The following comes from my favorite kid counselor, Margit Crane. If you’ve been thinking about counseling, she is THE person to see:

Parents, how tense is your house this week? Is your child ready for exams or ready to give up? Is your own anxiety calmed or calamitous at this point? Final exams week is often stressful for the whole family but it doesn’t have to be.

Here are 3 tips to lessen the drama and raise the grades:

1. Spend time at home during the weeks before finals. Find a sub for your networking events, have “happy hour” at home (i.e., no socializing), get your hair/nails/waxing done some other week, even come home early from work. Your physical presence will convey how important finals are and will also be a comfort (if only an subconscious one)!

2. Create a study plan. When your child knows which are study days and which are free days, he/she will not be as stressed out. Make sure that you don’t overload any one day and make sure that each subject is given enough attention. Ideally, you would create this plan a couple weeks in advance but it’s never too late.

3. Make sure that your child is well-rested, well-fed, and well-hydrated. Everything that your children have ever learned is already in their heads. Studying just brings that knowledge to the forefront. When your children are anxious, they have a harder time accessing the information they need, even when it’s information they’ve just studied. The clearer their heads are – they’re alert and not bogged down with chemicals and fatty junk food – the easier life will be. And by the way, just as we hydrate our bodies before exercise, we need to hydrate our brains before the “big game.”

Note: Results will vary depending on how severe your child’s school situation is or how unhappy your home life. There are no quick fixes but I’d love to help where I can. Please feel free to call or email to arrange a chat: 206-326-8446 or Margit@TheGiftedTeenCoach.com www.thegiftedteencoach.com