HOW TO NURTURE ISLAM IN CHILDREN.

THE BEST LESSON IS ONE THAT IS EXPERIENCED’

“Our Lord! Bestow on us from our wives and our offspring the comfort of our eyes, and make us leaders of the pious.” (Quran 25: 74) 

Children are a blessing/test from Allah.But given the right foundation and values, will grow to become a blessing to the ummah at large.In sha Allah.

Some parents and guardians in their quest to bring up their children in the acceptable way( Islam) make some grave mistakes and push the children away. Remember that, the child is an Amaanah from Allah and you will make an account of how you handled that child.Our kids spend more hours at school than they do at the Islamic school, parents and guardians need to do more to instil Islam in them.

We are not going to force any child or be stringent with them in performing any act of worship. Let’s remember ,the long-term of this is to nurture the love of Islam in them.

We are going to Plan with them, Set goals with them, agree on the reinforcements to give when they meet their daily and weekly targets and most importantly they get this sense of responsibility. By allowing them to be part of all these processes, they are most inclined to meet those set goals without difficulties.

And oh! Together you can agree on how to remind them of their daily targets without forcing it on them. Ain’t you already imagining how fun this is going to be?

I anticipate a very good parent-child relationship after all this.

Are we appreciating the good this season is going to bring to us already? I will say again that, our aim here is the impact these activities are going to have on the children than the number of activities they complete by the end of Ramadan.

Now since we want our children to feel Ramadan and not just be told about it, how about we all try some art work as a preparation towards Ramadan 💃.

    Things you need.

1. Card board.
2. Crayons.
3. Rule.
4. Markers.
5. Paper glue.
6. Scissors( plastic or safety)

With this we can cut out a crescent and some stars. Get them to color it and we paste them on a surface at home. Let’s not forget to let them do the activities themselves. They need to brace themselves for the month and learn about their religion.

That is is the reason for the chosen theme( you can still follow these steps for other themes like Pillars of Islam-one pillar at a time).

And as usual, the crescent and stars is a way to start this fun game.

Do we get the drill now?
We are gradually getting them interested and this is the perfect time to start Brainstorming.

With Brainstorming I mean asking the child questions that will elicit answers not necessarily correct ones. The art work could be a way to introducing brainstorming. This is to say you don’t explain the purpose of the art work until you get the child to understand their perception and point of view.

That should be our conversation starter like i said earlier 😉
During brainstorming ,we can consider these questions;

    – What Ramadan is?
    – What have you heard or know about it?
    – What do we Muslims look out for before we start or end Ramadan?
    – What pillar of Islam Ramadan is?
    – Why do Muslims consider it as one of the revered months?

Let me leave with this last reminder;

Spend time with children, engage them in daily routines during this period. More than anything else, your children are going to feel/remember the warmth and love of this time of the year. That’s where memory lives 🥰😇

May Allah bless us with children that will love Islam and be a blessing to us and the Ummah at large. Aameen.

Author: Hudayya Abdul Rauf.