To stop GCSE son going out on a Tuesday school night

[Tuxedocatty]

To tell my 15 year old son he can’t go out to an open mic night on a Tuesday night a few weeks before his GCSEs? He only does revision under the most extreme duress anyway and to be honest keeping him here just means he’ll spend an hour going through the motions and sulking. But apart from anything it’s the principle. Apparently I’m the worst parent ever.

Let him go and unwind, sounds like he won't be revising tonight anyway

Agree with PP, let him go- he won’t revise tonight anyway.

I'd let him go as well

Yabu. Get him to commit to a time when he will revise in exchange for permission to go.

A few weeks before? Poor lad let him go for heavens sake.

Let him go. Mental health matters too.

I've always said that the reason I did so well in exams was because I never stopped socialising and doing my sports and hobbies. It doesn't do our mental health any good to cancel life entirely for months on end.

It’s a balance. My DC is off to football tonight and will be going to cricket tomorrow. They will, however, be revising before they go. They need downtime and normality.

I'd let him go too. The GCSE period is long enough and there likely won't be any socialising in that period, so he might as well have a night out to relax while he can.

Well of course you're not the worse parent but I'm not sure what you are trying to achieve?

As an occasional thing I would, we have a levels coming up, relaxation is very important

My GOD! Let him go!

Unless he is out every night, i’d allow it, but then my DD was v motivated and I had the opposite problem. I don’t know that the heavy handed approach to revision is all that effective anyway.

Yabu

Surely there's a deal to be had, a decent hour of revision before he goes and then off to enjoy himself. I never really understood huge amounts of revision, you either understand it or you don't. Revision should be to refresh, and there's only so much of that you can do

What’s the point if he stays home and doesn’t do much revision? Let him go.

i’d use it as a negotiation tactic that he has to knuckle down on the other nights. If he doesn’t he has broken the agreement and can’t go out again.

my kids revised during the day but really stopped at 5pm so we’re often out most nights doing sport.

You need to strike a balance. Keeping up extracurricular activity can help youngsters keep exams in perspective. I can well remember getting so agitated and practically burnt out because I wasn't allowed to fo my usual activities in the lead up to exams. Frankly he's not going to learn much tonight if he's upset with your decision.

I’d say yes with caveats - you can go but need to do 2 hours revision before you go (obviously too late now).

I don’t see the issue, especially given you just want to stop him for the ‘principle’ of it

@Tuxedocatty it really just depends on how ready you think he is to sit his exams or how much effort he has put into revising.

If he’s been a lazy-bones so far then no he shouldn’t get to go out, he needs to see that you value education and expect him to put the effort in to get the best grades he can get.

If however he has really knuckled-down (either at school by attending the revision classes available and at home putting the recommended hours in), he’s shown to be taking them seriously, then a night-out is deserved and will do him good.

Let him go. There’s more to life than exams (especially a few weeks before!)

Let him go. GCSEs are incredibly intense and seem to go on forever. He needs to cut loose (but also agree to make up revision time elsewhere in the week)

I would let him go, they need down time too. It's a stressful time as it is.

Surely you present this as the carrot? Four hours of revision over the weekend, showing you his notes/mind maps/whatever and he can go. Fail to revise - can’t go.