How many of us truly trust life? By trusting life I mean, doing our best under present circumstances and then leaving everything to the universe or God or whatever you feel or believe in. This simple principle is of paramount importance for our children who are in the final month of their praparation of exams. Indian education system is essentially an academics oriented system which is similar to the electoral system — ‘winner takes all’. This creates tremendous pressure on children.
But is it really necessary? Check how many of our school or college toppers are really happy and successful finally? Remember those back-benchers or those average or even those so called good-for-nothing students of our 10th or 12th Std. who are doing extremely well today. Is success essentially linked with academic excellence? Well, NO. This is all the more true in today’s age of opportunities which is very different from our times. We used to have hardly 3-4 vocations to choose from – engineering, medical, CA, defence and a few more. As parents, we need to update ourselves with the latest trends, opportunities/avenues and most importantly, should not try to realise our unfulfilled dreams/aspirations through our kids. Our children have taken birth through us but each one of them is on his/her spiritual journey of learning. Remember, we don’t own them. Our job is to support them, nourish them and help them grow into a wonderful human being who is independent, successful and happy too.
Today your child has the option of choosing from numerous areas where he/she can make the career. Also switching professions all together is very common these days. What’s needed is a well-rounded personality. So it is okay if your child is not able to score very good marks in the Boards. Remember, life takes strange turns and it has its own queer ways to teach us. I did engineering, worked as an engineer for a year or so. Then prepared for Civil Services, got selected and worked for many years before resigning ultimately. Today I’m leading a very happy, contented life where I’m also able to effectively contribute in the lives of many people. So who knows, where life will take you few years down the line! Why create so much pressure that the children start dreading these beautiful years of their life! Ideally we should try to identify the innate capability or aptitude of the child. That’s the area where he/she can excel easily and learn things with genuine interest. What is more important is to create an atmosphere of trust, open communication and mutual support in the family rather than evaluating or judging the child from his/her academic performance only.
So, dear parents, just support your children in their final month of preparation. Help them taking care of their health, studies and encourage them to utilise their time effectively without being judgemental.
Watch out this page for some more tips on examination preparation and exam-stress management. Best wishes…..