Parenting in Islam

Bismilahirrahmanirrahim

Using humour was Rasullullah's way of dealing with children.

Prophet Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah pbuh sent 10 year old Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) on an errand.

However, Anas stopped on the street to watch the children play and forgot about his errand.

Prophet Muhammad pbuh went outside and saw that Anas was playing with the children, he (pbuh) silently crept up behind him, laughing and asked about whether Anas had fulfilled his task.

Anas told the prophet (pbuh) that he had forgotten all about his task. Muhammad (pbuh) laughed and said, "it's okay. You're a child and you like to play. Now go and fulfill your duty and come back and play."

I mean, as parents, if we ask our kids to do something, and they don't do it... we don't laugh, do we?

This morning, I was washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen and when I had finished I found that Medina had thrown her toys all over the living room.

Usually I would get all upset and pull a face while picking up the toys.

But this time I tried laughing.

I laughed. It felt silly, but I laughed.

I said to her, "This is so funny, I leave you for 10 minutes and you scattered your toys all over the living room. And you poured your books all over the playroom floor."

I laughed at the mess while picking up her toys.😄

Guess what? It worked. She started laughing too. She felt like it was a positive experience.

Imagine you did something wrong at work.. how would you feel if your boss scolded you? as opposed to him making things right by laughing off at your mistake while advising you to get it right the next time. You'd probably feel confused but the message from your boss gets across  to you. If he screams and scolds you, you'd probably end up feeling bitter and resent him.