My Kids Never Fail to Surprise Me

The past few weeks have been a huge learning curve for me. Alhamdulilah I was given the opportunity to volunteer teaching little muslims aged 5-7 at a musallah (prayer hall) close by. Being a mother of a 6 year old I found it very relevant to extend my teaching at home to these children and help them understand our deen better. As with anything, we decided to start off with tawheed (oneness of God) and cover all three categories before moving on to other topics.

Though I had my 6 year old sitting in with the rest of the children during this time, I was surprised that my 3 year old also insisted on staying. Though initially I was apprehensive about letting her stay, I was later left with no choice due to her constant crying in the child minding room.

The reason why I was hesitant was because knowing her to be a ball of energy I didn’t expect her to sit down and listen to a formal class and then participate in activities that followed without causing disruption to children around her.

But, subhanAllah she surprised me beyond belief. Not only did she listen in, she also understood and responded when asked questions. I was awe struck to see her enthusiasm and the manner in which she absorbed everything that came her way.

Not only was she listening, she was also implementing, and this is what changed my perspective on how I dealt with her from then on. Being the fussy eater she is, many times she has slyly thrown her lunch into the bin when I turned my back or walked out of the room, despite being reprimanded on numerous occasions. But on the day after I discussed that Allah is Al-Basir (the all-seeing) she told me, “Mum I don’t want to finish off what’s on my plate, but I won’t throw it in the bin because I know that Allah is watching me, and I have to do good things all the time and not do bad stuff.”

Kids truly are sponges and absorb everything they are taught. Being in their pure state of fitra makes it a lot easier for them to implement it in their lives and make it a part of their being without much hesitation or question. And with us being their role models, we’re constantly watched, listened to and observed. All that we do and say has a much greater impact than we can comprehend. If we train ourselves to make use of every opportunity we get to change it into a learning experience, we will definitely embed in them the qualities that we desire them to have.

Never underestimate the ability of your child, believe in them, expect the best, and give them a 100% and they will truly reciprocate this and the results you expect will eventually take shape.  Sometimes it might take longer than expected, and sometimes you might hit the jackpot straight away, but remember nothing you do or say is going unnoticed. It’s all archived and will seep through and leave it’s mark, inshaAllah!

So from now on, Alhamdulilah I’ve started putting in more effort into her tarbiyah and I am making it a point to include her in every thing I do with her older sibling. Though it might sometimes not be age appropriate, I know that she is taking in something and eventually it will all fall into place, inshaAllah.

Nabeela Wahid

Nabeela  lives with her husband in Melbourne, Australia and is the mother of three young children. She loves to spend time with her children and enjoys reading, writing and cooking in her spare time.