Exam season is here, and it can be quite stressful time as a parent, not to mention for the children who are actually taking the exams!
Bitesize Parenting spoke to Morning Live presenters and experts, Helen Skelton, Dr Xand van Tulleken and Greg Rutherford to get their advice on how, as parents, they would tackle exam season.
Helen: Hi, guys, it's Helen Skelton. The only thing I remember my parents saying to me is 'you get out of life what you put in'. If you want to do well in your exams, you've got to revise. I know it's a nag, I know it might feel boring, but it is what it is. Grind it out, get it done, put it to bed. It's money in the bank. That's what I'll say to my kids. If you want to do well, you've got to put the work in - crack on!
Xand: I'm Doctor Xand, I'm one of the doctors on Morning Live. I have a 17 year old son, so he's doing lots of exams at the moment. And, um, I talked to him about it a lot. I think anxiety is one of the really big things to manage, partly because on the day of the exam, if you're very anxious, you won't do as well as you could if you're relaxed. And the other thing is, a bit of energy and kind of knowledge that there's a bit of pressure can can help you revise. One of the things as a parent that I think is really nice, if you can manage to do it, it's to join in with the revision, because my son knows a lot more than me about the stuff he's studying, so that makes him feel good. I'm kind of interested, I'm getting to learn stuff for the first time in a while, so that's great. And it's a little bit easier to kind of open a book and do a thing together. You have to create a low temperature, relaxed environment. Try and make it fun to do that, but joining in with a bit of revision can work really nicely.
Greg: Hello, I'm Greg Rutherford, Olympic long jump champion from London 2012 and now a TV presenter. I'm now a father of three and all my children will at some point sit exams. And for me, something that I'm going to really try and do to help them is actually get involved with a lot of that revision. One thing that I know can work incredibly well is teaching the things you're learning to others, helps cement that information in your head. So if you have a parent or guardian or a loved one around you that can come into the room, sit with you, do some of the revising, you can actually teach them what you're learning, because you are going to know a lot more than they do, so that will help it get in there. You will go over those facts and and everything that comes with the knowledge that you're learning, and it can massively help cement it. And just having somebody to bounce off of in the room, it's a stressful time, having a person in there that you love and you care about and you know, have the best interests for you. They will help you relax and they will help you learn. And that's a really, really important thing.
Tips for helping your child during exam season
Helen has three younger children, but said her parents would tell her "you get out of life what you put in", she says she will give the same advice to her kids when they are older. Her advice to students who are sitting their exams is that to do well they'll have to revise she says: "I know it might feel boring, but it is what it is, grind it out, get it done… put it to bed, it's money in the bank!".
Dr Xand has a seventeen-year-old son who is in the thick of exams, Xand says: "I think anxiety is one of the really big things to manage." Xand says that if you can join in with your child's revision you will both learn from it. "It's a bit easier to open a book and do a thing (revising) together… try and make it fun!"
Olympic gold medalist Greg Rutherford also has three younger children who will sit exams at some point in the future. Greg says that, like Xand, he too will get involved in his children's revision when the time comes: "Teaching the things you (the child) are learning to others helps cement that thing in your head." He continues: "It's a stressful time! Having a person who you love and care about (with you during revision)… they will help you relax, and they will help you learn, and that's a really important thing."
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