Your child’s exams are a test of your parenting skills

A teenager studying for their first state exams will already be stressed. Parents should aim to be a calm, helpful counterpoint

Your daughter is facing her first State exam and you, her parent, are the one in danger of losing it. File picture

YOUR 15-year-old is doing the Junior Cert and you can’t stop hovering. 

What’s she studying now? History? But she’s been on the same page for 10 minutes. And is she doing any French? She did so badly in the mocks. Does she even have a study plan? Where are those flashcards you bought her? And is that her phone under her English play?