Exam stress

How parents can manage their own exam stress and support children

- Team ParentCircle

Parental exam stress is real and normal, even in otherwise capable parents.

Exam stress & parents

We asked parents about parental exam stress. Here’s what they shared with us. Parents worry that their kids are:

• Wasting their time unnecessary on anything and everything

• Demanding (What's got into them?)

• Forever hungry and cranky during exams

• Complaining they couldn't finish the paper on time, or their pens were leaking/not writing properly (How frustrating can that be!)

• Not going to be fine

• Not sleeping enough

• Not eating proper meals

• Too relaxed (and stress-free!)

• Not going to get good marks

• Disturbed by frequent calls from classmates seeking to clarify their doubts.

• Expected to go beyond the textbook and ace the Olympiad-type questions

Pressure comes from

Parents feel the external pressures that add to exam stress:

• Other parents who ask questions like, “Is your child going to do IIT prep classes? Why not?”

• WhatsApp groups where parents endlessly discuss, analyze, and criticize the question papers.