Parents play a crucial role in their children’s lives, including their careers. Before competitive exams like NEET, students and their parents are under immense mental stress and pressure. Parents often look for ways to support their children in such times but are clueless about going about it. This discussion will suggest some practices that parents can follow to help their children study better for competitive exams like NEET and maintain their mental health.
| Table of Contents |
| How parents can help their children prepare for NEET |
| Frequently asked questions |
How parents can help their children prepare for NEET
- Help them make healthy study and lifestyle choices
It is very important to follow a healthy lifestyle to succeed in competitive exams like NEET. Parents have a major role to play in this regard. They can buy healthy groceries, prepare healthy meals, and ensure that their kid follows a nutritional diet. They should ensure their child gets seven to eight hours of sleep each night.
This can be done by checking on them late and waking them up in the morning. Students get anxious before the exam and study till late hours. It can prove hazardous to their health and make them ill. Following a healthy lifestyle and sleep cycle is important for maintaining a healthy body. Having a healthy body is important for maintaining a healthy mind, boosting energy, and enhancing cognitive skills.
- Give mental support to your child
Competitive exams are a challenge for any student. They are under the constant pressure of having to finish the syllabus within time. In such a situation, their parents should be there for them. They should pep talk with their children whenever they feel down. This will help them stay motivated and study with enhanced energy. They should appreciate their hard work and efforts and congratulate them on their small achievements. Parents do not often realize it, but students take a lot of stress to satisfy their parents. Confidence and positivity play an important role in scoring high on the NEET exam.
- Please encourage them to follow an organised schedule
Many students do not have an organised study schedule. Even if they do, they do not follow it. This results in a bad performance in exams. Parents should help their children make an organised schedule and encourage them to follow it. They should not burden their children in terms of social engagements and non-academic responsibilities before their exams; otherwise, their children will not be able to follow the schedule. The schedule should include details on the day and duration assigned to each chapter.
- Please do not compare your kids with other children
Parents should not make their children indulge in self-doubt by highlighting the kids’ achievements in the neighborhood or with relatives. Even if the comparison is intended to serve a good intention, it will make them feel frustrated, and they will lose the motivation to continue studying. It is the responsibility of the parents to make sure that their child is mentally healthy and is exposed to a positive atmosphere. Point out their strengths and qualities when low and let them know how they are better than others.
- Avoid putting extra pressure on your child
Parents should ensure that they cultivate a positive atmosphere for their child at home. They must take care of their mental health first; it will help them take better care of their children. Parents should not pressurise their children to score high marks. Encouraging your children to score high and pressuring them to score high are two different things and have different consequences on their mental health and motivation levels. Parents should understand the difference between the two and should act accordingly.
- Give time to your child
The time before the NEET exam is very stressful for your child, as they will face the most important exam. Children do not usually make this stress evident and keep it bottled up. Parents should try to give more time to their children to know if they are stressed or feeling anxious. Their constant attention and loving attitude will help alleviate their children’s stress and help them concentrate and perform better in the exams.
- Monitor the distractions your child may fall prey to
Every student has a different distraction. It can be listening to music, talking to friends over the phone, or spending time on social media apps. It is ok for students to do all this if they do it in their free time and it is not affecting their studies. The problem arises when students prioritise these distractions over their studies and lose track of time while on them. Parents should keep track of the time their children spend on these distractions. Excessive distraction is bad for studies. Parents should not eliminate these distractions from the life of their children but rather monitor the time they spend on these.
- Listen to them before the exams
The student’s brain is brimmed with feelings of fear and anxiety about the paper. They get nightmares about the exam and the result. It is a very crucial time in their lives. Parents should listen to their anxieties without judgement and help them sort out their thoughts without pointing out their mistakes. They can share instances of stories from their own lives in an empathetic way to boost their confidence. Children look up to their parents for encouragement.
- Look out for warning signs
Even if your children are well prepared for the NEET exam, they might feel stressed before the exam date and anxious about the results. Some students even fall prey to depression due to such a situation. Parents should look for signs of depression in their child’s altered appetite, irritated mood, altered sleep patterns, etc. Should any of these signs be present, parents should talk about them to their children gently and compassionately. This will make them feel better and alleviate their anxiety.
