Rogue and Compulsive Eleven Plus Relationships

It could be interesting, to some, to look at the factors affecting relationships between eleven plus children and their parents. Family patterns probably stay around the same for the duration of childhood. A mother who fussed over her child in the pram – worrying about outside influences, concerned about television watching and adamant about the virtues of reading is probably going to behave in a similar way when the child is ten.

Children up to ten are likely to name their parents as ideal role models. Some eleven plus children, however, may mature a little faster than their contemporaries – and so lose their rosy tinted image of mum and dad at a younger age. Some children, after the age of ten, may start to identify themselves with more glamorous role models. Some current eleven plus parents may, sadly, feel a sense of loss when they realise that their child has found new allegiances and role models.

It must be pretty naturally for some eleven plus children, at one time or another, to develop a compulsion. Compulsive behaviour can be both a blessing and a curse. Naturally most parents would want to channel compulsive behaviour into work and study habits. We can not, however, have everything we wish for! Some eleven plus parents may be delighted that their child has became obsessed with canoeing – but others would, possibly, be much happier with a stated desire to devour as many eleven plus papers as possible.

We would all like to think that an eleven plus child from a positive environment – with accepting and non dominant parents – would enjoy better relationships with peers, parents and other adults than children from negative environments.

One again we have a number of children on eleven plus holiday courses at Hurst Road Community Centre.

The Hurst Garden

There are some wonderful trees to climb. Naturally some children are attracted to the trees – and become attached to them. There are no notices or edicts about climbing trees at break time. I simply suggest that the child seeks permission from the parents - and with that permission the trees are available.

Some parents seem to think that a child’s score on a verbal or non verbal reasoning test is a direct measure of intelligence. Intelligence tests, however, are not quite the same as reasoning tests. If your child one day feels uneasy because of an odd score on a test then this does not mean that your child’s ability has suddenly gone into a decline.

Any number of factors could affect a rogue result.