The child does not understand and absorb everything we tell him and what is happening around him with the same depth, rather he understands it in its superficial form, and some people reject to educate their child at a young age, and this is not right. Children memorize the Qur’an well even though they do not understand it. And when he grows up, he acts according to what he has stored. Based on that, we must begin to teach him theoretically. Any science depends at its beginning on theoretical things, such as making him look at the sky and the earth and then informing him that Allah created the sky and the earth … and when we sit at the dining table, we tell him that this food is from Allah, then he will start asking and inquiring about Everything encounters him.
So, we first start with the process of inculcating the theoretical side, and we take advantage of every opportunity to include this thought through the child’s dialogue. When he begins to eat, we teach him to say “in the name of Allah”, and then we ask him who brought this food? At first, he will answer that dad brought it. From where? From the market, and the market brought it from where, and so on until we end it with Allah provided us with that and then we teach him to thank Allah for these blessings. Then we move on to inform the child that his behaviours and actions are being monitored by Allah the Almighty to reinforce his nodal concept. We tell him that Allah is here watching us, seeing us, knowledgeable, and he is far away from listening to us and caring about us, his concepts are created according to his age, and to succeed in our mission we have to use the narrative method, simulation, imitation, as stories play a great role in forming a child’s thought. And do not forget the importance of continuing in teaching him to enhance his information, as it is not enough to teach him once but repeat it over and over again. The process of teaching the child does not end through a day and a night but it takes time, it remains continuously until the age of puberty, where the process of indirect guidance begins, at this time what we stored in our children’s minds will appear in their actions.
The nodal side is the information side, and we must apply this information to reality with reminders and follow-up.
The best way of teaching
And the best way to teach our children the Islamic doctrine is to follow the approach of the Prophet- peace be upon him – in teaching the Companions, teaching them love and gentleness as a first step. Then we deliver information to them and make it desired to their souls, reward those who apply it, and give them incentives and motivations. If children are fed up with the method of direct instruction, why don’t we sit with our children in a Quranic session in which we recite five Verses, then we ask them what they understood from them? then we offer a reward to those who answer the correct answer. Thus, we will give them a spirit of competition, which is a good and not a boring way of teaching. Some families have tried it and succeeded with them, and this all should be done gently and softly.
When we can use the punishment in teaching
We start to punish our children after we present to them the information, they deal with it, know it well, they have taken enough time, and it becomes a behaviour for them, so if they do not apply it then punishment can be used and I think that deprivation is a good method in the punishment.
But unfortunately, many educators in most of the penalties that apply to children are reactions or a state of anger according to their mood. This is not breeding but a discharging for their negative energy
And we have to teach the child the tender and not to wait for this tender back except Allah. All of this must be present in the mind of the educator, such as asking the child to give his brother or friend sweets and telling him that if you give him from what you have he will give you from what he has and this is wrong, but we have to say I if you give him from what you have then Allah will be pleased with you and will write it in your good deeds book and will bless you with other blessings.
The prophet-peace be upon him- said “Every child is born with a true faith (i.e. to worship none but Allah Alone) but his parents convert him to Judaism or Christianity or Magainism”
It shows that the instinct of the child is normal and that the parents are the ones who make this instinct upright or deviate.
From this hadith, we can see how easy it is to implant the correct creed in the correct Islamic environment. When parents are, and out of integrity their desire to raise their children in the sound belief that Allah has created, it is easy for them because the basis is available and it is the already the sound nature. The Islamic approach seeks to provide safety and reassurance in the souls of children, including preparing the psyche of children, educating them, and preparing them for the behaviour we want to instil.
I would like to add that it is very important for the child to live in a safe, stable and comfortable family environment in which he feels love, this factor is very important to facilitate the absorption of values from the surrounding environment. And to be a role model for our children so they will learn all the Islamic concepts from our behaviours. And to answer all their questions clearly as well as to search for the correct answers for any ambiguous question.