Many children get stressed with school activities, especially when they have a big test or examination coming up. However, worrying or being anxious won’t make your kids feel any better; rather, it makes it more difficult for them to focus at the moment. Performance anxiety is something that many adults have experienced at some point. Children are usually prone to this situation, so it is important that they get help to help them deal with performance anxiety.
When children become anxious before an examination, they often show some signs like tummy aches, tantrums, and even crying. One of the main reasons why your child is experiencing performance anxiety is because they are scared of failing. Thankfully, there are ways you can teach your child to overcome performance anxiety during an examination.
5 Effective Ways to Help Your Child Overcome Performance Anxiety?
Teaching your child to deal with performance anxiety must be done with care because it may cause them to become uncomfortable. So, here are some helpful tips on how you can effectively teach your child to deal with their performance anxiety.
Teach Them to Practice Mindfulness and Calming Strategies
One great way to significantly reduce the effects of performance anxiety is to encourage them to remain calm and focused regardless of the stressful situations. Therefore, it is important that you introduce your child to calming activities like meditation or yoga. Introducing your kids to calming techniques will help your child relax and be calm when examination anxiety bubbles up.
You can teach them to practice deep breathing, counting to ten, stretching, massaging their hand, or visualizing their favorite place that keeps them calm and relaxed. Having them engage in these activities before their examination will help your child regain the focus they lost as a result of anxiety.
Share Your Own Anxiety Experience
As we mentioned earlier, everyone at some point has experienced performance anxiety. So, if you have experienced it yourself, it is important to let your kids know about it and share with them how you got through it. When you share your anxiety story with your child, you are indirectly encouraging them to share their thoughts and feelings with you. Sharing your methods and stories with them makes your child understand that it’s normal to feel the way they feel, but they can also deal with it.
Share Useful Examination Tips
Children often have little or no experience taking the examination, and helping them understand some basic tips can help them relax. Of course, school teachers will also prepare your child for the examination. However, it is important that you remind your kids that they have read all year long and are totally ready for the examination. Basic examination tips such as answering the easiest questions first before the difficult ones or reading through the questions thoroughly before answering can go a long way for your child.
Encourage Your Child Always
It’s not enough to provide examination tips for your child before an examination; you must constantly encourage them to do their best. Suppose your kid makes a negative statement about their forthcoming examination. In that case, you should first acknowledge your child’s feelings IN that moment and then counter them with a positive and encouraging statement. It’s important that you constantly encourage your child to always visualize positive results instead of focusing on only the negative. You can leave a positive and encouraging note like “You can do it” on their study table, backpack, or lunch box.
Help Your Child Build a Growth Mindset
Most times, kids view examinations as a measure of their self-worth, which can contribute to the pressure they feel to ace their exams. So, it is important that you remind your child that examinations are just ONE way to test current knowledge, and there is always time to learn more and grow in the future. Making this clear to your kids can help them re-frame their perspective on what examinations mean and will also reduce the pressure surrounding the examination. Encourage your children to do their best but remind them that one examination won’t break or make their future.
Work With Explico to Help Your Child Overcome Performance Anxiety
Performance anxiety can be a real struggle for some kids, but providing support and encouragement can help them build the self-confidence they need to overcome it. So, if you want your kid to be able to deal with their anxiety, especially during an examination, you need to guide them properly. The first step towards helping your child is to figure out what triggers the anxiety, and Explico can help. At Explico, we aim to help your child understand their strengths and weaknesses; then we work together to figure out the best learning plan. So, relax and watch your child ace their next examination with an experienced team behind them.
