Is Your Child A Topper?

Photo by Gabriel Tovar on Unsplash

The motto of education is to build a healthy society where people can live-in peace and harmony. Education must help a person to design his future according to his dreams and lead a happy and healthy life. But unfortunately today, we have completely deviated from this elementary concept. The majority of the population is following the wrong trend and this trend is turning to be truly dangerous. “The trend of toppers.” After every major exam, we see a big list of students, and their photos being publicized with their percentage or ranks all around. This is merely an advertising strategy being followed by all private education institutions to increase their popularity and in turn their profit too. But knowingly or unknowingly this is creating a dangerous atmosphere in society.

Parents and teachers portrait these toppers as role models and the next batch students automatically get under undue pressure. Though elders intend to motivate children to perform well, sometimes students may fail to handle this pressure and may take extreme steps. In a shocking survey, statistics show that the number of students surrendering to suicide is dangerously increasing. Between the years 2000 and 2009, a total of 57,944 students have committed suicide, while it has been increased to 86,757 in 2010-2019. This is certainly not an acceptable development, and as parents we have to be very cautious in this matter.

Whenever you feel your children look depressed or low never let them be alone. Sometimes your children may say that they want privacy, that's fine, give them the space they need. But ensure that standing out of that space, you keep an eye on their behavior and activities. Try to know the reason that is troubling them and help them come out of it as early as possible. Timely action is indeed very essential to avoid any possible harm to your child. Remember, our intention should be to train our kids to succeed in the path of life, and exam results can never seal their fate.

Some important points that should we should keep in mind, and teach our kids are:

1) Let them discover the fun of learning.

Education is not about learning a prescribed syllabus. Let the kids read different books, experiment with new things, and indulge themselves in interesting activities. It should be a tool to learn new things, help improve the questioning, reasoning, and thinking skills of children. Let kids explore the world of knowledge in a fun-filled manner. This will help them to build a thrust towards knowledge.

2) Teach your kids to accept failures.

Your children may be top performers in every exam, but that doesn't mean that they should never fail. The point is failure should never break their hearts or dreams. Teach them that failures must be as heartily accepted as that of a success. A failure must prompt them to search for the reasons behind their failure and new ways to achieve success.

3) Let them enjoy the success of others.

Children should learn healthy competitive behavior. A child can't top every time. If their contenders surpass them any time, they should be in a state to accept it without hesitation. Children must support each other and rejoice growing together.

4) Teach them the value of life.

Yes, it is important to perform well in exams, but that's not final. The ultimate goal is to succeed in the life called exam, and that can be achieved only by being alive. So let children realize that life is much more than just exam results. Let them be bold, courageous, and strong enough to face all odds of life.

Dear parents - let us prepare our children for an exam called life and not just the exams of school. Happy parenting!

R. Poornima Dilip is a postgraduate in biotechnology, now mother of two little champs and a homemaker. A parttime teacher and writer by passion, she has worked as a content writer for pencil9 and writes articles to different platforms like Pratilipi, Momspresso and Wetalk. She loves to share her experience and knowledge by writing.

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this post are the personal views of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of The Mom Store.