{"id":6680,"date":"2014-08-04T05:00:42","date_gmt":"2014-08-04T09:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/?p=6680"},"modified":"2014-07-15T11:15:20","modified_gmt":"2014-07-15T15:15:20","slug":"faith-identity-and-responsibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/uncategorized\/faith-identity-and-responsibility\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith, Identity, and Responsibility"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"My mother likes to tell me how, when I was seven years old and in first grade, I would proudly bring my little prayer rug to the public school classroom, and pray Dhuhr during the class activities period. My teacher was bemused, and my classmates were nonplussed by what they saw as something completely natural to my personal identity. It was just the way things were, molded and shaped by the manner in which I saw my parents treating prayer and faith around me. Faith was simply part of the world I lived in as a child, so it flowed seamlessly into personal identity. Yet it became more of a difficulty in time, as the pressures from the world around me encroached \u2013 and it was then that I began to struggle with my identity.<\/p>\n

Identity is defined<\/a> as the \u201cthe qualities [and] beliefs that make a particular person\u2026different from others.\u201d In the world of early childhood psychology, it has been found time and again that developing a sense of self starts from day one.\u00a0 Quite simply<\/a>, \u201cwhen children feel a sense of belonging and sense of pride in their families, their peers, and their communities, they can be emotionally strong, self-assured, and able to deal with challenges and difficulties.\u201d Given that the Muslim American community is younger<\/a>, on average, and more diverse<\/a> than the greater American population, it is safe to say that we have a great deal of work ahead of us to ensure that we instill strong identities in our children.<\/p>\n

Yet how can we go about ensuring that we develop lasting, empowered identities in our children today? Just expecting children to figure out the world for themselves or through education will result not only in scattered self-understandings, but a lack of solid foundation. Parents, simply speaking, are solid forces in ensuring<\/a> a stable self-understanding and foundation for children through conversations, chosen environments and personal engagement. Nowadays, with the plethora of Muslim American childhood education materials<\/a> and toys<\/a>, it is easier to incorporate faith and identity into every part of life, rather than just relying on occasional conversations with one\u2019s child or a daily family prayer. When I was growing up, it was difficult to find a good children\u2019s book that originated in America and was not poorly translated \u2013 nowadays, that search only takes a few clicks in order to find materials that might have made my childhood that much easier<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We are no longer subjected to a glaring lack of resources or engagement options for children in the Muslim American community today, with a growing number of initiatives sprouting in order to fill what was once significantly absent. Yet forming identity in our community\u2019s children takes more than several isolated efforts. For now, though, it is a solid step in the right direction. Only time will tell how that direction develops with time.<\/p>\n

Laila Alawa<\/p>\n

Laila is a marketing consultant for LittleBigKids.com<\/a>. She is a writer and cultural critic who has been published at The Huffington Post, The Guardian, School Library Journal\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0PolicyMic, among others<\/em>,\u00a0and serves as the founder and president of Coming of Faith LLC. She conducted a study on Muslim American perceptions of belonging, and is based in Washington, D.C. Follow her on Twitter at @Lulainlife.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My mother likes to tell me how, when I was seven years old and in first grade, I would proudly bring my little prayer rug to the public school classroom, and pray Dhuhr during the class activities period. My teacher was bemused, and my classmates were nonplussed by what they saw as something completely natural […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1611,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nFaith, Identity, and Responsibility<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My mother likes to tell me how, when I was seven years old and in first grade, I would proudly bring my little prayer rug to the public school classroom,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/uncategorized\/faith-identity-and-responsibility\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Faith, Identity, and Responsibility\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My mother likes to tell me how, when I was seven years old and in first grade, I would proudly bring my little prayer rug to the public school classroom,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/uncategorized\/faith-identity-and-responsibility\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Grow Mama Grow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-08-04T09:00:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-07-15T15:15:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.mlthk.com\/S_Pic\/20101221124929834.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/uncategorized\/faith-identity-and-responsibility\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/uncategorized\/faith-identity-and-responsibility\/\",\"name\":\"Faith, Identity, and Responsibility\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-04T09:00:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-07-15T15:15:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/#\/schema\/person\/312e37dc09a78d370d4ad597d900e43f\"},\"description\":\"My mother likes to tell me how, when I was seven years old and in first grade, I would proudly bring my little prayer rug to the public school classroom,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/uncategorized\/faith-identity-and-responsibility\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/uncategorized\/faith-identity-and-responsibility\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/uncategorized\/faith-identity-and-responsibility\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Faith, Identity, and Responsibility\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/\",\"name\":\"Grow Mama Grow\",\"description\":\"A Community for Muslim Mothers\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/#\/schema\/person\/312e37dc09a78d370d4ad597d900e43f\",\"name\":\"Admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f24d6c3632d24ac8f37459d02282ebf?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f24d6c3632d24ac8f37459d02282ebf?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Admin\"},\"description\":\"GrowMamaGrow is an online community of American Muslim mothers and young women. The project provides a supportive, friendly, and non-judgmental space for women to share experiences, support one another, grow in their spirituality, and inspire each other.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/author\/dkanan\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Faith, Identity, and Responsibility","description":"My mother likes to tell me how, when I was seven years old and in first grade, I would proudly bring my little prayer rug to the public school classroom,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/uncategorized\/faith-identity-and-responsibility\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Faith, Identity, and Responsibility","og_description":"My mother likes to tell me how, when I was seven years old and in first grade, I would proudly bring my little prayer rug to the public school classroom,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/uncategorized\/faith-identity-and-responsibility\/","og_site_name":"Grow Mama Grow","article_published_time":"2014-08-04T09:00:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-07-15T15:15:20+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.mlthk.com\/S_Pic\/20101221124929834.jpg"}],"author":"Admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/uncategorized\/faith-identity-and-responsibility\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/uncategorized\/faith-identity-and-responsibility\/","name":"Faith, Identity, and Responsibility","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-08-04T09:00:42+00:00","dateModified":"2014-07-15T15:15:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/#\/schema\/person\/312e37dc09a78d370d4ad597d900e43f"},"description":"My mother likes to tell me how, when I was seven years old and in first grade, I would proudly bring my little prayer rug to the public school classroom,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/uncategorized\/faith-identity-and-responsibility\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/uncategorized\/faith-identity-and-responsibility\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/uncategorized\/faith-identity-and-responsibility\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Faith, Identity, and Responsibility"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/","name":"Grow Mama Grow","description":"A Community for Muslim Mothers","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/#\/schema\/person\/312e37dc09a78d370d4ad597d900e43f","name":"Admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f24d6c3632d24ac8f37459d02282ebf?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f24d6c3632d24ac8f37459d02282ebf?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Admin"},"description":"GrowMamaGrow is an online community of American Muslim mothers and young women. The project provides a supportive, friendly, and non-judgmental space for women to share experiences, support one another, grow in their spirituality, and inspire each other.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/author\/dkanan\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1611"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6680\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}