We must take care before our children fall prey to the environment. Give them a sense of belonging.
By Dawood Vaid
We spoke about good parenting in the previous article.
Let us take you down the memory lane to your school days.
We will do a short quiz. We love this approach at Burooj. We call it the Fun – Learn approach to education.
Read the story’s main characters name and guess the moral:
The Hare and the Tortoise
The Fox and the Grapes
The Crow and the Pitcher
The Goose that laid the Golden Eggs
Lion and Mouse
Answers:
Slow but steady wins the race.
It is easy to despise what you cannot get.
Grapes are sour
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Greed destroys the source of good
Little friends may prove great friends.
PARENTING LESSON “ Tell stories to your children. Inculcate the joy of reading in them. Stories are a very powerful tool to convey a message. Qur’an is full of stories.
Can you think of 5 stories from the Qur’an?
Benefits of reading to children
“The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children,” states a Commission on Reading report.
The benefits are so profound, and kids form so much of their intelligence potential during the early years of their life, that experts recommend reading aloud to your child as soon as he or she is born, and continuing indefinitely.
An amazing insight that Allah says in the noble Qur’an that the faculty of hearing comes before sight while the child is still in the womb.
5 Benefits of Reading to Children
1. Reading together provides an unmatched magical experience between parent and child.
2. Reading is a good springboard for open conversation
3. Reading to kids helps them with language and speech development.
4. Curiosity, creativity and imagination are all developed while being read to.
5. And finally, No better way than to stay off from TV and the video games
What are these stories called?
Aesop’s Fables. We all grew up with these stories.
Simple and innocent stories with morals.
You will be surprised to know that Aesop was a Black Ethiopian slave. Did we not say the same thing about Luqman? One of the contemporary speakers says that both Aesop and Luqman are the same.Interesting, but we cannot be sure, since we do not have any evidence to prove so. So we say, Allah knows the Best.
Anyway, the point is, these are stories we learn and they had morals. Every story did.
Now let me tell you what are our children reading while growing up.
Yes, Harry Potter.
What is the moral of this story?
Sihr (Magic) is Halal!
That intermingling is fun
You are not “cool” if you do not have a boyfriend or a girlfriend
Now its time to be worried and listen to the next part of the presentation.
Characters in Harry Potter
Further ahead, J.K. Rowlings, author of the Happy Potter series tells us that Alfred Dunbledore, the dean of the school of magic, where the boy Harry Potter studies, is a Gay! The man looks like a nice old man with a long beard. And we are told he is a homosexual! We hardly knew what “Gay” meant, but with these stories, they are fast becoming a part of our child’s vocabulary.
PARENTING LESSON “ We must take care before our children fall prey to the environment. Give them a sense of belonging.
Teach the fundamentals, first
Coming back to the story of Luqman, look how he started teaching his son.
O my son! Join not in worship others with Allah
He calls him with the most beautiful of names – Ya Bunaiyah meaning “O my dear son”.
Imagine if we need to talk something important to our children. May be about exams or about not going out after 7 pm in evening. What language do we use?
Hey, come here.
Better listen to me.
But no, not Luqman. He is teaching what matters most – TAWHEED.
While we think we need to start with ABC!
And he not only teaches us by saying Allah is one, rather he explains why.
By the conversation, the boy would be hardly 6 or 7 years. Imagine explaining to our 7 year olds.
Our language is more like, “I am telling you, so that’s the way it is”.
PARENTING LESSON “ Begin with the knowledge of Allah and the articles of Emaan.
Teach the children fundamentals and make sure you do it in a way that they love it and not get bored by it.
Rather, Luqman goes on to explain that Shirk is the gravest sin. Shirk is joining partners with Allah, who is the one who gives you food, children, clothing and life.
(The writer can be reached at [email protected])
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