photo credit: ccarlstead

Whenever my kids go through an exam period, I will be busy revising with them. Probably the parents are more nervous than the kids when the exams are coming. It is not about putting unreasonable pressures on the kids to excel but wanting them to achieve to the best of their ability in whatsoever endeavor.

The normal routine would be to go over past lessons and exercises. On top of that, there will be a lot of work in scanning and printing of practice questions for them to do. Of course, the parents would expect to hear a lot of whining and complaining from the kids about the extra studying being forced on them.

We as parents not only have to worry that the kids complete their revision; we also have to ensure that they are fit and healthy during the exam period. So, having proper meals are important and especially breakfast early in the morning before they start the school day.

If your kids go to a Chinese school like mine, they have the added burden of more subjects to learn. In addition to the Chinese language subject, they also have Mathematics and Science in English on top of the ones in Chinese. Altogether, my kids have to cover 8 subjects in all not counting music, arts and computer classes. I do sympathize with them sometimes but at the same time, I hope that all these knowledge will later be of beneficial to them.

After putting in their best efforts and the results are not up to expectations, we as parents share their disappointments as well. We as parents can give words of encouragement and our full support. This of course will normally be accompanied by lots of advice on how to do better.

Having a bad result means the kids learn about disappointment. At the same time, they learn about courage and about not giving up. In addition, they will also learn how to use their determination to achieve something if they put in sufficient efforts.

Do you go through a similar experience as above? Please share your story a here.