- Help children not procrastinate
Parents should stay informed about their children’s courses and assignments. They should know their exam syllabus and the exam date. They should ask their children if they have prepared for their assignments and exams without stepping on the boundaries. The purpose of this should be to catalyse the preparation of their children, not to act bossy. If parents bring up the conversations regarding their children’s exams and study timetable, they will stop procrastinating and studying.
- Ask them about their dreams
Parents should sit down with their children and ask them their objective of giving the NEET exam. They should ask them whether they are doing it due to peer pressure or want to get admitted to MBBS or BDS courses and become a doctor. A child should not be forced to take an exam to satisfy parents’ dreams or due to peer pressure. Parents should respect their children’s dreams. They can suggest their choices for the children but not force those upon them. There are so many other fields for students nowadays that they can excel and succeed. Choice of career should be the students’ decision, then only they can excel in that career.
- Arrange occasional meetings with their teachers
Parents should sometimes arrange meetings with their children’s teachers to know about their progress. They should also know about their mental health and find out if they are learning actively in the coaching classes. If possible, parents should make their children meet people who have been in a similar situation to them before. Children will open up to such people more freely and seek advice from them to get out of discouraging situations.
After going through the whole discussion, parents will now have ideas about how they can help their children during their tough time before the NEET examination. It is, however, important for parents to understand that they need to give space to their children to help them succeed. Staying on top of them all the time will not help them; rather, it will lead to more stress and frustration. It is also important to acknowledge that parents can only support their children. The main battle is to be fought by the students themselves. They are the players in the game, and the rest of the people constitute the audience.
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NEET Preparation Tips & Tricks: How To Prepare For The Exam?
FAQs
1. What is NEET?
NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) is a national-level competitive exam in which students from all over India compete to get admitted to different government and private medical colleges. It acts as a career-deciding exam for many candidates across India who harbours a dream of becoming a doctor. There are three compulsory subjects in the NEET exam— Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. NEET question paper is available in many regional languages of India so that students from different language media can opt for it. If you are interested in taking the NEET exam and want to know about the NEET 2022 Eligibility Criteria, you can check it here NEET Eligibility Criteria.
2. Where can I find the NEET application form?
NEET 2022 Application Form is available on the NTA official website. NTA is the concerned authority for conducting the NEET exam. The form can be filled out by students all across India online. There is a fee of Rs. 1500 to be paid by the general category candidates and Rs. 800 by the SC/ST/PH candidates while filling the form. The fee can also be paid online. If you can not find the NEET 2022 Application form, a direct link will lead you to it NEET Application Form.
3. What can parents do for their children before exams?
Parents have a very important role in their children’s lives, including their careers. Before any exam, students experience immense stress and anxiety. They are under constant peer pressure and feel the need to go to make their parents happy. In such a situation, if the parents encourage them and give them pep talks, it will reduce their anxiety. Parents should also ensure their children eat healthy meals and have adequate sleep before their exams.
4. What should parents not do before their child’s exam?
Most parents in India tend to compare their children’s results with the achievements of kids in the neighbourhood and that of relatives. This is a very unhealthy practice and reaps no benefits. There have been instances where students commit suicide due to continuous academic-related pressure from their parents and society. Parents should understand that their children’s mental health is more important than any exam. Some parents like interfering in every activity concerned with their children. They like to be on top of their children all the time. This makes the children frustrated and depressed. Such parents should learn to give space to their children to make their own decisions healthily.
5. Why do most Indian parents want their child to become a doctor?
Most Indian parents want their child to become a doctor. This is because the medical profession is considered one of the most respected ones in the country. It guarantees a secure future for their child and gives them a scope to achieve success in life. It also allows them to affect people’s lives directly. This is fine for the children who want to enter this profession. When parents force their children who do not want to be doctors to enter this profession, the problem arises. Parents need to realize that their children will be successful only when they feel passionate about their profession and love their job. They are not puppets who need to satisfy their parents’ dreams. There have been instances where students who even manage to enter medical schools do not do well because of their lack of interest in the field. Students should be given the authority to choose their careers as it is a lifetime commitment. This will contribute to them spending happy and fulfilled lives.
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