With Ramadan being less than a week away, both my social media feed and email have been filling up with beautiful and fun Ramadan decorations for the last few weeks. Muslims businesses are already advertising their latest Islamic products and outfits for Eid. These promotions help put you in the Ramadan spirit and get you excited for the blessed month. However, sometimes we get so involved in the outer preparation with decorations and gift buying that we neglect to put the same energy into getting the most mercy, blessing, and forgiveness out of the month. Sometimes, we spend too much time worrying about making Ramadan more festive and not enough time remembering that it is a month of worship and service.
Especially, us parents, who want to make Ramadan fun for our kids. As a reminder to me and other parents, we should not try to compare Ramadan to other religion’s holidays, especially Christmas. We also need to ensure that we do not teach our children that Ramadan is only a month of fun, fasting and decorating. We should not try, either intentionally or unintentionally, to morph Ramadan into the Muslim version of Christmas. Like all parents, we want to make our kids happy, but we need to ensure that are instilling and following the guidelines in the Quran and Sunnah. Our children need to understand the religious significances of the month and it is not solely about abstaining from food.
Both adults and children should also try to do activities that bring us closer to Allah by increasing our worship and decreasing our bad habits. Ramadan is also a month to start establishing good habits that hopefully will be maintained afterward. Below are 3 kid friendly habits that my family will start this Ramadan with the intentions of continuing all year. These habits hopefully will not only bring us closer as a family but also to Allah. The goal is for us to focus more on the religious aspects of Ramadan and not just count down the days until Eid.
1. Ramadan Gratitude Journal/List
Typically before Ramadan, we will write our dua (prayer) list, which is a list of things we want to ask Allah for. However, this year we are doing something different. Instead of asking and requesting from Allah, she is going to start a Gratitude Journal. This is a simple task which wills hopefully, work as a reminder to be thankful for what Allah has blessed her with and acknowledge the blessing she already has. The goal is to complete the list daily with a minimum of five items. Initially, I was going to purchase a cute blank notebook for her to decorate and write her list in. But in an effort to be more conscious of my spending, she will use Google Docs to write her list daily. She can then share the document with me. If she wants, she can decorate the documents using gifs or clip-art.
2. Complaint/Whining Jar
This is for the entire family because it is something that we all struggle with at times, especially me. It has gotten that I get tired of hearing myself complaining. We will use an empty mason jar and every time someone in the family complains or whines they will put money in the jar. Both my husband and I will put one dollar if we complain or whine and Hafsa will put in 75 cents. At the end of Ramadan, the money will be given to charity. Not only will this serve as a visual reminder of the times we complain, but hopefully, it will curb this bad habit.
3. Service Project
This year, we will be donating items to our local children’s hospital. Hospitals always need coloring books, puzzle books, crayons, blank notebooks, playing cards, and new toys. The goal is to let your child pick their own project, which will give them ownership and help them feel more responsible. This is a fun way for kids to give charity. There are many blessings that come with being generous during Ramadan. This is a good opportunity for children to understand how their direct actions can have positive consequences. There are many different age-appropriate projects including making cards for the elderly/sick people in your community, making care packages for the homeless, donating old toys to homeless shelters, etc.
The goal is to establish good habits that the children can continue throughout the year. As parents, we should encourage our children to start seeing Ramadan as not only a month of fun, but also of mercy and blessings. As a reminder, we should try not to waste these blessed days of Ramadan.
