Balancing studies with leisure

Till the month of December children’s mental faculty will be in equilibrium. It will strike a balance between school, attending to day-to-day lessons, homework, games, special occasions at school and home, friends, games, so on and so forth. When January creeps in, it appears as a monster entering in leaps and bounds.

At the peak of winter, children perspire with the fear of examination. The tension caused is enormous. They lose interest in food, friends and even their favourite pass time hobbies.

There are two ways by which tension gets relieved: One by giving examination its due, i.e. doing justice to academic front cutting short all gay and pleasure time outs, and the other letting examination take it’s due, causing undue apprehension and anxiety.
It makes children be immersed in books for hours grasping little. The premonition, “I don’t remember or it is too difficult for me,” overrides the confidence.

Striking a balance

What is the cure? Advice by parents and teachers is to concentrate on studies. Academics first and the rest next is their slogan. It is easily said than practiced. Is it only academics that count for the overall development of children? “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” goes the saying.

Students should learn to strike a balance between curricular, co-curricular and extra curricular activities they are interested in. Rather than time bound, it should be attention bound. It should not call for extra diversion from other areas. Shifting focus from one event to another must not be forced but smooth.

Trusting the wards

Parents should not captivate children physically; i.e. they should not make statements like, “Unless until you study for so many hours, you will not be permitted to call your friend for a chit chat over mobile.” When the child admits, “Mother, I feel very low, let me have a stroll or a talk with my friend,” the mother snarls at him saying, “It is only half an hour that you opened book. If this continues God only should save you. Do you know the amount of competition to get into professional courses?” The same tape gets rewound and played over and over again. What should the child do then?

Students are so clever that in the name of asking doubts from friends there will be extended gossip. They are experts in exchanging SMS so quickly keeping the mobile mute and hidden. They will turn to this only when parents do not trust the sincere efforts of their wards. The grave mistake that parents commit is hoping their wards to become like someone else, an engineer, a doctor, an IAS officer or an IPS officer, and not what they want.

Letting children ride

True a target is to be fixed before taking up the task but let that be decided by children themselves and not others. When the target is self-made, children will chalk out the program to reach the target. As parents, teachers and friends, we can support them in whatever ways they expect or seek our co-operation. It doesn’t mean that if the child wants to be hay way, we should allow. Continuous monitoring is necessary not through eyes with coloured glasses of suspicion but with plain glasses of trust and love. For their rightful demands we should yield. Let us leave them to prove themselves in every way they can.

When every child is understood as born to succeed, then examination will no more be a tension but a challenge to prove the might, retain and reach the target and to excel not only in academics but also in life. Examinations should only be perceived as golden opportunities to showcase the skills and abilities possessed by children and make a stand for themselves. Students should not let tension to override their mind in the name of exams but make exams sailing boats to swiftly tide over the rough waters of life.