REARING AND TRAINING CHILDREN (Pt 1 of 5)

Some important advice with regard to rearing and training children will be enumerated here.

1.Remember well that habits acquired in childhood are enduring. Good or bad traits and attributes acquired by the child will remain with him/her life long. It is, therefore, imperative to maintain a diligent eye on the habits which a child picks up and develops in his character.

2.Never frighten a child. Some mothers, in order to induce obedience in the child, scare the child by speaking of ghosts, etc. This is exceptionally bad. The child will grow up with a weak heart. Instead of inculcating courage, parents very ignorantly induce cowardice in their children.

3.Have fixed times for their eating. Do not spoil their habits and their health with irregular eating habits.

4.Let them use a miswaak from an early age. Let them wash their mouths after everything they eat, even after having drunk milk.

5.Teach them to wash their hands before and after meals.

6.Teach children all the Islamic etiquettes of eating, drinking, sleeping, wearing garments, entering and leaving the toilet, etc.

7.When the child is able to talk, teach it first the Name of Allah Ta’ala. Even long before it can talk, parents should recite Qur’anic verses, the Names of Allah and the Kalimah to the child. The infant’s mind is receptive and it retains what it sees and hears.

8.Parents should not become nude in the presence of even a six-month baby.

9.Do not create in the child the love for luxury and adornment. Styles and fashions should be banished. Imbue in them simplicity.

10.Now and then clothe children with patched garments even if you are wealthy.

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