Markéta Čermáková, director of the Outpatient Clinic

Today is the last day of school. For many, it is associated with the long-awaited end of the school year and the expected start of the holidays. The day when relief comes. For many, however, it is also associated with assessment concerns. Let's think a little about the risks that children and adolescents present today and the ways in which we, as adults, can make it easier for them.

I'm sure you've heard that grades aren't everything and we shouldn't punish kids for them. Many of us do, and rather than scolding children for poor results, we try to appreciate their efforts and highlight activities in which children excel and enjoy, even if it is not school performance. Still, I think it's important to reiterate.

School is not everything, and grades are a very simplified assessment of a very narrow fraction of your child's skills, largely influenced by the subjective perception of the teacher in question and the setting of the institution your child attends.

So please don't give them too much weight. Feel all the pages your child has. He may not be good at chemistry, but he can play the flute beautifully. He may not be good at Czech, but he is a great friend. In addition - let's be aware of the conditions in which our children have been studying and living in recent years. Try to look back at how difficult the last three years have been for you.

Pandemic, war, uncertainty, changes... Three years. What part of your life is it? Tenth? Or even less? For our children, those three years are maybe a quarter, a third, maybe even a larger part of their lives. Such a time! Let's realize how challenging a period it is for us, adults, and try to imagine how this period probably affected the experience of our children. That's why I recommend celebrating today together with our children that we managed it as best as we could. The whole school year! Let's have something good to eat together or go for a walk together, or just smile at each other and thank each other. No entitlement to performance and good grades.

On behalf of all of NEO, we wish all schoolchildren a wonderful holiday full of wonderful experiences.