Tips to Help Parents Calm Their Teens Nerves Before An Exam
Look for signs of stress in your teen
- Loss of concentration and interest
- Tears, panic attacks
- Loss of appetite or irregular eating
Three ways to offer support to a stressed teen
- Make sure your teen eats well, sleeps enough, and gets some exercise.
- Encourage your teen to relax before exams.
- Help your teen get organized and manage their time.
Tips to keep from letting your stress show to your teen
- Avoid being nervous around your teen.
- Don't create additional stress by talking about how nervous you are about their test, or that you hope they'll do okay. Only display positive feelings about your teen and their ability to succeed.
- Don't complain about family problems to your teen.
Three ways to create a good study environment for your teen
- Postpone family activities that your teen may miss or that may take too much time from their studies.
- Restrict the amount of TV time allowed.
- Keep your teen's siblings from disturbing him.
Provide extra support to your stressed teen
- Be available for your teen if they want to talk, cry, vent, or just have you sit with them while they study.
- Take time to really listen to your teen, and encourage him to express worries and fears.
- Show your care and concern, offer any assistance you can.
Don't want your teen to over-stress? Send the right message
- Make sure they know you love them, win or lose, pass or fail.
- Tell them you just want them to try their best.
- Demonstrate that you value their efforts - reward them for trying, even if they didn't succeed.
Don't let your teen focus on the possibility of failing a test
- Help your teen maintain positive thoughts - don't let them focus on failure and the consequences of that failure.
- Help them keep the importance of the test in perspective - there is no reason to feel the same amount of stress over passing a weekly quiz as there is a final exam.
- Tell them you believe in them.
Three ways your teen can cut down on their stress during the test
- Encourage them to read the directions carefully.
- Tell them to take their time - there isn't a race to finish the test first.
- Make sure they have all the supplies they need - pencils, calculator, etc.
Give your teen test taking tips to lower their stress
- They can skip questions they don't understand and come back to them.
- Have them look quickly at the entire exam so they know what the test contains.
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