Tessa is stressed and sad...

Tessa is growing up too fast! Not only physically, but also emotionally...

EXAMS!

She is beginning to feel more self-imposed stress from exams. Last week she looked visibly upset because she thought she did badly for her Maths mock exam. This is quite unusual as she is normally the happy–go-lucky type of girl. Fortunately, she was wrong in her expectations. I could not describe the joy in her voice when she called me in the office the following day to tell me she got band 1 for the paper! It turned out that she got stressed because she got stuck in the first problem sum. That wasted a lot of time and she had no time to check the rest of the paper, hence the conclusion that she would not do well! Her main Maths paper falls on my birthday this year and now she tells me that her present for me will be to do well for the paper!

WEIGHT ISSUES!

She thinks she is fat, and that she does not like her legs. I asked if anyone has teased her about her weight. She said no. My best guess is all her good friends are really skinny ( hmmm sounds like mummy’s case!) and so in relative terms, she is bigger and fatter. She said she is trying to cut down on her food intake since she does not like to do sports. I told her the important thing is to cut down on sweet stuff and junk food. I assured her that she is not fat now but it is unhealthy to put on more weight. She said she feels sad about it, which surprises me as she is normally a very bubbly girl. I read that girls will start becoming more self-conscious when they are about 9-10 so I need to have more heart-to-heart talks with her going forward. My worst fears is to have kids with low self esteem so I better manage her feelings properly now before it gets out of control. And of course, I better join her in her diet plan as well!.