The Weight of Caring

The Weight of Caring

by Anonymous

“I have given up...he just won’t cooperate!”

A message from a dear friend after her Mr 8 had just had a meltdown over the task of copy writing out an acrostic poem.

“Have you told him why it’s important to write the poem?” was my response to her, to which she instantly replied, “He wouldn’t care!”

I had to stop at this point as my mind went wild with a GAZZILION thoughts.

Why doesn’t Mr 8 care?

Why don’t our youth care?

Why don’t they have that same thirst for knowledge that our amazing predecessors had when they were only 8 years old and even younger?

This is when it hit me!

Yes, our kids are surrounded with the most advanced teaching manipulatives. Yes, we provide them with creative stimulating lessons that have every bell and whistle attached. And yes, we as mothers and educators pour our hearts and souls into every aspect of their learning journey.

However we haven’t CLEARLY given them one thing.

We haven’t given them the true REASON why they “should care”.

Now, there is no” homeschooling flavour” to tell you the answer nor has a great 500 paged book been written by some experienced educator detailing it all.

Instead as always our beautiful and simple religion tells us why.

And that is…

It is THEIR duty!

It is THEIR duty to care!

It’s THEIR duty to THEIR ummah to be educated!

It is THEIR duty to THEIR religion to know how to articulate themselves!

It’s THEIR duty to represent the millions of brothers and sisters they have in the world who are oppressed!

It is THEIR duty to know the situation of our Ummah and then to know it is going to be THEM that Allah ﷻ will USE to bring a stop to the endless stream of injustice.

The same injustice that sadly continues to happen not because we don’t have the weapons nor the money, but instead because our youth aren’t brought up with the weight of caring!

Our youth are fascinated with hero stories, whether it may be in a book or a movie. Who doesn’t love the idea of going to the rescue of someone in need?

So why aren’t we allowing our children to believe that they are their own hero first and foremost and secondly a hero to an ummah who have been patiently waiting?

So to my friend and her son, please listen to me when I say that poem you need to copy isn’t a poem.

It is a tool.

A tool that will help you one day stand in front of a camera when a journalist will ask you “What is your advice to those who say they are scared to allow Muslim refugees back into Australia?”

That 20min grammar lesson you have on today will Insha’Allah allow you later in life to articulate the most perfectly worded campaign for a sister who has recently been kicked out of her home by her abusive husband.

That speech you painfully wrote for Book Week last week will hold the same structure to a speech you will hold one day convincing others why they should care as much as you do.

These are your super powers!

The same way you are sent to martial arts lessons to defend your body in the event of an attack, you are also required to participate in your schooling lessons to strengthen that mind of yours.

Now there are endless opportunities and examples to list on how we as parents can be encouraging our future heroes. The main objective however is to constantly remind ourselves and them of the WEIGHT…the weight of our ummah on our shoulders and our upcoming role to make a difference.

This is a reminder to myself first and foremost. Yes I have only been homeschooling for a year BUT I have been a Muslim my entire life. A life time of which it is always been upon me to help make a difference. This is the same purpose we should be sewing into every single lesson we teach our little ones.

The lesson of the responsibility they have and the duty they have to their Ummah.

May Allah ﷻ forgive me for any misgivings and may he truly unite our Ummah as one.

Jazak allahu khayran