HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO COUNSEL PARENTS

HOW IMPORTANT IS TO COUNSEL PARENTS?


Just as the child steps into class 12, there are two factors which the parents begin to worry about. Of course the board exams and then admission! Admissions are like a night mare for many parents. They have certain dreams for their children. But children dream differently. There is always a tussle between the two. Who wins finally? How do parents deal with this pressure? Do they need to be counseled?

“Counseling is certainly helpful. There are times when the parents think a certain seat in a certain college is their ultimate goal and they push their children in to it. Where as the child may not be interested in the subject at all and suffer as a result. It is therefore important to tell the parents that they should either convince the child about their choice or be convinced themselves that the child does not have an aptitude for a certain subject and wishes to do something else” says Dr Kamala Viswanathan, a retired professor from a reputed city college who has taken the plunge into counseling after her retirement.


“Parents tend to inflict their choice upon the children. If they haven’t achieved a certain dream in their childhood they want their child to do it. My daughter was very keen on computer science engineering, whereas my husband wanted her to do something different like law. But she convinced us that law isn’t her cup of tea. Her choice of computer science engineering was loud and clear. Today she is a student at the Meenakshi Sundarrajan engineering college” says Vaijayanthi Arjun whose daughter Vineeta has just begun her first year in college. Vineeta says “I knew what I wanted to study and I am happy my parents have been supportive of my choice.”


Mrs. Saras Bhaskar , a reputed counselor in the city also agrees to this. She says “ pre admission counseling is beneficial to both parents and students. The counseling should be based on the students skill, interest, abilities and IQ and the individual input that the student may have. At times, institutions in a bid to balance out their admissions tend to distract students. In such cases if the parents are prepared with what their child requires they can handle the admission process better.”


Today the students have a world of opportunities before them. They have to make the right choice. The teachers play an important role in this. “ when we have parents bringing their children for admission, we need to tell them what opportunities our subject has to offer to their child. For eg I am the head of the department of history, and most people are averse to the subject. But when we tell them the kind of opportunities they have in the field of tourism, the kind of placements we get them, then they are convinced about their choice. It is therefore very important to convince and counsel the parents about the opportunities their children have” says Dr Patricia Gabriel, the HOD of history at Stella Maris college.

The views seem unanimous and the message seems loud and clear- parents need to be counseled, because they are preparing to let their child into a world of opportunities and making the right choice is indeed important for a child’s career.