Eleven Plus Anticipation

When we anticipate an event we are acting before hand to prepare for an action or a happening. There may sometimes be that rather uneasy feeling in the stomach – rather like waiting for an operation or for the chop to fall. When your eleven plus child enters the zone just before the examination you hope that the bubbly and squirmy feeling means the adrenalin is flowing. When you feel that tingle it may be that your mind is looking ahead and that you feel that you are no longer in control. Your feelings are bubbling!

You have had a pleasant evening out. The company was entertaining – but you could not drink because you were driving. You are a few miles from home and you entice your body to prepare for that first sip of Baileys. As you approach home the salivary buds begin to bubble. Your thoughts swing widely – is the house tidy? What are we going to do tomorrow? Will it all come right in the end? How will my child cope with grammar school? In other words anticipation can cope with the here and now as well as events some time in the future.

Eleven plus parents and their children sometimes have to recognise that differences in opinion will emerge as time passes – and that the differences are often healthy because they can clear the air.

There may sometimes be a certain amount of tension and despair – but this could be no more than a sign of the times.

Some parents may care to put themselves into the position of their children and study something. They may decide to take on an advanced cooking course, or start on a degree or even a new language.

Some parents may even make an effort to develop a completely new set of friends.

Some parents may feel a need to remain strong and maintain their self confidence – they may at times feel the need to shout, scream and succumb to tears. However much they can hope for a successful outcome to the eleven plus their ability to look ahead may prove too much at times.

Eleven plus anticipation may stir up a cauldron of emotions – some hopeful and some fearful. You hope your child will do the best that he or she can but you fear that this may not be so. Poor old Macbeth had to meet the witches more than once to hear of his anticipated fate as he contemplated the murder of Duncan.

ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

2 WITCH. Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,—
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.