What are the Jobs or Responsibilities of Parents

Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato. I

want to congratulate the parents of the young children who won the competition.

Actually all the parents of all the children who participated not just those who won. And may Allah Subhana Allah bless them all Europa, Alamy Mela, Santa Allah bless our children as well. And it also just so happened that the surah that is recited upon us, is Surah Lachman. And in the last two records, what we've been listening to is this dialogue that takes place between a man and his son.

And interestingly, we really don't hear from the son.

All we hear is a loving, caring, Father that is speaking to his son.

And as parents, they say that our job is as follows or one of the definitions of parenting they say is, our job is to prepare and protect our children in order to survive, and thrive in this society that they will live in.

And I love this definition,

to protect and prepare our children in order to survive and thrive in the society that they will live in.

The most important piece in this definition is the society that they will live in,

I wouldn't know what to protect them from, I wouldn't know what to prepare them, how to prepare them, or what the definition of surviving and thriving is, unless I become aware of the society that they will live in.

And I know that these are not very popular topics. But let me just take the risk of saying, sharing these facts deal with you.

Did you know that in the past few days, we've been reading about the stories of the messengers of Allah, did you know that Prophet luta Alayhi. Salam is mentioned in the Quran, in 27 different places,

in 15, different Saurus Allah subhanaw taala speaks about a particular topic and gets our attention to it and clearly tells us where it is that we stand as far as the Muslim community is concerned.

Did you know that the Quran has over 80 references to sex and sexuality. But we really don't say much about about this. There is so much richness in that in that book. But yet, we really say very, very little about it. When I asked parents and I say, Do you do you talk to your kids about these topics? And most of the answer I get is I actually no, I don't talk to my kids about about that. Please remember this. If you're not doing the talking, you're not doing the teaching, somebody else is.

And that person is much better equipped than we are. They are more persuasive than we are. And they're starting at an extremely young age so young, that the kids are not even at school, when they are being conditioned.

parents telling me that I don't want to talk to my kids about this because I don't want them to lose their innocence. And as I tell parents, brothers and sisters, please remember that there is a difference between innocence and ignorance. We want our kids innocent, we don't want them silly, stupid or gullible

we want our kids to be innocent, we just don't want them to be exploited or have the propaganda been passed on to them. It is so crucial that we actually pay attention to this topic because the people who are doing the teaching are beyond beyond better equipped than we are. Give you an example. And I asked this to parents and I promise you this is going to be a family friendly topic. So relax in case you you know daily relax.

I spirits and I say when is when is a good time to start talking about this topic with your kids. Somebody allowed the number when is a good time to start talking about this

12

Mashallah, mashallah the article? Six

the proper time is six years old. Anyway to cut my hair Come on, man. What am I supposed to tell a six year okay, I don't even know what what to tell them. Well

may tell you what six year old kids are being taught outside.

And I'm just going to give you an example of a single book. And listen to how persuasive the book is.

Heather's favorite number is two.

She has two hands. She has two feet. She has two legs. She has two eyes. She has two ears. She has two moms. She has two pets. She has two siblings. See right there. The idea of she having two mom was just slipped in there. We'll check this another book, Stacy, who's in the family? All families? Some families have grandparents. Some families don't. Some families have pets? Some families don't. Some families have a mom and a dad. Some families have one mom, no doubt some families have dads and no moms. Some families have two dads, some families have two moms. It actually all families are different. It doesn't matter who's in the family. As long as all family members love each other.

This is how five and six year old kids are taught. very persuasive.

Very logical, very slick to the mentality of a five or a six year old or this makes perfect sense.

So we say our deen tells us that this is a topic that we cannot shy away from this. As we've said before, the Quran is a very brave book, read by a lot of cowards. And the fact that you choose to ignore or not to talk about this, it doesn't mean that the other people are waiting. Oh, they are teaching and like I said they're very, they're teaching very, very persuasively.

I'm gonna show you how you talk to a six year old about sex.

I'm just going to pretend that you all are six year olds right now.

So I'm going to teach you about good touch and bad touch. High five is that a good touch or a bad touch? As a good touch, tap on the shoulder is either good touch and bad touch. That's a good touch. If I pinch you and it hurts is that a good touch or a bad touch? Bad touch, if I touch your privates is that a good touch, bad touch, bad touch, because only mom or dad are allowed to touch you there. Or the doctor when either mom or dad or their let's review High Five is that a good touch or a bad touch? That took about 30 seconds. But what we just did in the 30 seconds is that we taught physical integrity. We taught boundary we taught protecting yourself.

And that is when you start and that is how simple it can it can be. And then they grow a little older, then we teach them something else. And then and then as they grow we're constantly teach them about about this topic. And by no means I mean to cover this issue, this whole topic right now. But as you read the Quran as we listened to the Quran, and you look into the topics that the Quran is not afraid of an earthing or uncovering, because remember, the Quran is a very brave book that is read by a lot of cowards by the way that is us. Good news insha. Allah is as we are working on our summer program. One of the programs that we have is how to talk to your kids about difficult topics.

And this just happens to be one of these topics. I must warn you though, so in order for us to have any kind of a topic whether it be a good topic or not a good topic that is only possible. If we have good relationships with our kids, the investment is having good relationships and once that good relationship is established, then all topics are a possibility. Without that good relationship, it becomes very, very possible. It becomes very difficult. May Allah Subhana Allah protect our kids. May Allah protect our families. May Allah Subhana Allah increases in understanding our beloved Salah Odyssey