Keep an eye out for signs of stress at school: Dr. Bhavna Barmi

Education has become a bit of a competition. With students being constantly compared to their peers, relatives, classmates, or even siblings, the pressure of academic performance has increased by leaps and bounds. Dr. Bhavna Barmi, a mental health and behavioural sciences expert talks about how this pressure of maintaining a high standard of academic performance causes prolonged stress for students and how parents can help them manage this stress better.

What kind of stress do students face? 
Stress is body’s reaction to a person's emotions at a given point of time. It can be either a positive or a negative event. On being exposed to stress, people generally experience an array of physical, emotional, behavioural and cognitive reactions. However, the amount of stress differs from person to person as they might experience and handle stress in very different ways, making it a subjective experience. 

Students generally stress over reasons like inadequate instruction methods, poor relationship with teachers, heavy academic load, lack of concentration during classes, poor time management. Though every student has his own way of handling the pressure, it is likely that such pressure may impact him negatively. 

How does academic stress affect children? 
Academic stress is a mental distress that happens either due to anticipated academic challenges or the fear of possible academic failure. Stress induced by academics manifests in many aspects in the student's environment: at home, at school, even in their peer relations and the neighbourhood. For most students, some of the major academic stressors includes tests, grades, homework, assignments, parental pressure, and performance expectations. 

Learning how to manage stress effectively has become an important skill to master for all of us, especially among children. Even if there is no escape from academic stress for students, it will make them competent and better equipped to handle the stress effectively. 

How can parents help students in coping up with academic pressure? 
Looking out for the signs of school-related stress among children is very important for parents. A child might be overwhelmed by academic stress, especially if she has a lot of upcoming tests and assignments. Some signs of stress shown by children include headache, stomach-ache, fever, procrastination and even a reluctance to go to school.  

If you see such signs among your children, do not panic. Get involved with them in extra-curricular activities to make them feel relaxed. Make sure that your child gets enough time to do everything he likes. It is important to help children stay socially, mentally and emotionally connected. Even having one meal with your child can solve the problem to an extent. Set an example for your child and model healthy behaviour. 

What habits can children develop to deal with academic stress better? 
Students need to have a structured schedule to plan out things for the day. Avoid over-scheduling work to help students stay on track and focus better. But remember that talking too much about their plans can become a source of anxiety and stress. Parents needs to schedule free time for their children to do whatever they want to, because it gives them a chance to relax, de-stress and recharge. 

The other important management skill that students can inculcate is prioritising their task for the day. Remember, if your child participates proactively in school activities and other extracurricular activities, it easy for her to get overwhelmed. Sit down with them and help them rank each task on the basis of its importance. First, help them to tackle the tasks higher on the list. If you think that this is happening on a daily and weekly basis with your child, reconsider the decision of enrolling your children in extracurricular activities that are too time-consuming and affecting their school work.