Moms know best what the boys have to go through
Wednesday, June 26, 2013, was probably one of the happiest days in the academic calendar when around 120 proud parents delivered Aitchisonian boys. Yes, it was the day when one of the most prestigious and competitive schools in Pakistan announced its entrance test results for admission into K2.
Ask any Aitchisonian’s mother and she will agree that this entrance test preparation process is no less challenging than an actual pregnancy spanning over a period of nine months.
1st trimester (Sept – Dec)
The pre-school that your child goes to would confirm that an Aitchisonian has been conceived on its parents’ day open house at the beginning of Class 1. This pre-school will also claim that it has apparently broken the code — they know exactly what to teach, how to teach it and how to make your child a superstar. The pre-school gets cracking and it suddenly increases the quantum and level of class work and home work with less or no fun activities of the previous Nursery or KG years. This is the time when it actually hits you that less than one year is left for the test and your child needs extra help since he does not even know how to read full sentences in English and Urdu.
Initial preparation starts with finding an after school tutor with a good track record. Options include evening school style tuition academies where the child is taught with minimum involvement of mothers in large student groups of 20-25, or smaller tuition centers where the child is given individual attention in groups of less than five with a lot of home work to be done under the supervision of mothers. And then there are tutors who give one-on-one tuition and offer guaranteed admission. These tutors will only talk to you through a reference and some even pre-screen to assess if the child has the potential to be tutored. The monthly tuition charges can vary anything from Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000 per month.
Child’s mid-year examination report card of Class 1 is like the first ultra sound result. It basically confirms that the child’s brain is developing well and whether the selection of the tutor was right or wrong. This is the most important trimester because just like any other pregnancy it carries the highest risk of miscarriage. At the end of this trimester many expectant mothers will find this whole process completely unhealthy for the child and therefore chose to abort.
2nd Trimester (Dec – Mar)
During this trimester, child’s development will be really broad based. Mothers not only focus on brain development for Math, English and Urdu, but they also need to focus on child’s confidence, social behaviour, mannerisms, reasoning, music, art, swimming and horse riding skills.
As soon as admission forms are available from Aitchison in February, mother’s mood swings and hot flashes also become frequent. This is also the time for fathers to start thinking about how to reduce the labour pains by using some kind of approach for that extra push.
By the end of this trimester mothers start approaching full term. They have gathered all the possible work sheets. Some have even managed to obtain a complete school bag of a current Aitchisonian who has already completed K1 or K2. Smart fathers anticipating pre natal depression arrange to go off for a mini family vacation during spring holidays, buy a designer bag or get a solitaire ring to keep the momentum going.
3rd Trimester (Mar – Jun)
The anxiety levels start to increase since now a few weeks are left before the test date. This is also the time when appointments with the principal for pre test interviews are made and one cannot afford to relax on that window of opportunity that exists for about 20 minutes. Parents are on their best behaviour and don’t forget the well rehearsed answers they have memorised like a script of a play. Some use the kinship card, some show their child’s early childhood extracurricular achievements and some just let the principal talk for 20 minutes.
In the last few weeks, dedicated mothers are completely house bound and some virtually disappear from Facebook too. Even the socialites stop going to the designer lawn exhibitions and manage to buy their latest lawn suits from boring online stores. Running the house is practically delegated to servants and there is no time to go for mani pedi, kitty parties, facials or even follow the protocols of in-laws. The child, on the other hand, continues to have a busy routine with school, tuition and revision. For many this means, lunch, pm snack and homework would be done in the car.
And then comes the moment of truth; entrance tests for three days. Parents drop off around 700 kids and wait anxiously each day for four hours in the extreme heat of June inside the parent’s tent enclosure. Tasbeeh and Quran are recited, fake best of luck wishes are exchanged, and notes are compared once the kids are out. There are frowns on the faces of some and smiles on others.
Even after the tests are over, body hormones continue to be active since mixed emotions of relief and result day tension frequently bother. Under confident parents manage to secure admissions in the next best school of their choice which means a few more entrance tests and interviews for the poor child.
The post test interview of successful candidates is just a formality therefore post natal recovery is very fast. However, adjustment with a new born Aitchisonian continues for a longer period of time. Very early morning riding, year round tests and extracurricular activities are just some of the challenges parents have to get used to sooner than later.