Surviving Exam Season: A Parent's Guide

Every parent knows the unique tension that fills a home during exam season. For some households, like my friend's with three exam-takers, it becomes "a pressure cooker" so intense she needed to escape occasionally. Meanwhile, my husband took the hands-off approach: "It's their life, let them get on with it" as our children faced their GCSEs and A levels simultaneously.

His detachment seemed enviable—until I found myself internally screaming before breakfast: "He's playing cricket! The other one's glued to his Xbox! Do they realise how much I've accomplished before 9 AM? Think of all the revision they could be doing!"

Our home wasn't the high-pressure environment of my friend's—quite the opposite. We lived in what I'd call a state of "blissful denial and professional procrastination."

Now, bearing the emotional battle scars of that season, I can offer hard-won wisdom. The parenting paradox becomes painfully clear: excessive "encouragement" (let's be honest—nagging) triggers teenage defensiveness, while complete detachment makes you feel complicit in their avoidance strategies.

So what's the middle path? Simply this:

Provide meals and hydration, but otherwise this is their journey. Sometimes being there quietly is the greatest support we can offer.