How to handle challenges during exam time

Exam time can certainly be very challenging for parents and children. Although, supporting your child’s emotional well-being during this time is extremely important, as you continue to maintain a pleasant, fun and effective home environment.

As the pressure starts to build within the home environment, you notice that your child will need to maintain a longer study time table. Try introducing tiny breaks, whereby your child can go out and take a short walk. This will keep them mentally and physically stronger and fit. During their walk outdoors, they can be encouraged to focus on the beautiful nature that surrounds them such as: birds flying, listening to the lovely chirping sounds.

Their study time table should also include something that they just love doing as a one of their hobbies. For example: playing a musical instrument, or listening to music.

By interspersing their study time table with these pleasurable experiences will naturally alleviate the stress build up.  Remember, that it is very unnatural to expect that your child continuously sits for prolonged periods of time at a table.

Consider encouraging ‘Acts of Kindness’ within the home environment and outside of the home environment too. For example: Using courteous language towards the neighbors, offering to make a cup of tea for mommy. This will also enable your child to boost their self-esteem as they notice that they are becoming more generous and kinder towards others as well.

Your child will certainly feel refreshed as they are confident to return back to their study time table after experiencing these meaningful moments together. No doubt that exam time will become a joy rather than a chore the next time around!

Communication with child

Communication is an art and it is certainly key when speaking with your child and vice versa. It has been observed, that at times our children may seem to take their parents for granted. Parents develop a sense of resentment and will then not tolerate the manner in which their child will speak to them under any circumstance.  Have you ever stopped to think why this happens and how best to remedy the situation?

How do you react towards your child, when they use inappropriate words?   Initially, you may feel shocked and think ‘Wait, this is not appropriate?’ Correct, it is not appropriate, although you cannot simply let it slide, because it will reoccur under different circumstances, if you do not address it appropriately. By simply stating, ‘I will never talk to you’ may be something that you feel like blurting out at that very moment, although that is not the answer, is it? You will speak to your child again, that is a reality.

You must let your child know that they must refrain and use the appropriate choice of words. Role modelling this within the home environment or also when you are out during social gatherings seems to be the best manner in which your child will naturally receive the social graces of communication. You must also be extremely cautious towards your child when they enter the adolescent stage as teenagers. They are very curious about knowing more about the world around them, while testing their boundaries and seeing just how far they can stretch their limits. They are certainly up for the challenge!

Try to keep the following in mind, as you continue to cultivate a healthy mode of communication with your child:

  • When your child says something to you which you do not appreciate, be sure to let them know, by stating ‘I do not like the way you have spoken to me, it has hurt my feelings.’
  • You must address the fact that you do not at all like nor appreciate the way in which they have behaved. You may also state ‘I do not feel good when you speak to me this way.’ It is important that you also walk away and detach from that particular scenario. This will enable both the parent and child to reflect about what has happened and more importantly, think about how to handle themselves the next time.
  • It is very important to realize that the parent is the role model and your words and actions must always reflect what you are expecting from your child, even your growing teenager.
  • The tone that you use during communication is very important. Remember, that if you are wanting your child to use the appropriate tone when speaking to you, you must also do the same. Never raise your voice and tone when certain moments become heated. Instead, lower your tone while maintaining eye contact and use very direct simple, clear sentences as you communicate with your child. By doing so, you will continue to have your child’s attention otherwise by using a loud voice will only frighten and turn your child away and they are not interested in listening to what you are trying to communicate.

Communication is certainly an art; and you can continue to master it day by day along with your family by including some of these useful tips.     

No two children are identical

Parents will eventually begin to realize that ‘no two children are identical’. Even though, they may be born into a family with similar genes and grow up with similar values, each child has their own abilities and challenges.

Schools continue to provide the very best as they want to ensure that children continue to excel and succeed.

At Eduscan, we have created a series of tools in order to further support parents and schools in this process, so to ensure that each child can continue to perform to the best of their abilities while reaching their fullest potential on a daily basis.

