Parents best counsellor for child: Experts

New Delhi, Feb 28 (UNI) If your child is facing an exam phobia, what he needs is your help and not a counsellor as experts believe that parents are the best help a child could have to cope with stress and examination anxiety.

"Usually, when parents see that their child is suffering from exam blues, they start looking for help-lines and counsellors who can be approached to de-stress children. But they forget that apart from the professional help what is more significant is that they should help the child as being parents they are more sensitise towards the unsaid needs of their child," Geetanjali Kumar, an NCERT trained counsellor, said.

"During exam times parents start nagging their child and even if they do not say anything, the vibes that they send across adds to the stress-level of children. Parents, being more experienced, should refrain from stressing children and support and encourage interaction with friends, have fun with them, prevent them from overworking and encourage them to take small breaks," senior psychiatrist at G B Pant Hospital, Dr Reshma Aggarwal said.

Parents, who are naturally concerned about their children and their future, suffer from exam stress almost as much as their offspring. This stress is transmitted back and forth between parents and the child, in a vicious circle.

According to psychologists, parents who, instead of providing emotional support to their children during exams, push them into an unhealthy rat race, need guidance.

"Parents want their children to excel in everything since they consider it a matter of status symbol. They often tend to satisfy their unfulfilled dreams through children, failure of which causes frustration. Some fear their parenting would be labelled a failure if the child does not score well in exam and get extremely worried.

Rather, they should be able to generate a 'we-are-with-you' feeling among children, especially during exams," Clinical Psychologist Dr Aruna Broota said.

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