The last year of school is hard for everyone. There is so much to think about. You have exams, college applications, people are only talking about prom when they aren’t studying, and with all that it barely occurs to you that you won’t see your closest friends every day once the year is out. It’s a lot to take on, and, as a parent, you might be wondering if there is anything you can do to help.
Well, there is. Read our guide to making the last few weeks of school as easy as possible.
Know when to help, and when to not
Studying is stressful, no matter who you are. Your child could be the school genius, truly passionately interested in their curriculum, and yet the stakes are added, and suddenly there is stress.
This might bring some testy manners. When your child has their head in a book, don’t approach. Tiptoe around the room if they are using a communal area, and when they come out to breathe, then ask them if there is anything you can help with.
And you can help. Quiz them on random facts and ask them to explain more complex ideas to you. It’s not (entirely) for your benefit. Saying it out loud and having to think about what they are saying, rather than reciting a long answer, will help them to understand and remember the material. You can find some more study tips online to use.
Get them a photo book
It’s guaranteed that it will not occur to your kids that they’re not going to see their friends as much until they are at graduation. There will be a lot of tears. There will be happy tears, sure, but there will also be sad tears.
You can make this easier with a little gift. If you are on good enough terms with your children not to be blocked on social media, first of all, congratulations, but also, you can use the photos they post on their accounts to create a photo album of your child with their friends that they can keep forever. If you Google photo books to find yourself a photo book that you can fill with your child’s best memories and give it to them as a graduation present.
Plus, there is no harm in adding a few photos of your family through their school years in there, too. It will give your kids something to look at in the future.
Make prom the best it can be
Prom gets touted as the be all and end all of the high school experience. If you haven’t been, you simply haven’t gone to school. And as much as we’d all like to tell the teens that it’s not like how Clueless and 10 Things I Hate About You make it look but it’s more a boring dinner party where you have to pretend you like making small talk to the teachers, that’s not productive.
Instead, you can make prom as enjoyable as possible in any way you can. This is the last hurrah before adulthood hits, and if that dress isn’t perfect, we’ll find one that is. Consider getting in touch with the extended family. If you’ve ever had to get a hold of a child custody lawyer and you’re on good terms with them, you might want to contact your ex-partner and see if they would like to be a part of the celebrations. It’s another memory that you can all make together, and one that the family should be a part of.
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