How My Daughter And I Grew Spiritually During A Pandemic:
A wake-up call rang in by the pandemic
My 11-year old asked me, “Mom, is God real, the way the “Tooth Fairy” or “Santa Clause” is real?”
When my daughter asked me this, I was a little taken aback. As a Muslim mom, I try my best to strengthen the foundation of my children’s spirituality. I didn’t realize that my daughter thought of spirituality as something fictitious or make-belief to some degree. She had mixed up God with the same concept of the “Tooth Fairy” or “Santa Clause.”
While the concept of the “Tooth Fairy” is very cute and cheerful, I didn’t realize it could make my child slightly confused about her faith. Granted, it was a harmless assumption, especially as she heard stories about them from school. However, it still caused my daughter some confusion.
I give credit to the pandemic, which brought me closer to my children, and I have been able to enjoy ample time to discuss things with them and address some of their developing core beliefs. Children develop core beliefs in their early lives, and those beliefs continue to mature as they grow older.
From a mental health standpoint, a cognitive distortion is our skewed perception of some issues in adulthood, but we find the roots of our early childhood cognitive distortions. We adults must address some of the core beliefs that children develop early in their lives to check their cognitive distortions that might impede objectivity later in adulthood. It can be around any subject matter.
When I explored her further, she expressed how distraught she had been before the pandemic because of her inability to hang out with her friends at the beach or pools. I always knew how adaptive and an easy child she had always been but coming to understand this side of her personality was something utterly new to me.
Long story short, as parents, we should encourage our children to ask questions. I give credit to this pandemic for letting me address the questions she had regarding God’s existence. Her curiosity sparked many other discussions as well — especially conversations related to our Muslim identity and other faiths around the world.
We talked about how America is a diverse society that comprises of various religions. Some follow Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Taoism, Judaism, and so forth. Together, we compared these beliefs to our own.
Although this pandemic has brought hardships, lately, I have begun to see the positives of it. This pandemic has proved fruitful; I have enjoyed the congregational prayers with my children and the in-depth reading and memorization of the Holy Qur’an. I have learned that children need a constant reminder in understanding what they believe in and how they are consistent with their practices. I’ve taught them the rich values that come from our roots and have educated them on the strength of staying different and celebrating those differences.
When teaching our children this, it is essential to practice what we preach. Before this pandemic, I had a habit of staying organized with my job schedule. However, I have now learned to establish my routine around the five daily Islamic Prayers. I’ve made sure to prioritize my Prayers over my work schedule. This teaches them that the purpose of our lives as Muslims is to remember God Almighty, pray for one another and humanity.
I have emphasized to my children that it takes so much to develop a living relationship with God Almighty. Besides establishing prayers, doing charity beyond capacity, and suppressing immoral and irrational desires, we always need to be grateful to God, especially during these challenging times. This can be seen as God says in the Holy Qur’an, “Therefore, remember Me, and I will remember you, and be thankful to Me and do not be ungrateful to Me” (2:153).
Overall, the best lesson this pandemic has been teaching us is the power of staying optimistic and hopeful even during tough times. Through spirituality, my daughter is learning to look at life’s uncertainty at such a young age. How profound, deep, and considerate these kids will be when they enter adulthood.
