New Delhi, Aug. 29 -- The exam season is upon us. Like they do every year, thousands of children across the country will appear for formal assessments. As my daughter and her friends gear up for their debut half-yearly exams-in some schools in the National Capital Region (NCR), marked evaluations start only after middle school-I have come to a sad realisation. Millennial parents are not as cool as we like to think we are. Instead of steering clear of the long legacy of Indian parents hyperventilating about examinations, we seem to have added a unique stamp to this exercise.

Back in the day, our parents opted for a negative motivation strategy by quoting examples of outstanding students from their immediate environment-a cousin or a neigh...