5 Ways to Help Students who struggle with Anxiety (For Parents)

School can be a source of support, belonging, learning and community for young people. It provides students a great opportunity to make a life-long friendships, and supportive realtionships with teachers. However, for some young people, school can become challenging, stressful and distressing especially  in the period of exams.  

Here are a few tips to cope with students anxiety: 

1. Ensure that the children get enough sleep

You should ensure that the student has a restful sleep that lasts at least 7 hours a day. If, however, you notice that he sleeps restlessly and this happens for more than 20 minutes, it is a good idea to get him out of bed. In this case you can encourage him to do something else (eg soft music) for at least half an hour until he feels drowsy. 

2. Take a break and go outside 

Being out in nature can also calm an anxious brain. Sometimes just a change of scenery is what makes the difference. Breathing the cool air or making time for excercise by the sea clears out the anxiety and leads to a more effective reading. 

3. Avoid frequent reference to upcoming exams 

Daily discussion about the way of examination, and the grade that is required to achieve the final goal is likely to create more stress to the student. This will unfortunately lead to the exact opposite result from the desired one and therefore it is better to avoid it. 

4. Encourage student to focus on positive thoughts 

Reassuring phrases like “all children have similar anxiety” are especially important for the young candidate’s psychology. At this critical time in his life, the student needs to feel safe and stable.  

5. Explain to child that it will not be considered a failure if he fails to bring the required test results

Think that no single exam is important enough to mean you’ve completely failed. Results are not everything. This result is often determined by the composure that the student will show during the exams. Our goal is, therefore, to make students consider the exams as an additional positive experience regardless of the result. It would mean a lot for the child to hear the phrase from you:  

“Even if you do not pass, the effort you have made and the experience you will have will be your weapon in the next exams”. We try to create a safe space so that the student does not operate under excessive stress which may prevent him from performing to his full potential. 

Written by: Angeliki Kefalidou