Page 13 - ParentsWorld March 2020 flipbuilder

Helping children cope with

EXAM sTREss

ith board and final school term exams having
Wcommenced this month, parent and child stress
is at its zenith. Dr. Srividya Vashista, chief of the
Advanced Centre for Dental Care at People Tree Hospitals,
Bangalore, who also specialises in child psychology, offers
parents some tips to mitigate exams stress.
• Plan study schedules and design time tables
• Provide children access to aptitude testing and career
guidance counselors
• Encourage open discussions to understand children’s
academic challenges, learning styles and how best to adapt
them to suit the household routine of hinging their happiness and expectations on one
• Correct irrational beliefs and perceptions children have examination
about their own capabilities • share personal experiences of how you managed to
• Tell children it’s alright to fail sometimes, and that overcome exam fear, and encourage extended family and
failure is often the stepping stone to success friends to share similar stories
• Help children develop positive self-image by focusing on • Consult a counselor if you are unable to alleviate stress,
their strengths rather than weaknesses and children are exhibiting symptoms of depression and
• Encourage them to see the big picture instead anxiety

worthy. There’s a huge body of research Given the strong negative
which confirms that parental stress impact of parental stress on
adversely impacts children’s mental health, child development, Dr. satish
leading to mood disorders, addiction, Ramaiah (quoted earlier)
and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactiv- advises millennial parents
ity disorder) in children. A 2019 study to focus on balancing home
conducted by the Nanyang Technological and office duties, co-opting
University, singapore, says that high par- older children and extended
enting stress “blocks maternal sensitivity”, family into sharing tasks
leading to parents strongly reprimanding and refraining from making
and/or inflicting corporal punishment on comparisons. “Parents should
children.“Our study shows that parent- focus on managing their time
ing stress weakens mother-child com- efficiently and developing
munication and delays children’s social coping skills. They should
interaction. Our observations stem from start by mindfully controlling
the stressed mother’s reduced ability to Ravindra Singh Thakkor their emotions and accepting
share her child’s perspective. This inability home/work problems, learn-
to appreciate the child’s viewpoint may ing to let go, making positive
reduce the quality of parental engagement and under- affirmations and adopting healthy lifestyles. Most im-
mine the mother-child relationship in the long run,” writes portantly, they should refrain from self-blame and being
Gianluca Esposito, assistant professor of NTU and over-protective of children. Instead they should co-opt
senior author of the research study. spouses, grandparents, extended family, friends as well
similarly, an earlier study published in the American as children into sharing parenting duties and household
Journal of Psychiatry (April 2016) found that parental anxiety chores. In particular, encouraging collaboration, partici-
automatically prompts children to become anxious, while pation and accountability goes a long way in reducing
anxiety in offspring affects the parenting they receive, thus parenting stress,” says Dr. Ramaiah.
creating a negative feedback loop. Bangalore-based yoga instructor Ravindra Singh

parentsworld • march 2020 13