Ramadan is the month of blessings and many Muslim parents love the idea of getting their children involved. However, some parents struggle to make their children maximize the blessings of Ramadan without necessarily pushing them. Here are ten ways to get your children involved during Ramadan.
1.Start talking about Ramadan ahead of time
The best way to get children involved during Ramadan is by mentally preparing them ahead of time to make the transition much easier. Don’t wait till a day before Ramdan to start talking about the blessed month. Get your children prepared by talking about it, reading books and answering questions. This will make them excited and look forward to the blessed month.
2. Make changes much earlier on
If there are habits you would like to encourage throughout the month of Ramadan, start them much sooner to ease the transition. If you weren’t already doing this, one beneficial early habit is by doing voluntary fastings on Mondays and Thursdays. Speak to your children and encourage them to participate. An example would be to slowly increase the recitation and reading of the Qur’an so it would be easier to increase it even more during Ramadan.
3. Teach by action
Children often imitate what they see. Telling them what to do without setting an example would be fruitless. So whatever you want your children to implement during Ramadan, do it as you encourage them to participate. Pray on time, read the Qur’an more, avoid wasting time on your phone or gossiping.
4. Don’t be too strict
Teach your children with gentleness and understanding. Although a little bit of firmness is sometimes required for important things like salah, try to have balance. Ramadan is the month of mercy and we want Allah to have Mercy on us, so practice being patient and merciful towards your children. When they make mistakes, let them know that no one is perfect and that we all make mistakes, but we should always strive to better ourselves. Feeling mercy from you will help them imagine how much more Allah is merciful towards His servants and grow their relationship with Allah.
5. Make it fun and engaging
Depending on your children’s age, try making Ramadan fun and engaging. You can play Ramadan board games, invent family games, go on trips, visit hospitals and orphanages, feed the homeless together, go to the masjid for taraweeh together and/or cook and invite family and friends for iftar (breaking of fast). Another way to make it fun is by taking turns on who will wake the family up for suhoor (meal before the day of fasting). Also ask your children’s opinions on what they would like to do. You can make Ramadan fun without taking away the seriousness and preciousness of the month.
6. Encourage them to use a Ramadan journal
Writing in a journal can be fun and helps one keep track of tasks and personal development. Journals for children can be simple, and depending on their age, you can even find drawing journals. Find an age-appropriate journal for your children, allow them to decorate it, write or draw whatever they want to tell Allah and keep track of their day. This is also the perfect opportunity to record everything they have done throughout the month and extract lessons from it. If you can’t find a journal, notebooks or sketch books would do the job.
7. Encourage fasting challenges
Encourage your children to fast by creating small fasting challenges. One way to do that is by telling them to write in a journal so they could challenge themselves on how many days per week they would like to fast. This would keep them excited about their accomplishment and motivate them to do more.
8. Do Qur’an challenges
Ramadan is the month of the Qur’an, so what better way to get your children involved than reading the Qur’an? Decide on how many verses, pages or suraat to read or memorize and praise and encourage those who made it through the challenge. This could be individual or group challenges.
9. Set rewards
If you have younger children, create a reward system for accomplishing certain tasks. An example would be setting some daily routines and posting a reward chart on the wall. Whenever they get the selected tasks done, they get a reward at the end of the week. This could be for doing all their daily salawaat (prayers), reading some chapters of the Qur’an or cutting out some disliked habits. It would encourage them further to get involved.
10. Make du’a for them
Above everything mentioned, making du’a (supplication) for your children to have a blessed and fruitful Ramadan is the most important thing. The work must be done, but wrapping everything by asking Allah to bless them and make their Ramadan successful is the key. Allah answers the du’a of parents for their children, so maximize this opportunity.
Conclusion
Just because they are young, it doesn’t mean children should be let to waste time, sleep and be disconnected during the month of Ramadan. Let your children know that the purpose of fasting is to gain the pleasure of their Lord and one wisdom may be to feel others’ pain of hunger. Ramadan is also the month of blessings, forgiveness and giving. So this is the perfect time to multiply our good deeds and get closer to Allah. The younger we start, the easier it would be to connect with Allah as we grow up.
