HOLIDAY, AN OPPORTUNITY TO DISCOVER CHILDREN’S ABILITIES
As the students are excited about getting their first semester report cards, the experts state that students and their parents need to come up with a plan to spend some quality time together. Experts, who remarked that time spent together during holiday strengthened the family ties, also was a good opportunity to find out about children’s interests and abilities.
Clinical Psychologist Merve Yavuz, Coordinator of IUE Psychological Development and Counseling Centre, mentioned that the students eagerly awaited the holiday and that the holiday period should not be seen as a time to rest, watch TV, or spend time in front of the computer only. Yavuz recommended making a holiday schedule. She said, “The schedule should include both entertainment and studying. Holidays are a great chance to catch up with family members and spend quality time together. Parents can strengthen the ties and increase communication with their children through variety of activities and programs.”
Breaking the Routine
Yavuz said that holidays were a good opportunity to find out about children’s interests and abilities and parents could increase children’s awareness via little games. Yavuz suggested making different plans to break the routine. “Families can assign one day of the holiday a family game day. They can play charade or do sports together. The importance of these schedules is quality time spent together by turning off the TV and breaking the routine. Also, a moderate study schedule would be helpful during this time. Children should be assured that the purpose there is to get them away from the homework and exam anxiety, and make them study comfortably, not as a punishment,” stated Yavuz.
‘Helping them with schedule brings solutions’
Yavuz mentioned that parents should help their children with making a list of the subjects they had difficulty with during first semester and she suggested making a schedule by dividing up the subjects on certain days to study. Yavuz made the following suggestions:
If the student is stressed about too many subjects to study and don’t know how to prioritize, parents should help by telling them to focus on the most important sections. If the student had an unsuccessful semester, parents should try to understand the reason behind it together with their children. ‘Unconditional love’ is the type of love every child expects from their parents. If you make your child think that your love is dependent on your child’s grades, you further increase the child’s worries. Making the child think that he/she will not be able to succeed in the next semester only damages their self-confidence. Reacting negatively to a report card might be a wrong method even if it was meant for the good of the child. Therefore, if a mild study schedule is blended with family time, the holiday would be blessed.”
‘Less Blaming More Obedience’
Yavuz stated that families should lessen blames such as ‘you are not studying’, and establish effective communication, then the children would be more understanding and obedient about their parents’ wishes.
