EDUCATE YOUR CHILDREN For This World And The Hereafter!

 

Education Is Obligatory In Islam

Educate Your Children

For This World And

The Hereafter!

Gadgets Are Harmful

For Young Kids

(M. Javed Naseem)

*************************************

You don’t need gadgets, smart-phones or

electronic equipment to educate your kids!

These gadgets are harmful for young kids.

For real education/ guidance, apart from

normal schooling, open the Holy Quran

and see what Allah has prepared

for you, and how to get that!

*************************************

Education is the most important factor in life. The first word revealed to Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) from Allah through Gabriel was ‘Iqra’ – meaning ‘Read’. Still there are millions of Muslims in the world who cannot read and write. As a matter of fact, Reading and Writing are not the ‘education’ as such. They are tools or means through which we can educate ourselves. Education opens your mind and heart and brings you closer to your Lord Creator. The more you know, the more you are convinced that you need God in your life at every step of life. We are nothing without Him. If we are not connected with our base, we are lost.

When Muslims won their first war against unbelievers of Makkah at Badr, they captured many as prisoners of war. The first condition set for their release, was that each prisoner of war educates ten Muslims (teach them reading, writing and counting). If not, then they should pay money as ransom to win their freedom. That shows how important education was even centuries ago.

Today, we measure success on the scale of wealth or material possessions. Wealth and material possessions are temporary ornaments of this worldly life only. A Muslim should always think about the Hereafter, because, according to the Quran, that is the real and everlasting life. This world is a trial for us. Our wealth is our offspring and the real wealth we can pass on to our children is the wealth of education. If we invite to goodness and thwart evil, that would be a great service to the next generation. It’s our responsibility to put our children on the right path by providing them the real guidance. That’s the only yardstick to measure our success in this world.

“…And turn unto Allah together, O believers,

in order that you may succeed!”

(al-Quran 24:31)

“And there may spring from you a group

who invite to goodness, and enjoin right

conduct and forbid indecency. They

are the successful.”

(al-Quran 3:104)

It’s our obligation to pass on the Divine message (Quranic education) to our children so that they get an idea of the purpose of their lives. There are lessons for them in the Quranic stories of the Prophets. Those stories can definitely generate some interest among the younger generation to learn more about their faith and the ‘way of life’ – Islam. Above all, they will learn how to respect their parents and elder folks.

Today, Muslims all over the world are in a sorry state of affairs, and they can only blame themselves for that. We Muslims are not discharging our duties diligently. Our irresponsible behavior and care-free attitude is spoiling our children. But we blame the TV and the internet. Instead of promoting the Quranic education and the Prophetic teachings among our kids, we are pleased to see them adopting Western culture, customs, habits and attitudes. We do not discharge our obligation of upbringing our children according to the tenets of Islam. We did not pass on to them what we were supposed to. The result is obvious. Our young generation is lost in the material glamour of an alien culture. They have gone astray.

If you are a real Muslim, you should never forget that on the Day of Judgment you would be answering questions about the education and upbringing of your children. The issue is a lot more serious than you think. Therefore, try to bring God back into their lives. Discharge your obligations honestly and correctly while you still can. Feed them from the money earned by Halal sources. Otherwise prepare yourself for the wrath of the Almighty! We are commanded by Allah to enjoin good conduct and forbid indecency. But unfortunately, today, most visitors to the sex and pornographic sites on the internet are from the Muslim countries – and Pakistan is on top of the list.

You must have heard the comparison ‘like father, like son’ at some point in your life. In most of the cases, it’s very much true. The children are very good observers and they copy their parents or the people around them. This is a natural instinct. We laugh when we see a 2-3-year old child walking in its parent’s big shoes in the house, and we are filled with affection for the child. This is the instinct I am talking about.

Children are remarkably perceptive. Their eyes always observe, their ears always listen, and their minds always process the messages they absorb. If they see us patiently provide a happy home atmosphere for family members, they will imitate that attitude for the rest of their lives. The wise parents realize that every day building-blocks are being laid for the child’s future. It all begins at home. So make your home the best place on earth!

Kids copy almost everything and if the parents are not careful in what they are doing, they can destroy their children’s lives by being bad role-models. Home is the first school before schooling and parents are the first teachers. It is at home where the foundation of a child’s life is laid. A good foundation makes a building solid and secure. It is called ‘Tarbiah’ (or Tarbiat) or upbringing.

Tarbiah & Taaleem (upbringing & education) is an obligation in Islam. All parents are REQUIRED to impart this training to their children, male or female. This is the duty of every Muslim parent. They are responsible for their children’s education and good upbringing. This teaches our children how to talk to the elders; how to respect others; how to behave in different situations; how to treat other human beings; and how to handle a danger; not to mention how to perform religious duties. It is at home that they learn how to react to certain actions of others. We build our children’s personalities and form their character. They learn the conduct from the parents. So, we should be careful!

