Colman Noctor

And I would very much at this point on the eve of day one be concentrating really on what is possible, what can we do to help rather than any sort of denigration of their efforts up to this point.

Yeah, and again, the I told you so never has an optimal, in any circumstance, saying I told you so never makes somebody go, oh, you're right and I love you more now.

But the other thing is, I've done this job for years, nagging doesn't work.

It has never worked, but it's all that we have.

So as parents, that's what we continue to do.

The nagging stage has even passed at this point.

And again, the practical stuff, getting enough pens and paper, having your equipment ready for whatever exam you have the next day.

selecting comfortable clothes, whatever it might be, knowing what time to leave the house.

So those are things you can help them with in terms of helping them just to feel a little bit more prepared, because anxiety is a fear of the unknown.

And that's what they're experiencing on the eve of the first day.

Now, traditionally, what we say is once you get in there and do the first exam, the anxiety about the exam process is not the same because you've done it before.

So when you're going in the following day, you know what's ahead and what the day will look like and what the exam hall feels like and all of the things that go with it.

But you may still have anxiety about a big subject that's coming up in three days time or if you want to do medicine and you've chemistry coming up or whatever it might be.

That anxiety may not go away, but the apprehension around the exam process oftentimes is much better after day one.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Again, I mean, I think I've seen your relationships between parent and child get really damaged over this process of being at them all the time and when they turn a corner and.

I've heard parents say things to young people which really hits home and it goes deep.

I remember one parent saying to the child, we've spent 30,000 on your education and we need that dividend to be paid back at this point.

And that's not what you need to hear the night before you're leaving.