Exams

Chloe just finished her exams last week, and her results are starting to trickle in.

It has been a struggle the past 3-4 weeks, helping her prepare for her exams. The truth is, I must take part of the blame. I've not been following her work too closely the past year, because she has been doing fairly well, and so we have been a bit more lax with her. Unfortunately, I didn't realise that she has not been keeping up with her work, and we've been trying to play catch up while revising for her exams.

It's all too easy, I suppose, to blame her for not doing her work well and not paying attention in class, etc, but when I stop to think about it, she's only 9 years old(actually, she's only 9 this December), how can she fully understand the importance of having a right attitude to her studies, and to prioritise what is important? It's probably something most parents have to deal with. When you're a kid, you just want to have fun, who would enjoy doing homework and assessment books?

Still, there must be a balance, and I find myself struggling with this. How far do I go in pushing her in her studies? What's her limit? At what point do I hold back and allow her a breather? At the same time, am I being too relaxed with her? Is she understanding the importance of studying hard?

Nowadays, people like to say kids should be allowed to have fun, enjoy their childhood, experience all sorts of things, rather than just study, study, study. I think it's important to enjoy the experience of childhood, and go out there and try stuff, but it's a reality that studies are important, and not just in the academic sense. I think it trains up a sort of discipline, to do something you have to do, even though you don't feel like doing. That's something I'm trying to train Chloe in, more than purely getting good grades. If ultimately, she demonstrates the right attitude in putting in the effort in her studies, even if her results are not the best, I will be fine with that. That is something I remind myself often, to focus more on developing her character and good values, than just the actual grades themselves.

There has been some improvement, and I think she is starting to grasp the concept of having to do what needs to be done, even if it may not feel good to do so.

Just writing out random thoughts at a time when I probably should be sleeping