7 Ways Moms Can Make Ramadan Fasting Fun for Their Kids
The greatest of influence on the life of Muslims is that instead of just providing them with a religious framework to follow, Islam is a complete code of life and has actually given Muslims a living style. Therefore, all the actions which Muslims take in daily life, all the things they do and all the relations they develop and maintain, all have instructions that can make them close to Islam.
Pertaining to the parent children relationship in general and mother children relationship in particular, Islam has put great emphasis on strengthening of the relationship. In this regard, there is a great duty on the shoulders of parents pertaining to teaching their children about Islam and bring them up in a way that makes them a better and practicing Muslim.
With regards to the month of Ramadan, Muslim mothers have a great role to play pertaining to encouraging their children towards fasting. Children are usually playful and joyful, therefore, a strict Ramadan routine can make fasting boring for them, therefore, it is imperative that Muslim mothers play their role and try making fasting attractive for their children.
The lines below give some tips that can help Muslim mothers make fasting and Ramadan interactive and fun for children.
Meals Of Fast:
The first thing that Muslim mothers can do to make sure that children enjoy fasting is to make special preparations for the two meals of the fast i.e. Suhoor and Iftar. In this regard, mothers should make sure that they make special dishes on the liking of kids so that they go for Suhur or Iftar with more liking and joy. Moreover, when these meals are taken with all the family together, it also makes it a sort of occasion to which children look forward to and anticipate with joy.
Role Playing:
It is obvious that children that keep fast, find it difficult to enjoy their regular games because of fast. Therefore, it rests upon the mothers to come up with games, which the children could enjoy whilst keeping fast so that they stay interested in fasting. In this regard, role-playing is an excellent game which the mothers can arrange for their children to play. Mother can instruct the children to be any of the characters in the Islamic history and perform any of the respective historical event. This way, in addition to learning about Islamic history, the children also get to enjoy the fast by playing the role playing game. In addition to that, a mother can install popular Islamic Kids learning games in the cell phone and instruct the kid to play. For example, if you are a mother of a newly fasting kid, you can make use of the Islamic Word Scramble Game. This game is an interactive Islamic mobile app which would help your kid to know the common Islamic terminologies. All you have to do is to teach your kid for about 30 minutes and then he will automatically be getting it.
Encourage Ramadan Journal:
Another thing that Muslim mothers can do to make fast interesting and fun for children is to recommend them to keep a Ramadan journal in which they record their daily experiences and feelings regarding fasting. This way children will have a platform on which they can express their feelings, desires and experiences. Besides serving as a punching bag, the journal can also help children revive their memories about fast when they will read it at the end of Ramadan or the next year when they are going to fast.
Traweeh In Congregation:
Another thing that Muslim mothers can do to keep their children interested in Ramadan and bring them close to Islam is to arrange a congregation in the house for Taraweeh prayer by keeping the children along. This way children will get a chance to pray with their mother, which will make offering prayer a joyful activity for them and will increase the mutual bond of love. Moreover, pertaining to teaching the right way of offering prayer to children, in addition to correcting them, mothers can also make use of technology and install Step-by-Step Salat application on their smartphone, which tells the children the right way of offering prayer.
Islamic Competition:
Further to making Ramadan and fasting fun and joyful for children, whilst bringing them close to Islam, Muslim mothers can arrange an Islamic competition among the children to keep them motivated towards Islamic learning. The mothers can tell them to read a particular chapter from a Muslim history book, remember facts about Quran, educate him about the Friends and Family of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) or any such topics and then arrange a competition where children are asked question about them. Moreover, the quiz can also comprise of Islamic Duas as well which children can remember from any Dua book or Kids Dua Series app. This competition should obviously have some element of prize associated with it, thus, this way, the kids will learn Islam in addition to remaining joyful and interested throughout the fast.
Arrange Iftaar Dinners:
In Ramadan it is quite common that Muslims invite other Muslims to Iftaar dinners where all friends and family sit together and break the fast. Such occasions are highly looked forward by the children as they get to meet other children from their family. Thus, by arranging Iftaar dinners, the children get to celebrate their happiness in the same way as elders do.
Eid Decorations:
With the start of Ramadan, the one thing that children look forward to the most is the Eid celebration. Children want this joyful occasion to be memorable for them, therefore, they are eager to go shopping and buy clothes and other things of their liking for Eid. In the last ten days of Ramadan, Muslim mothers can manage to keep the spirit of children high by taking them to shop for the stuff required to decorate the house or the rooms of children for Eid. This can invoke great interest in children pertaining to the left fasts and for the auspicious occasion of Eid.
Conclusion:
In a nutshell, although fasting is compulsory upon children who are of the age when they can keep a fast. However, it does not mean that it must be boring; rather, Muslim mothers with little smart work can make fasting interesting, fun and an Islam learning experience for the children.
