Parenting

This is a first in a series of excerpts from “The Perfect Muslim Child: A Holistic Approach to Raising a Balanced Child” by Nargis Naqvi. 

During the teenage years, our children become increasingly independent. Adolescence is a dress rehearsal to prepare for the real world – adulthood. As scary as it is, our children are growing up.

The phrase “risk-taking,” more often than not, tends to have a negative connotation attached to it. It signals the probability of experiencing harm or danger, or risk which involves failure for the individual.

This life is a test. A test we all have been struggling through. It is also the test we wish our children will get through with ease but, deep down, we know it will be a struggle for them as well. So how do we prepare them for this test? 

Allah says in the Quran: 

Part of any efforts related to strengthening family ties is about making good use of existing resources and also learning about new ones.

I was born in Puerto Rico and spent half my childhood in “La Isla del Encanto” or the enchanted island as it is called. Years later, while in the U.S., I married into a large, multigenerational Ecuadorian family.

When my first-born child was about 6 years old, he started asking a lot of questions about our family.