If you have a child in school, one of the biggest factors to judge if they are doing well is usually to check their transcripts. If it drizzles with As, then everything is perfect. If it leaves your eyes wide with some “ugly” Cs, your child could be in for disaster. Right? Wrong.
While a score is a quantitative proxy for your child’s ability to understand and demonstrate, it is still just the tip of the iceberg. Furthermore, focusing solely on grades and grades can hinder your child’s overall growth and development. According to Brent Sweitzer, a professional counselor in private practice, “Children recognize their parents’ anxiety about their performance in school and are able to understand it.”
Most parents are so invested in their child’s education and grades that they see it as a reflection of their own success or failure. But is it right to place this burden on your child to pass a test that can’t go well for a variety of reasons? Maybe not. Maybe it’s time to take a break from telling your child to get “full marks” and do other, more important things, if not more.