Certain challenges that children may face, can certainly become transformed into strengths. How can one achieve this? Here is a brief description of this carefully designed process:

 Firstly, one must better understand the child, this can be done through psycho-educational assessments, which support us in understanding the child’s challenges. At times, these challenges can be categorized as either mild, moderate, severe or even profound.

Secondly, there are a variety of tests available that clearly define these challenges right away. Once the challenge has been identified, we then begin to create a plan which will allow us to intervene in the best possible way.

Keep in mind, that the same intervention plan may not work even on two different children, therefore, we need to adapt to their particular needs.

Finally, we continue to monitor the outcomes of these intervention plans in order to ensure that the intervention plan is working or whether it needs to be slightly tweaked to a certain degree or changed so that the child can continue to thrive and transform their abilities and achievements further.

This formula seems to be simpler than one thinks, as it is clearly ‘not rocket science’ but one needs to remember that in today’s incredible scientific era, we certainly have many tools and techniques within our reach.

If you feel, that there is a current need to make a difference and change in your child’s life or school community, be in touch to further explore the various support tools that can be made available to you so that we can all continue to work together in ensuring that our children will receive what they so rightly deserve, that is the best always!

Brain Mapping

Brain Mapping is a tool that has been designed so that parents can find out more about their child’s personality type, thinking style, learning style also including their knowledge about the following quotients including their IQ, EQ, CQ, PQ. It is also referred to as a dermatoglyphic test. It will reveal more about their multiple intelligences whether they are left brain dominant, right brain dominant or whether they have the potency in every lobe of their brain.

The Brain Mapping tool will also reveal the areas in which the child has the most probability to excel in within their life. It can potentially predict the career path that your child may follow while considering the various areas to focus and concentrate their abilities on for later in life.

Upon receiving a 40-page report, the information that will be shared will highlight where your child is and where they currently stand. It will further give concrete suggestions of how one can continue to improve the various areas of multiple intelligences including intrapersonal and interpersonal skills. Highlighting further cognitive skills, linguistic skills, musical skills wherever and whatever interest and potential that lies ahead within your child today and more importantly how best to fine tune it so that it can certainly become better.

Brain mapping is highly recommended as it is for every child even the very young ones so that parents can continue to understand them more while their parenting skills will become more effective as well.

Do keep in mind, that Brain Mapping can also be used on adults. Some adults may go through life not really knowing who they are while not understanding their full potentials completely. Brain Mapping will reveal this to you so that you can get to know yourself more as you will certainly live a more serene, happy and healthy life as it continues to support your mental health. While adapting to this lifestyle, Brain Mapping can eventually put you on the map too!

The 5 to 1 rule which parents can embrace to build child’s self esteem.

Parents be prepared to embrace the 5 to 1 rule. This is quite powerful, as you will begin to feel more equipped and empowered during your special parental journey.

As you raise your child, you will be observing and monitoring them closely. There will be certain moments during the day, when you notice something positive that your child has either done or said, you will then talk about it for approximately 5 times.

Although, when something negative creeps up, acknowledge it and only talk about it once. Do not harp on it over and over again, as this will only cause further friction and negativity. It is best to acknowledge it and speak about it once while describing it and also looking for something positive that it may have generated from it instead.

 Descriptive praise involves speaking about a positive act, ‘goodness’ five times.

One must avoid speaking about a negative act repeatedly as this will only become a more serious problem later on.

As you begin to follow this rule, you will really enjoy a more powerful relationship with your child as you continue to strengthen and build their esteem too. Knowingly or unknowingly, many parents crush the esteem of their very own child when attempting to build it. They actually believe that they are the only ones that can mentor their child. This in fact, causes the parent to pick up on all the negative aspects that may arise from within their child and it will only foster more negativity into their life.

Therefore, it is imperative that parents embrace the 5 to 1 rule so that you can continue to contribute in building your child’s self-esteem while empowering your relationship and family bond along the way.

Leaders are not born but made – Dr. Alka Kalra