Raising children in a Muslim Family
Today’s post comes to you from Breharne, a fellow Australian mom blogger who is married with 2 beautiful girls. Breharne is just like me – she loves trying out new places with her children and trying to keep them entertained.
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I’m just an ordinary Aussie mum.
And for this post I want to talk about something a little different, slightly exotic and most definitely taboo.
Religion…
In particular, how I incorporate my religion into the way I parent my two girls. Religion wasn’t part of my life growing up. So, when I married my Muslim husband and converted to Islam I was swimming in unknown, murky waters. But like the true Queen that I am, I put on my burkini and jumped straight in, asked questions, read books and obviously googled!
Religion to me is a guide for how to live your life. You follow the parts you love because they make you feel spiritually fulfilled and happy. Then you seek knowledge and identify parts that you feel you need to work on in order to become a better person.
I am far from a perfect mum. Some days I yell a bit too much and on occassions I give in to my girls demands a little too often. But I am only human, I try my best, like we all do. My ultimate parenting goal is to grow strong, independent, happy young women. To help me do that I’ve implemented some of my religions core fundamentals into my parenting style.
Family
In Islam, there is a particular emphasis on giving a high level of respect to ones mother. Secondary to that it is encouraged to build and maintain strong family relationships. Can I just say I freaking love that!
Unfortunately, my childhood didn’t encourage this. My siblings and I were taught to be self sufficient and fully independent.
Now, I find that I am constantly craving the support that your mother and a tribe would provide. I am hopeful that my girls will recognise that they are not alone and it is ok to need and ask for help from your tribe.
Charity
One of the 5 pillars of Islam is to give charity. To me the term charity doesn’t only apply to financial aspects but also volunteering your time and/or skills to the less fortunate.
The charity aspect of my religion has a welcome place in our home and my parenting style because I want to teach my girls to be thankful for the comfortable life we are able to live and to stay humble.
Muslim Women
Women in Islam are described as highly respected creations. The Quran explains the importance of women’s responsibilities and actually instructs fathers, brothers and husbands to nurture, respect and care for the women in their lives. This particular teaching gives me great pride and both my husband and I want our girls to grow up and expect this level of respect from the future men that may come into their lives.
As you probably noticed the religious fundamentals that have influenced my parenting are not unique to Islam. And they are teachings that can be applied in both religious and non religious homes. None of us are handed manuals when we bring our little humans into the world. All we can do is our absolute best to raise them to have a positive impact on this world, however big or small. Does your religion influence the way you’ve decided to parent your children?
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To read more of Breharne’s writings you can follow her blog By Breharne. One of my favourite posts from Breharne is her completely honest account of what it is like to wear a hajib where she answers some of those questions you always wanted to ask but were too scared to
You can also follow Breharne on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
