Near the end of the semester, many students are worried about exams, unable to learn during the day, unable to sleep at night, and their appetite has declined. In the third year of junior high school, Yue Yue (pseudonym) has always been worried that he can't study well, the exam is not good, and he can't listen to the class, and not listening to the class leads to more worry about his own exam is not good, eating well, sleeping badly, and then Yue Yue simply argues with her parents not to go to school. So my parents took Yue Yue to the Department of Pediatric Psychology of Hunan Provincial Brain Hospital (Hunan Second People's Hospital) for help.
In a time of anxiety, what can parents do to help their child cope with anxiety? Dr. Chen Xi of the Department of Pediatric Psychology gave some advice on coping with anxiety:
First, understand and accept your child's emotions and help your child express your negative emotions
Anxiety is contagious, and when the child is in an anxious mood or environment, parents may also feel anxious and stressed. Parents can listen to the child's voice at this time, they may have a lot of worries and fears, and even some children can not express their anxiety, parents can observe the child's emotional state feedback to the child, help the child to express their emotions more. When anxiety is seen and accepted, emotions stabilize and decrease.
Second, identify the child's difficulties and give support and help
Parents can communicate with their children about their children's difficulties at this stage, and according to specific problems, they can discuss the corresponding coping methods, such as homework difficulties, interpersonal problems, sleep problems, dietary problems, and so on. Parents can discuss the solution with their children, and they can try to do it first, even if the plan is constantly adjusted according to the situation. At this time, parents should not deny too much, and encouraging attempts is itself part of giving children support and help. If the family can not solve the problem, you can also contact more professional personnel to help, such as teachers, doctors, etc.
Third, help your child set simple and appropriate goals
Parents can set a single small goal with their child, and the goal can be set to be completed within the child's ability, rather than first choosing whether the child can not complete or requires a lot of effort to complete. Simple and appropriate goals can help children slowly get out of the anxiety of not having a goal, have a definite target, when the goal is completed can increase the child's self-confidence and sense of achievement, thereby increasing the possibility of new goal setting and completion.
Fourth, encourage and affirm the child's efforts
Parental encouragement and affirmation can better support children to cope with academic or life insecurity. Even if the results are not satisfactory, the child is a process of hard work, and these efforts are worth seeing and affirming. If these efforts are not seen, then the motivation to work hard and pay may be reduced when faced with exams or studies later. Effective encouragement and affirmation can increase a child's motivation to work hard and increase the likelihood of next success.
Exam anxiety is not terrible, as long as parents and children have the confidence to cope with future challenges together, whether it is academic or life exams, there will be good results.
Contributed by: Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Psychology, Second People's Hospital of Hunan Province
Editor: Liu Yuchen
Image: From the Internet, intrusion and deletion