5 tips to survive Ramadan. In summer. When you have small children.
This time a few years ago, I was waiting for Ramadan with anxiety. When Ramadan finally arrived, I was petrified inside, wondering if I would be able to cope with running after my younger daughter , managing school and kindergarten with the older two , as well as tidying up the house and preparing iftar for the family in the evening .
A year later , that worry has been replaced by something more positive ; Ramadan is a challenge, there is no doubt about it . But I wanted to share some practical tips as a mom that made this past Ramadan more manageable and a time of spiritual benefit .
1. Prepare the evening meal first thing in the morning . Decide on your menu and write it down in checklist form . This is the time to make marinade , whip up chutneys and even out serving dishes . All the effort you put in early will give you more time until Maghrib . It's amazing how hectic it can get in the kitchen just before Maghrib, and when you're dehydrated and tired, it's hard to cook quickly. . Instead, try to make your mornings the most productive time to prepare iftar .
2. Use salad times as markers to divide your activities . I always make it my goal to do everything in the kitchen before dinner . In this way, I avoided the feeling that I was taking time from work to pray . Dhur salah was a great way to end a productive morning in the kitchen and helped me refocus on the next task, whether it was going out, doing housework, listening to a lecture or reading the Qur'an. .
3. Make sure you pray Asr before you get Iftar on the table ! So many times I've almost missed Asr because I got caught up in the kitchen, and that's true for so many moms I've talked to. . I found when the children came home from school and I had fed them and helped them with their homework or reading , 'Asr was a good sign to mark that stage of the day .
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4. Put the children to bed as soon as possible . Your evening ibadet , Quran reading and tarawih depend on it . Leave bedtime later and I guarantee you will most likely fall asleep with your kids and wake up 6 hours later feeling awful, just missed Sehri , still wearing your everyday clothes and still in your contact lenses… It It was not a great evening .
5. Ramadan is not the time to radically deviate from your normal routine and duties, otherwise we simply won't get the benefit of it. . Yes, we should add some types of ibadah. read more Qur'an , pray more nafl salah - but running a household , going out on errands , interacting with our children and keeping them safe is also part of life and therefore part of our ibadah . Fasting was not appointed for a week , or only for a few days , but for a whole month .The beauty of this duration is that it's not so long that it's a physical or mental burden, but it's also not so short that you can stop your daily activities like a vacation. . By regular activity , I mean that pile of ironing , paperwork , hovering . I realized that even during a 20-hour fast, I could continue my normal routine, but at a slower pace . If you do this, you will not have to accumulate homework that you will have to spend years to compensate during Eid .
But everyday life becomes monotonous and overwhelming if there is no time invested in personal growth , pursuing your passions or helping others . But in general , mothers of small children are tired ; remember that Allah knows your condition and that every aspect of our daily life can become worship if our intentions are to please Him. .
Afaaf Rajbee graduated from LSE in International Relations , which surprisingly did not prepare her for life as a mother of 3 children. He is part of the charity week team and volunteers his skills for various organizations .