Parents as Educators – Part 1

السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

It’s Monday 14th September 2020.

As the new school year has started, I wanted to take this opportunity to bring a few important points to the attention of all parents.

From the moment your child is born, he or she will go through many phases in life. It is very important to keep a check in our behaviour, so that there are no negative actions at all in our house which will negatively influence our children. From an early age, children imitate what they see and hear. Our language, our actions, our behaviour, our morals, all have to be perfect. This will, اِنْ شَاءَ الَّلهُ, ensure that our children will also follow in our footsteps.

For the first few years, there is not much outside influence, although the social media gadgets have now started having an effect on toddlers as young as 2. This needs to be managed, as parents just cannot take the easy route of handing a gadget over to keep the child occupied.

This is very detrimental and will give the child a very difficult start in life. Once addicted, your child will not be able to let go of that gadget and the mind will start corrupting from a very young age. There are many other ways of keeping the young ones occupied.

In our days, reading books was a very good pastime. As well as enjoying the story, it used to help improve our English language. Today, there are numerous Islamic books available for all ages. Get your children used to reading books and try and keep them away from gadgets as much as possible.

Once your child starts school, you will be faced with new challenges. Your child is now 5 years old and has started to mix with other children. It is very important that you start reinforcing the good manners you’ve been teaching them from an early age, and keep a really good eye on their behaviour. Madrasahs start enrolling children from the age of 5, so please have all the necessary arrangements ready, in advance, to enrol your child at your local Madrasah. This will ensure that, for at least 2 hours every weekday, your child is in an Islamic environment learning about their religion.

Primary school years are very important. Don’t be fooled by thinking that the children are only small yet. This is the time to start focusing on them to ensure they get the best start in life.

Continued in Part 2.

جَزَاكَ اللَّهُ خَيْرًا
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وَالسَّلَامُ Hanif Dudhwala