There is usually a halaqah at the masjid tuesday mornings but this week it was tuesday evening. One good thing about it being in the daytime is that there usually isn't too many kids. Since this was a joint halaqah and goodbye party thing there were a lot of people. While we were sitting in the dars the kids were running all over the place. First UmmAQ gets up and takes them all to the kids room and then another mother goes and finally I was like aight this aint working so I got up and went to the room with them.
When I went in they were playing something they told me was called "airplane" or "parachute"--to me it was jumping off of the tables while holding chairs (u know, the small kid ones) over your head and disturbing the men downstairs. I had them sit down "or else" and they did :D, alhamdulillah. I told them a couple stories, asked them some questions, played a few quiet games, and then one of the kids goes "when you were little did you always want to be a teacher?" and thats where it got interesting..
I'm sure we've all been through the over-asked question of "what do you want to be when you grow up?" After answering the question I decided to ask it. When I'd gone around and asked each kid I ended up being in the room with: 3 Doctors, 1 Dentist, 1 Pharmacist, 1 Computer engineer, 1 soccer player, 1 baseball player, 3 undecided, and 1 rockstar/figure skater. Was I shocked? Yes and no. I think I was more sad. I wanted to see what made some of these kids say some of these things so I asked "give me your best reason for wanting to be "x" when you grow up, who is someone you look up to", and the answers I got also made me sad. Some of the kids said "becuase they make a lot of money", others said "figure skaters are so cool the way they do tricks and stuff", and so on.
As upset as I was I realized it wasn't the childrens fault. It's the fault of the parents who don't exhaust any energy on the tarbiyyah of their children. They think that the few hours a week that they send them to the masjid for sunday school is all the Islamic education that their children need! And then, when they get older and they see the fruits of what the seed they planted they will deny that it was their planting that went wrong instead it was the fertlizer and outside influneces. How often to we hear parents say things such as "What can I do? They pick it up at school". Oh really? Well maybe if you taught them the proper walaa' and baraa', showed them right from wrong, and followed up on what they learn, who they interact with, and who they spend time with, then just maybe they wouldn't be so influnced.
Another thing I find really sad is the fact that some of the parents are really good. For example, the parents of the kids that gave me the most shocking of answers are what most people would consider "religouse". The father comes to the masjid a lot, prays jamaa'ah, the mother wears niqaab and stays at home, yet it's as if they have no knowledge of what is happening to the kids..and even worse its as if they don't care! And wallahi I'm so sick of people blaming it on society and public schools. If you really think that your children can't go to school without being influnced negitvly then pull them out! But honestly, I think its up to the parents if they raise their children right then the public schools wont have as great of an impact.
I know a kid who was in kindergarten, so he was about 4 or 5. The teacher asked them one day "who do you look up to? who is your role model?" and the children started naming people "Michael Jordan", "Police officers" and so on. When she came to this boy, who was the ONLY muslim in the class he said "Abu Bakr Radiyallahu 'anhu". The teacher got shocked and goes "who?" and he goes "The great commander and leader of the Muslims after the prophet Mohammad SAWS passed away". The teacher was so astonished by his answer that she called his parents and said she had to have a meeting with them. The parents kept questioning the boy "what did you do? what happened in school?" but couldn't understand why the teacher would want to meet with them. When they were talking with her she goes off on them and says that "you're making the boy grow up too fast. Instead of enjoying his youth and dreaming of things that children dream of he's thinking ahead of himself and wanting to be something that he can't be". The parents were upset, and told her that they don't force things on him..they simply tell him about great people and he chooses his own opinions.
Allahu Akbar! That is the kind of tarbiyyah that our children need. They need parents that are attentive to them. Parents that teach them and watch over them. Parents that instill the Islamic morals, akhlaaq, ethics, and knowledge into them at a young age so they identify themselves by it and not by any "outside factors" or influnces. Alhamdulillah the community and masjid try to do their best by offering a a place for activities, the masjid school, sunday school and so on but that is not enough for the children. They need it every day, every minute, they need posative rolemodels in their parents and it needs to be constant.
InshaAllah I plan on keeping up these "babysitting" sessions during the daroos.. maybe I'll record one of the discussions I have with the kids couse its so cute some of the things they say.. so innocent.. I know I've focused a lot on the "bad" side of things in this post but alhamdulillah there was also a lot of good. A couple things that really made me go "aww" was when one of the little girls said "I want to be like you when I'm older", I told her "don't be like me, be like someone greater than me.. like Maryam AS, Aisha AS, and the rest of the great muslimaat", and she goes "but arent you trying to be like them too? so if I be like you then I'll be like trying to be like them" (shes like 4), so I just laughed and said "but I want you to be better than me" and she looked at me a little confused.
Another thing was when one of the boys said "When I grow up I wont shave my beard!"..that one made me laugh.. but then I went on to ask "why wouldnt he?" and that started me talking about how when Allah swt tells us or commands us to do something we obey etc etc..
and I'd really like to write more but my dads up and ya..
Comments:
Aaawwww...mash'Allah...how cute! I really liked this post...except for the fact that you spelled "influence" like this: "influnce." That really annoyed me! LOL.
Anyways...how've you been? It seems like we haven't talked in a while...and you seem to be hanging around kids a lot these days... LOL. Talk to you later insh'Allah...gotta go finish homework!
Anyways...how've you been? It seems like we haven't talked in a while...and you seem to be hanging around kids a lot these days... LOL. Talk to you later insh'Allah...gotta go finish homework!
LOL.. dude I wrote that while I was half asleep so cut me some slack please :).
Isn't it sad how I've spent more time with little kids this week than I have people my age? I adore kids man.. like its one of the few things that makes me happy..
Anyways stuff happened today and I really feel like talking to someone and you're not answering me on msn nor is anyone else and my dads going to be home soon :(.
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Isn't it sad how I've spent more time with little kids this week than I have people my age? I adore kids man.. like its one of the few things that makes me happy..
Anyways stuff happened today and I really feel like talking to someone and you're not answering me on msn nor is anyone else and my dads going to be home soon :(.
