Matric 2022: Here’s how to support your teen through it

For many school pupils, the matric year is one of the most important of all. This is because this year usually determines the next few years of your life as you decide on where you will study, whether you will take on a full-time job and what kind of institutions you will be accepted into – if any. This is why for parents and guardians of a matriculant, being a solid support system is crucial.

Luckily, there are many ways for parents to be the support systems their children really need.

How to support your teen through matric

Matric exam time is a milestone experience, not just for the learners, but their parents too.  It’s normal for parents to feel a lot of pressure – we want to get the support right; we have to keep the whole family on track and we’re really hoping for evidence of optimal performance after the nail-biting wait for the results. 

We may want to have the comfort of drawing on our own experience of Matric exams, but the world has changed so radically that what we went through and how we handled things may well be completely irrelevant to our child who is about to write their final school exams in 2022. 

However, that shouldn’t make you feel that you can’t make a good difference. 

On the contrary, according to Jogini Packery, the Head of the Johannesburg Campus of SACAP (South African College of Applied Psychology) says that when it comes to Matric, parents most certainly can be the secret sauce.  It all comes down to how you handle yourself.  Jogini says:

“It is paramount that parents are able to contain their own emotional state and be able to ground themselves when overwhelming emotions take over.  It’s also important to be able to express those emotions in a healthy manner.  In doing so, much like you did when your child was much younger, you will be mirroring the basics of emotional coping during challenging times.”

“It is paramount that parents are able to contain their own emotional state and be able to ground themselves when overwhelming emotions take over.  It’s also important to be able to express those emotions in a healthy manner.  In doing so, much like you did when your child was much younger, you will be mirroring the basics of emotional coping during challenging times.”

Taking a gap year

SACAP’s Praneetha Jugdeo also shares some advice for matric students who want to take a gap year and how their parents can look at this decision:

“This presents a great opportunity for enhanced self-insight and exposure to new experiences.  Students can use a gap year to figure out their interests as well as get to know their strengths and areas of development. 

It should not be thought of as ‘a wasted year’ because they can gain extraordinary life experience and attain significant personal growth whether they travel, volunteer, intern or complete short-term courses.”

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