“Lo, the noblest of you, in the sight

of Allah, is the best in conduct.

Lo, Allah is Knower, Aware.”

(al-Quran 49:12)

 

Screen Time Is Addicting

When we went to school, we didn’t have the luxury of computers, tablets, smart phones and other electronic equipment. We got our education from the parents, teachers and the library books. Today, we want to buy every new gadget for our kids. We even give our smart phones to 3-4 years old kids to play with. And we take pride in that. We don’t realize that these electronic gadgets can harm our kids physically, damage their abilities and hamper their natural growth. Some of the damage can be for life.

Nicole Crawford, a women's fitness coach and an expert on Yoga, Family and Kids, narrates: Moodiness, restlessness, strange cravings, incoherent speech, an inability to focus on tasks that require concentration and emotional outbursts – these qualities may be used to describe a person on drugs or trying to quit smoking. They also perfectly express what my four-year-old daughter is like after a two hour Disney movie.

There's a reason for that. Screen time has a powerful effect on children, not to mention adults. Finding a way to combat screen time in children, who don't have inboxes to tend to and spreadsheets to create, is a bit simpler: Lay down the rules and set limits.

From: Psychology Today:

What ‘Screen-Time’ Can Really Do To Kids’ Brains!

Too much at the worst possible age can have lifetime consequences.

By Liraz Margalit, Ph.D (Behind Online Behavior)

Screen time is an inescapable reality of modern childhood, with kids of every age spending hours upon hours in front of iPads/tablets, smart-phones and televisions.
That’s not always a bad thing: Educational apps and TV shows are great ways for children to sharpen their developing brains and hone their communication skills—not to mention the break these gadgets provide harried parents. But tread carefully: A number of troubling studies connect delayed cognitive development in kids with extended exposure to electronic media. The US Department of Health & Human Services estimates that American children spend a whopping 7-hours a day in front of electronic media. Other statistics reveal that kids as young as two regularly play iPad games and have playroom toys that involve touch screens.

Saturation and long-term consequences

When very small children get hooked on tablets and smart-phones, says Dr. Aric Sigman, an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society and a Fellow of Britain’s Royal Society of Medicine, they can unintentionally cause permanent damage to their still-developing brains. Too much screen time too soon, he says, “is the very thing impeding the development of the abilities that parents are so eager to foster through the tablets. The ability to focus, to concentrate, to lend attention, to sense other people’s attitudes and communicate with them, to build a large vocabulary—all those abilities are harmed.”

Put more simply, parents who jump to screen time in a bid to give their kids an educational edge may actually be doing significantly more harm than good—and they need to dole out future screen time in an age-appropriate matter.
Between birth and age three, for example, our brains develop quickly and are particularly sensitive to the environment around us. In medical circles, this is called the critical period, because the changes that happen in the brain during these first tender years become the permanent foundation upon which all later brain function is built. In order for the brain’s neural networks to develop normally during the critical period, a child needs specific stimuli from the outside environment. These are rules that have evolved over centuries of human evolution, but—not surprisingly—these essential stimuli are not found on today’s tablet screens. When a young child spends too much time in front of a screen and not enough getting required stimuli from the real world, her development becomes stunted.
And not just for a while. If the damage happens during these crucial early years, its results can affect her forever.
Much of the issue lies with the fact that what makes tablets and iPhones so great—dozens of stimuli at your fingertips, and the ability to process multiple actions simultaneously—is exactly what young brains do not need.
Tablets are the ultimate shortcut tools: Unlike a mother reading a story to a child, for example, a smartphone-told story spoon-feeds images, words, and pictures all at once to a young reader. Rather than having to take the time to process a mother’s voice into words, visualize complete pictures and exert a mental effort to follow a story line, kids who follow stories on their smartphones get lazy. The device does the thinking for them, and as a result, their own cognitive muscles remain weak.

Trouble making friends

The brain’s frontal lobe is the area responsible for decoding and comprehending social interactions. It is in this corner of the mind that we empathize with others, take in nonverbal cues while talking to friends and colleagues, and learn how to read the hundreds of unspoken signs—facial expression, tone of voice, and more—that add color and depth to real-world relationships.

So how and when does the brain’s frontal lobe develop? Not surprisingly, the most crucial stage is in early childhood, during that same critical period, and it's dependent on authentic human interactions. So if your young child is spending all of his time in front of an iPad instead of chatting and playing with teachers and other children, his empathetic abilities—the near-instinctive way you and I can read situations and get a feel for other people—will be dulled, possibly for good.

(Courtesy: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/behind-online-behavior/201604/what-screen-time-can-really-do-kids-brains)

**************