GCSEs in your family this summer? Come and hide here!

[scary mum]

My DD has her GCSEs this summer and already she is showing signs of stress. I try to do all the right things - support her, tell her we love her and only want her to do her best and that it's not worth fretting over. I think they put a lot of pressure on them at school as I really don't feel it is coming from us and I will be glad when the Easter holidays come and she is her own boss. They are having constant tests, deadlines and after school revision lessons. At the end of April they have a celebratory trip to a theme park, but only if they get a card signed by every single teacher to say that they have completed all their work and "deserve" the trip. Some of the teachers are playing hard to get and keep saying they will sign and don't - one of them dd now won't see until Friday (the deadline) and is panicking that she won't see him & won't be allowed to go. We have paid for the tickets (supposedly refunded if they don't qualify) and I know they are buying them tomorrow so why torture them by pretending they might not be allowed to go?

Anyway the point of this post was for mutual support as well as hints and tips on how we can all stay sane and support our children. Good luck everyone.

[scarlett]

That's not very nice is it ? Just adding to all the stress No advice as I'm not there yet, but I'm sure the support and reassurance will help . I remember my own GCSE's and I was so stressed out every night I would dream about pages and pages of questions and would be answering them in my sleep . Perhaps the earphones and revision tape wasn't such a good idea at night Fingers crossed for you all x.

[scary mum]

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[Fran17]

It seems to me you are doing all the right things, although your DD's school seem to be putting unnecessary stress on the pupils.

We have A levels and GCSE's in the home this summer. We talk all the time and my DH and I constantly tell them we realise how much pressure they are under and ask if there is anything we can do to support them. Come exam time I will be feeding them food and drinks through specially installed hatches in their bedroom doors!

I keep a close eye on mine to make sure things aren't becoming too much for them but remember a little bit of stress won't harm them. I keep reminding mine what a wonderful long summer they can look forward to. It's the last push towards the exams now.

My post crossed with your last one. Your poor DD remind her that she still has plenty of time.

[Guest55]

Why aren't they waiting until after the exams to celebrate?

Reassure her that Year 11 is the worst imho- some teachers seem to think the pupils are only studying their subject and forget all the other pressures.

[scary mum]

That's the problem - every single teacher is telling her that she is capable of an A if she just puts the extra effort into that subject but of course that applies to 10 subjects, and with the best will in the world I don't think she will get 10 As.

Fran - I keep telling her to look forward to the summer and reminding her what a great time she will have when it's all over.
G55 - I don't know why they do it in April, I think it's supposed to be a last fling and a day to forget everything but at the moment seems to be adding to the pressure. DD is (reasonably) conscientious and hard working and it would be very unfair if she wasn't allowed to go but I don't like the fact that some teachers appear to play games with them (although it's possible they just forget & don't realise it is causing extra stress).

[Looking for help]

We don't have any GCSEs this summer
Sorry scary -it is the worst bit of all in my experience - tears, panic, coursework yuk yuk yuk.
I empathise entirely .. the good news in my opinion is that once they move on to 6th form, they have got rid of all the subjects they despise (at least in my house) and can focus on what they want to do with the rest of their lives.

Year 11 was horrible and in the main we got out unscathed, thankfully. There is light at the end, and the couple of weeks before Easter and the Easter holidays were definitely the worst.
We had a few horrible experiences with DT coursework

[SSM]

Fran and Scary can your DC send some of that stress in my DS's direction. In our household it's a more a case of me keep stressing to my DS how he really needs to start some constructive revision as 8 weeks (when his first exam is) is really not that long way away.

One saving grace is that his exams seem to be quite well spread out over the month.

Thanks for starting this thread.

[Fran17]

Sometimes I think it's hard to tell if they are doing enough revision. My friend was fretting last year. She kept telling me how laid back her son was and she was worried that he wasn't taking his exams seriously. He ended up with fantastic results. She was in shock for the whole of September.

I've found that doing a revision timetable helps them to focus a little bit.

Let's all look forward to the wonderful long summer! Then we can all stress like mad the week the results come out! Then we can all go to Scary's Bar (another thread).

[Sportsmum]

We've only got the science modules - but that's going to bad enough! The revision timetable is waiting to be filled in..... and the handcuffs are on order from a certain online retailer. Oh yes and the vast amounts vino for DC's father and I to consume at the end of each day!

Good luck to all the parents and their DCs out there