{"id":29416,"date":"2023-11-14T10:58:31","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T08:58:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/help-your-child-beat-exam-stress\/"},"modified":"2023-11-14T10:58:31","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T08:58:31","slug":"help-your-child-beat-exam-stress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/help-your-child-beat-exam-stress\/","title":{"rendered":"Help Your Child Beat Exam Stress"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/span><\/div>

Tests and exams\u00a0can be a challenging part of school life for children and young people and their parents or carers. But there are ways to ease the stress.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Watch for signs of stress<\/strong><\/p>\n

Children and young people who are stressed may:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • worry a lot<\/li>\n
  • feel tense<\/li>\n
  • have headaches and stomach pains<\/li>\n
  • not sleep well<\/li>\n
  • be irritable<\/li>\n
  • lose interest in food or eat more than normal<\/li>\n
  • not enjoy activities they previously enjoyed<\/li>\n
  • be negative and have a low mood<\/li>\n
  • feel hopeless about the future<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Having someone to talk to about their work can help. Support from a parent, tutor or study buddy can help young people share their worries and keep things in perspective.<\/p>\n

    Encourage your child to talk to a member of school staff who they feel is supportive. If you think your child is not coping, it may also be helpful for you to talk to their teachers.<\/p>\n

    Try to involve your child as much as possible.<\/p>\n

    Make sure\u00a0your child eats well<\/strong><\/p>\n

    A balanced diet is vital for your child’s health and can help them feel well during exam periods.<\/p>\n

    Some parents find high-fat, high-sugar and high-caffeine foods and drinks, such as energy drinks, cola, sweets, chocolate, burgers and chips, make their children hyperactive, irritable and moody.<\/p>\n

    Help your child get enough sleep<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Good sleep improves thinking and concentration. Most teenagers need 8 to 10 hours’ sleep a night. Allow half an hour or so for your child to wind down between studying, watching<\/p>\n

    TV or using a computer and going to bed, to help them get a good night’s sleep.Cramming all night before an exam is usually a bad idea. Sleep will benefit your child far more than a few hours of panicky last-minute study.<\/p>\n

    Be flexible during exams<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Be flexible around exam time. When your child is revising all day, do not worry about household jobs left undone or untidy bedrooms.<\/p>\n

    Staying calm yourself can help. Remember, exams do not last forever.<\/p>\n

    Help them study<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Make sure your child has somewhere comfortable to study. Ask them how you can support them with their revision.<\/p>\n

    Help them come up with practical ideas that will help them revise, such as drawing up a revision schedule or getting hold of past papers for practice.<\/p>\n

    To motivate your child, encourage them to think about their goals in life and see how their revision and exams are related to them.<\/p>\n

    Talk about exam nerves<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Remind your child that it’s normal to feel anxious. Nervousness is a natural reaction to exams. The key is to put these nerves to positive use.<\/p>\n

    If anxiety is getting in the way rather than helping, encourage your child to practise the activities they’ll be doing on the day of the exam. This will help it feel less scary.<\/p>\n

    For example, this may involve doing practice papers under exam conditions or seeing the exam hall beforehand.\u00a0School staff should be able to help with this.<\/p>\n

    Help\u00a0your child face their fears and see these activities through, rather than avoiding them.<\/p>\n

    Encourage them to think about what they know and the time they’ve already put into studying to help them feel more confident.<\/p>\n

    Encourage exercise during exams<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Exercise can help boost energy levels, clear the mind and relieve stress. It does not matter what it is \u2013 walking, cycling, swimming, football and dancing are all effective.<\/p>\n

    Activities that involve other people can be particularly helpful.<\/p>\n

    Do not add to the pressure<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Support group\u00a0Childline says many children who contact them feel that most pressure at exam time comes from their family.<\/p>\n

    Listen to your child, give them support and avoid criticism.<\/p>\n

    Before they go in for a test or exam, be reassuring and positive.\u00a0Let them\u00a0know that failing is not the end of the world.<\/p>\n

    After each exam, encourage your child to talk it through with you. Discuss the parts that went well rather than focusing on the questions they found difficult. Then move on and focus on the next test, rather than dwelling on things that cannot be changed.<\/p>\n

    When to get help<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Some young people feel much better when exams are over, but that’s not the case for all young people.<\/p>\n

    Get help if your child’s anxiety or low mood is severe, persists and interferes with their everyday life. Seeing a GP is a good place to start.<\/p>\n

    Written by LifeAssist<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coping-with-life","category-feature-articles"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-01 01:35:39","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29416"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29419,"href":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29416\/revisions\/29419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}