Friday, May 14, 2010
Chennai: A period of suspense comes to an end for Plus Two students with the release of the board exam results on Friday. Equally, if not more, anxious are parents who want to know how their children have fared.

But in order to ensure that children do not feel unduly stressed when their results are out, psychologists say it is important for parents to be supportive of their performance. “It is of paramount importance for parents to acknowledge that their children have done their best,” says Dr Sunil Shankar, a behavioural psychologist. “Parents should understand that stress is caused when the demand on a kid is greater than their ability to cope with it. If parents want their kids to live up to a particular benchmark, it may cause children to be apprehensive of their performance. Parents should make it clear that no matter what the results are, children should not be afraid to come back home” says Shankar.

Sandhya Rammohan, a student counsellor at a private school, adds that parents tend to be worried about results since subjects like Maths were a little tough this year. “Parents should be patient with children. There are a lot of options for children today. They should not make their exam results the be all and end all of their world,” she says.

Volunteers at Sneha, the 24-hour suicide helpline which can be reached at 24640050, also say they have been receiving a lot of calls from students who are worried about their results. “We have had a rise in students (schools and colleges) calling this year. It is heartening to find children calling us because we emphasise that they need to talk and not bottle it up. Though it’s preferable that they talk to their family, they can always reach out to us,” says Shanti, director of Sneha.

Advising parents not to harp on the fact that the child could have done better, she said