Have you ever thought how ignorant we are as parents?  We give our kids message after message of “Revise, revise” or “Read the question carefully” or “Highlight the key word, I told you to highlight the key word!” “HIGHLIGHT THE WORD”. But, how do we really prep our children for the experience of taking the exams?  After all, it is only an exclusive group of us teachers who actually have the privilege of seeing our children physically taking an exam. (A group which I am proud to be amongst.)  

The spaces we never see

There are spaces parents never see – the lining up, the frenzied chatting at friends rather than with them; the “I don’t give a damn attitude of the late arrival”, the heads down anticipation moment of walking into a huge space filled with row after row after row of small brown desk and grey chair; line upon line upon line akin to a war cemetery and far removed from the games normally played on those angular lines.  The strategic placing of the see through bottle on the desk, the foot shuffle, the glance. The “Oh I wish the invigilators would stop whispering”; “That lawn mower is killing me” or “Not that Wooosh of the fan again”.

Our best response

Sports psychology suggests that we should never ask about whether you win or lose.  Perhaps as parents we shouldn’t greet our kids at the end of the day with “Well, how was it?”  “Did it go well?”, “Do you think you passed?”  Perhaps we should rather say “What was it like in the hall?”,  “What were the invigilators wearing?”  Or even, “Did anyone fart?”. Do we ever actually just praise our kids for turning up and walking into this unnatural space?  

The challenge of exams

The experience of taking exams is a challenge in itself. Perhaps, given the disruption of the last two years, we should just be relieved that our child walked into the hall at all.