For any child, early academic pressure can be a hard thing to deal with. Especially for small children, it becomes quite difficult to regulate and take the immense pressure that school education brings. So it is naturally the responsibility of their parents to help their children through stress or academic pressure.
Dealing with Stress
However, many parents have no idea how to assist their children into dealing with these massive amounts of stress and strain while preparing for their academics. Why? The reason is very simple – modern academic syllabus and curriculums have changed a lot over the past decade or so.
Hence parents are often lost trying to deal with these changes by themselves. In addition to that, many parents have to single-handedly deal with more than one kid, which also poses quite a difficulty. So it is important to deal with your own stress levels as a parent before you can engage your kid to be open about his/her academic pressure.
How to help your kid with academic stress
So what can a parent do to make sure that their child is not getting overburdened by their studies? In the section below, a few tips and easy methods have been explained which you can use to help your child. Let’s take a look at those:
- Avoid any kind of restlessness in your child’s day:
Children have a very impatient mind while growing up. Add that to intense academic pressure, and you get a recipe for chaos. Try to keep a calm and relaxing atmosphere around your child, so that he/she is not irritated by any environmental distractions.
This will lead to better concentration power in your children, and also allow them to focus much better on their academics – rather than being irritated all the time.
- Maintain regular sleep timings:
This point connects quite appropriately to the previous one mentioned above. As a parent, it is your responsibility to make sure that your kid is getting enough sleep in a day. Proper sleep patterns help to reduce mood swings in children, leading to a better productive day where he/she can deal with the academic stress.
Make sure that your child is getting at least 8 hours of sleep per day, so that when he/she wakes up; it is better for them to handle school.
- Engage in regular conversation:
Not all kids are open with their parents when it comes to their own school life. So it falls on the parents’ shoulders to engage their children in regular conversation. Ask your kid how everything is going to school, and be prepared to offer advice if your child asks you about anything.
In addition to that, if your child is a bit older and does not like to be told what to do about their problems, then offer simple advice instead of solving their problems. This will improve your relationship with your kid, and make him/her more sustainable at the same time.
- Simple exercises or meditation helps:
This method of dealing with academic stress is quite underrated in western countries, but it works quite effectively. As a parent, make sure that your kid is doing some exercise or meditation from an early age.
Studies show that children who develop a habit of regular exercise or meditation are less likely to be overburdened by academic pressure. You can even offer your company while your kid is exercising, thus improving your relationship with him/her as well.
- Keep away excess co-curricular activities:
There has been a recent trend among parents which suggests putting their kids into a bunch of additional co-curricular classes from an early age. Despite the fact that these co-curricular activities help students develop additional skills outside of their academic spectrum, it also increases their stress levels.
So cut down on your child’s after school activities and offer more time to him/her. A little bit of co-curricular activity is good for your kid, but you have to make sure that you are not putting them in a spot that he/she cannot seem to handle properly.
- Keep in touch with school activities:
As a parent, it is very important to keep in touch with your child’s school authorities to understand its academic spectrum better. In order to help you child deal with their academic pressure, it is evident for you to understand it.
Make sure you are up to date with your kid’s current syllabus and academic progress. Get an idea about the subjects he/she is studying at school so that you can be of some help if they find it overwhelming. Engage with teachers and administrators to ask for their advice.
- Encouragement about academics:
Encourage your kid to look for what he/she likes in a subject. For example, read articles about how a particular subject shapes the world, such as “How physics can help creating magic?†Not only will this invigorate your child’s interest in a subject, but also help you to understand his/her problem better.
- Keep your composure while criticizing:
Sometimes the whole ordeal can get frustrating for any parent. However, you should not overreact at such instances. Keep your calm and composure while dealing with your kid’s problems so that you can help him/her out in a much productive way.
Make sure you do not show any signs of frustration in front of your kid as it may discourage them to share their stress or problems with you in the future. Offer solutions and advice without getting frustrated or angry.
- Limit the use of technology for kids:
Children these days spend far too much of their time with several technological devices like smartphones or computers. Even if they are doing it for entertainment, the chances are that these devices increase the risk of stress and anxiety in your kid.
As a parent, you should limit the use of such devices so that your kid can have enough time to interact on a personal level with others. Having more free time also allows them to develop family relations much better.
- There is nothing wrong in seeking professional help:
It is perfectly understandable if some parents cannot handle their kids’ academic stress on their own. So in that case, it is much better to seek professional help in the form of counseling for your kids.
Many schools provide a counselor for students. But if you want more privacy, then you can certainly look for child counselors at home. Professional help is always a good way to go if you are unable to deal with your kids’ stress levels.
In addition to that, there are many professional online help websites which offer quality articles that any parent can kid and get a little insight. Try it for yourself and see whether you can help your kid.