Parenting with Patience

"How do you have patience with children?" I'm constantly asked this from mothers of young children whom I teach. Sometimes it's a rhetorical question but just this week, the mother waited for me to answer her.

This got me thinking because I didn't want to say the usual "don't get upset", "don't react" or "remain calm". These are things that people already know. It's what happens when you're in the midst of a situation - how do you remain calm, how do you not react? This mother, I'm sure, was looking for strategies to remain calm and to not react.

What I Learnt From Daring Greatly

Daring Greatly is about having the courage to be vulnerable. In a world where we're shamed into feeling that we're not enough, we need the courage to open up to someone close who can offer us empathy. Because through sharing with another who can understand how we feel, we are sharing our humaness and connection and that's where the healing is.

Daring Greatly is not just a parenting book. The author looks at courage and vulnerability in general as it applies to everyone then specifically at the workplace and in education. And finally, at how it applies to parenting.

Teach Your Child to Be Truthful

As Muslims, we know that honesty is very important since telling the truth is a quality that Allah loves and encourages us to do. Allah says in the Quran:

“O you who believe! Have fear of Allah, and be among the truthful.” (Quran 9:119)

There are many Quran verses relating to truthfulness as well as many ahadeeth. The following is one:

Abdullah bin Mas`ud said that the Messenger of Allah said, "Hold on to truth, for being truthful leads to righteousness, and righteousness leads to Paradise. Verily, a man will keep saying the truth and striving for truth, until he is written before Allah as very truthful (Siddiq). Beware of lying, for lying leads to sin, and sin leads to the Fire. Verily, the man will keep lying and striving for falsehood until he is written before Allah as a great liar." (Al Bukhari and Muslim)

The question that many parents have is how do we teach our children to be truthful? Before we look at the ways parents can their child to be truthful, we'll look at why children lie.

Childhood Anxiety Islamic Parenting Pack

Childhood anxiety can be caused by any number of things. It can be from obvious stress and trauma or it can be as insidious as from just watching family members modeling it. The effects can range from mild to severe. As a parent, it can be gut-wrenching to watch your child have an anxiety attack and feel helpless when you can't do anything to help. This is where the 'Childhood Anxiety Islamic Parenting Pack' can help.