High School
High School

 High school is what most graduates or work professionals would call the experience of a lifetime that you certainly don’t want to miss out on. It's the time period when you have the fun, the friends and the freedom to gain experiences that future life commitments won't allow you to. You're not a kid in primary school who needs a parent to buy clothes but you aren't an adult that needs to pay bills too.

However, like most changes in life, this one isn't easy either. Shifting from secondary school to high school is a daunting task. Increase school workload, new surrounding and new people, new subjects and a new routine. Adjusting to all of this at once with the hope to leave your mark and make memories can be a difficult job for any child. A study reveals that 25% of teenagers suffer from anxiety disorders.

Parents are the ones understand their child during this critical time. They can help them and be their guide, hold their hand during bad days and share the laughter on the good days. The following tips by Etutorworld can help parents support their kids during this crucial time -

1) Talk it Out

Most of the time, before their first day in high school, kids are anxious and behave a little differently. Not talking about it or clarifying their issues can make things worse leading to low self-confidence on the first day itself. Many children unable to cope ultimately drop out, creating a mess. In US alone, every year around 1.2 million students drop out! You definitely don’t want your child to be one of them so sit down with your child, try and answer all their doubts and questions, comfort them and also attempt at sharing your own high school experiences, this will not only help your child calm down but also help them them get mentally prepared for what's to come.

2) Prepare

High school first days are not only tough for a child, they are hectic for the parents too. New timings, new books and a new routine for the child impacts the whole family's routine life. Make sure that you prepare well in advance to avoid any delays which would make your child panic. Help them or guide them to pack required stationery, prepare the bag with all the necessary books and important documents, finalise the time with buffer time in hand and always communicate.

3) Plan a Map

Having a little control over what is going on around you and your child's life is vital in this case. Once you have the high school timings figured out and subjects finalised, you can plan your child's day to help them get into the flow of this new journey. Sit down with your child and make a road rap. Timings for school, homework timings, figure out few basic rules, check on home tutor timings along with the time for outings and extra-curriculars.

4) Encourage Good Habits

High school needs to be a complete image for your child. It's important for future career advancement and intellect. Along with studying, make sure your child learns new things in life. Allow them to do one extracurricular activity, enroll them in classes like Public speaking or counselling if you observe them struggling with peer pressure. Encourage them to participate in school activities and interact with other students. Along the way, always make sure that they value what they learn.

5) Get a Tutor

High school means assignments. Assignments mean deadlines. Deadlines means time pressure.All of this sometimes call for additional education help for your child at home. Some kids cannot keep up with the speed of studies in High school or want individual attention to clarify doubts or finish homework. Hire a tutor if you lack the time or skill to help your kids work. Tutoring not only eases their study pressure but also helps kids to score better. But again, before getting a tutor, find out if your child is weak in any one subject or he needs extra help in overall studies. For example, I was very weak in Calculus so my Mom got me an Online Calculus tutor. Similarly, you too need to identify the weak and strong points of your child. Only then, you can truly help him/her out.

With these steps, the new journey will not be easy but it will be bearable. Parental support is very important for a child to get through High school and simultaneously value it.