parental WhatsApp groups, suggest experts

- Anushka Patodia

There is a very specific kind of quiet that settles over Indian homes during board exam season (which for a lot of homes across the country begins today owing to CBSE and ICSE 10th and 12th board exams).

Doors close more softly, dinner conversations shrink into monosyllables and family WhatsApp groups turn into strategy zones. Children take the exams, but parents, very often, take on the stress. There is plenty of chatter about student anxiety, but far less about the adults who quietly become cooks, counsellors, chauffeurs and emotional shock absorberssometimes all before 9am. Exam season doesn’t just test academic preparation, but also challenges parental endurance. Research mirrors these experiences.

A survey conducted in Karnataka in 2023 found 86% of adolescents preparing for competitive examinations reported high academic stress and 87% perceived high parental pressure. It highlights how academic and home environments intersect affecting the child's well-being. Mumbai-based counselling psychologist Maithili Thanawala Kanabar says most parents carry a mix of fear, guilt and helplessness during this period. “There is fear of failure, fear of the future, fear of anything negative happening to their child. Children pick up parental anxiety even when nothing is said aloud,” she explains. Noida-based psychologist Abha Singh agrees that exam season often turns parents into “vigilant supervisors” without them even realising it. "Board exams often turn the home into mini-examination centres,” she says. “When board exams come, parents also feel tested emotionally and mentally.”