Kindness Journal: Plan on Being Kind

When my eldest son was 2 years old, to my horror, he started to purposefully step on ants. All my vain cries of "Stop, don't do that" did not help. I didn’t want him to turn into an ‘Ant Bully’! 

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Allah had once forgiven a prostitute. She passed by a dog panting near a well. Seeing that thirst had nearly killed him, she took off her shoe, tied it to her scarf, and drew up some water. Allah forgave her for that.” (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3143, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2245)

Kindness is an important characteristic of a Muslim. I had to find a way to teach my son to be kind, even to animals. But all this slipped my mind because I hadn’t made a plan.

Kindness When Your Child Makes a Mistake

In this third part based on Nouman Ali Khan's 'Revive Your heart', he talks about the leadership of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. Specifically the incident relating to the Battle of Uhud and how he responded to the archers that were supposed to maintain their position on the mountain. 

This example gives great insight into how we should treat those who are under our charges when they've made a mistake. It applies to all types of leaders, including parents.

Preventing and Dealing with Back Talk

Does your child talk back to you? My article on how to prevent and handle back talk from your child is published on Productive Muslim. To complement the article, I've created this infographic above so you can download and keep handy.

5 Ways to Encourage Your Toddler to Discover and Learn

As your baby grows into toddlerhood, she will become very curious about her environment. She can walk and even run so she’ll be fully immerse in her surroundings. She will not only want to know but also to explore what goes on around her. She’ll want to experience how things are and also how they work. 

Your toddler will poke and pull and bang and crash things. She’ll want to know what’s on top of the shelf, what would happen if the cat’s tail is pulled, how many times she’ll have to drop the spoon until mum stops picking it up and so on.