Ramadhan

This year’s Ramadhan is a totally new experience for us, as our son harith is also fasting, MasyaAllah. His first day of fasting was on the 2nd Ramadhan. He didnt fast on the 1st day because he had his swimming lesson, furthermore i wanted him to observe us fasting. Once he had observe us, it was easier to explain to him. Alhamdulillah it was easy to relate to him since every now and then we would bring our children to see the food distribution to the homeless in KL. My children have seen people queuing  up for food, they have seen people eating by the pavement, they have seen people who sleep on cardboards by roadside. They have witness all these and are aware that some are less fortunate than others. Thus i relate fasting with the homeless. I told them Allah ask us to fast as a reminder to all of us to bersyukur with what we have. To remember others who are in need and not to be greed.  To know how it feels being hungry, just like the homeless. We will be more appreciative when we know how others feel. I told harith we fast from imsak till maghrib and his quick respond was “yes, just like the homeless, they wait for the lorry to come at night to get their food…tak mati pun kan tunggu sampai malam” With that respond, i was confident he understood the concept of fasting.

I wouldnt want my children to fast and all they get are hunger and thirst without having the understanding of fasting. It defeat the purpose. After all they are only 5 years old, it is not compulsory for them to fast. Since harith has grasp the meaning of fasting, i encourage him to give it a try. I didnt get athirah to fast coz of her lack of understanding the meaning of puasa.

On his first day of fasting, he seems alright alhamdulillah. Initially I plan to make him fast half day but he seems okay and no complain. It was a sunday, so we killed time by going to One Utama at about 3pm. He even insists on wearing his sports shoes so he could run about. We went to Toys R Us coz he wanted to play with the legos. Upon seeing other toys, i told hArith..if he could fast for 5 days, i will get papa to buy you a toy. He was all excited to take up the “challenge” . Honestly i didn’t put any high expectation on it. Anyhow the first day went well, MasyaAllah.

Iftar,first day of fasting

He continued fasting the following days, attending school was not an issue although school serves  morning break and lunch. He told me, he remain in the class with another 2 friends while the rest have their meals. He continued fasting 4 days in a row.  he had no problem playing outside in the evening. Twice the weather were gloomy, he was already out at 3pm. i had to come out with various activities to avoid him from playing football and running about.

Keeping him occupied coz he wanted to play football: Sidewalk chalk, sand pit and batik painting

allowed him to play football only after 6pm

jumping about on the trampoline like any other day

On the 4th day, he had a friend over and when the friend had to leave, he threw tantrum . He wanted to play football outside but i told him it was still early (it was 5pm then) I was afraid he might get thirsty and tired, thus i told him he could play outside after 6pm. Since his friend had to leave, before he could play football with him….maka bermulah lah episode tantrum,he cried and screamed saying i broke my promise. After all the screaming and crying he felt asleep at about 630pm. As we woke him up for iftar, he got cranky and moody. Thus i decided to give him a break, not to fast the next day.

To my surprise, he woke up the next day asking me “why mommy tak wake me up to eat? (sahur)” Told him to take a day rest and continue fasting the following day, so he did. Friday is his most fav day at school coz they have cooking session and Show&Tell. I totally forgotten about the cooking session or should i say, i assume they dont have it during the month of Ramadhan. But i was wrong. He did have his cooking session, in fact they did one of his fav food; garlic bread. When I fetched him,I asked, are you still fasting? And he said “yes, teacher suruh bawak balik makan” SubhanAllah. a 5 year old boy, who had prepared food but yet he could keep himself from eating.

He took a day off again on the 8th of Ramadhan since it was a saturday, he has his swimming lesson. And as of today, he has fast for 6 days, masyaAllah. We kept to our promise and bought him a new toy 🙂 . Today was a tough day for him, he didnt eat much during sahur, refused to eat rice and had only a slice of pizza. and since it was a weekend, the day felt longer. Had to come out with various activities to keep him occupied. At 7pm, he looked very tired and wanted to break his fast, told him to hang on a lil bit more. He was also tired coz he woke up for sahur at 5am and didnt sleep in after eating. he was up the whole day without any nap. Managed to make him hang on till maghrib, he had his meal and straight away get to bed.

Tomorrow is monday, he has PE at school. I plan not to wake him up for sahur. ( I totally forgotten about this last week) Let him enjoy his PE with unlimited energy, after all he is only 5 years, he is supposed to play all day long, isnt he? 🙂

** photos were all taken using the phone camera