Should I Give My Child a Smart Phone?

When my children were young, the question of them having a smart phone never came up (yes it was invented by then). I've read all the articles warning parents not to give electronic devices to children before their teenage years as their brains are still growing and we don't want it to affect them. Yes, and I'm one of those who believe that the mobile phone can cause cancer. 

It wasn't until I'd upgraded my phone and we didn't know what to do with my old one that we decided to give it to my eldest to only play games on. He was a teenager by then but he didn't even asked for it. What were we thinking? We just thought it'd be a waste if I gave it away. Bad decision - I should have just given it away! 

How to Grow Your Child's Trust

Undoubtedly, parenting is hard in everyday normal circumstances. But when there's trauma in your family situation, such as divorce, deaths, accidents, illnesses, violence and assault, it becomes even more so. Sometimes these events can affect your relationship with your child. 

Your child's reaction to it may be to withdraw inside himself and shut himself off from you, especially in the case of a divorce, and he may get angry at the event which can spill over to you. He may feel that he cannot trust in anybody or anything. 

Trust is one of the most important ingredients in any relationship. Without it, there can be no relationship. Whatever your situation was that caused the distrust, you'd have to rebuild your relationship by building the trust. So how do you go about regaining your child's trust? Below are five suggestions.

Bedtime Sunnahs Book Review

Title: Bedtime Sunnahs

Author: Alia G Dada

Illustrator: Robin Boyer

Publisher: Prolance

Recommended for: Parents and 3-5 year olds

Previously, I've written that one of the times that you can connect with your child is during bedtime. Just before your child sleeps, you can read books, go through the sunnah acts of preparing for bed and so on. If you've ever been unsure of what the bedtime sunnahs are then this book will help you. It's actually a children's picture book so as you read it to your child, both of you can discuss and try to follow some of them.

Teach Your Children To Make Dua

Download free printable to help children make dua below.

Dua is a Muslim's power tool throughout life. It's a part of our worship to rely on Allah so we need to use it every day. We also need to teach our children to make dua as well. In my previous post, I've written about the two things that you need to get your duas for your children answered. In this post, I will talk about ways to encourage your children to make dua for themselves and others.

When you teach your children to make dua, you're teaching them to turn to Allah for all their needs. When they're happy, sad, worried, depressed - whatever the mood is, there is always Allah there for them. It'll give them hope to carry on and an optimism that everything will turn out alright.