“Mommy how do you build a house?”

There it was, the perfect opportunity for me to finally say something profound and memorable to my son.  Every parent wants to be thought of as wise and knowledgeable by ones children.  So I leaned my head thoughtfully to one side and said…”Well, I guess you have to pour the foundation first.”  Wonk, wonk, I know I should have come a lot harder than that, but the kid put me on the spot.  Although my answer wasn’t as meaningful as I wanted it to be, it sufficed.

Solid foundations are the essential building blocks of life.  There is no situation, structure, or system, that can withstand the blunt force blows dealt to us by life without a firm foundation.  Within our own family units we refer to the strongest member of the household as the “rock” of the family.  The rock is the individual that everyone leans on for support.  Without that individual the family is likely to crumble under the stress of today’s societal woes. If you’re having difficulty  distinguishing who the rock is in your home, don’t worry there is somewhere else you can turn to for solace.

You can look within yourself.  But be careful, introspection is only useful when you have Faith.  I don’t mean the kind of faith that you have in your favorite basketball team or American Idol contestant, I mean faith in God.  The one and only true God.  As far as the Muslim is concerned we should have a clear understanding of Tawheed(to single out Allah as the one and only God worthy of worship).  We attribute complete lordship to Allah.  We direct all acts of worship to Allah, and we recognize that Allah has the most beautiful and unique names and attributes.  When we have a firm grasp on all aspects of Tawheed and actually put those concepts into practice, then we can turn to ourselves for solutions.  A person who is well-rounded in their belief of Allah is better equipped to handle the curveballs that life pitches.

Now, of course I refrained from giving that whole synopsis to my four-year old son.  Something tells me he would have found more pleasure in playing with Thomas the Tank engine, than in listening to mommy babble about faith.  Needless to say I do talk to my son about God.  I try to explain in kid friendly language that God exists, he’s always watching us, and that he should be our only go to guy for supplications.  I’ll let Bob the Builder explain all the ins and outs of home construction, I’m sure he’d do a much better job.

advice, faith, faith in god, Islam, kids, life, Muslims, solid foundations, tawheed