(Photo: Xinhua)

Parents are becoming more anxious when helping their children complete their school homework as youngsters across China begin a new semester.

Experts from the Brain Hospital of Hunan Province suggested that parents need to defuse their emotions and not pass their anxieties on to their children.

Lu Yajun, a psychologist at the hospital’s Children's Psychology Department, said there was a development imbalance in a child’s cognitive ability in kindergarten and primary school. There are individual differences in the cognitive skills of children the same age and parents should not be anxious for success, comparing their children with others’, which can easily dampen self-confidence.

Yang Zuiwen, a therapist at the same hospital, said some children might have attention deficit disorder (ADD) making it difficult for them to concentrate. If parents believe their child does not study hard and then blames them, they will develop bad feelings.

Yang reminded that children with ADD might lack attention when playing games (electronic games excluded) or learning. Their lack of focus can be observed by doing homework, so parents need to pay attention to these kinds of performances from their children and have them receive medical treatment in time.

Parents should not be anxious for good results or scold their children when helping them with their homework. Parents can cultivate their child’s behavior by encouraging and acknowledging them, giving them the confidence to complete educational tasks and how studying ca be fun, according to experts.

Experts also recommended that parents should not demand too much from their children and enforce their goals. Parents should not force their children to participate in training classes that are not conducive to a child’s growth. In doing so, they could pass their own anxieties to their children, which could cause them to be overstressed and develop psychological problems.