Spending time with the family

[aist1]

Could anyone please tell me how they spend time with their family without focusing on TV, and computer games...and no one getting bored?
Does anyone do anything islamic as a WHOLE family, if so please tell....
I am finding that the society has too many temptations for the kids so to actually sit and tell them stories pales to insignificance in front of the TV shows, X box, Songs Music videos e.t.c...
With the boys its often much more difficult...trying to form the men of tomorrow from boys addicted to video games and girls....form mujahideen from boys who cry at the smallest cut on their hand and their disgust at the sight of blood let alone performing a slaughter worries me....
And often the boys need a male role model ...they are not interested in their sister nagging at them....
I am trying to do Da'wah to the ones in my home....but often it is more difficult then preaching to the ones on the street...
and can someone please tell me how the prophet (SAW) spent time at home ...both before Islam and after...as a father to his four daughters and a husband?......Jazakallahu khairan....

[jalwa]

form mujahideen from boys who cry at the smallest cut on their hand and their disgust at the sight of blood let alone performing a slaughter worries me....

I never met a boy who cry "at the smallest cut on their hand". On the other hand, i've known alot of girls who faints only at the sight of a smallest cut on their hand. So i guess if you have this problem its because you're doing Edited

[Umm Ahmed]

As salaam alaykum brother .

Never too late to start and alhamdulilaah you seem really willing to improve things at home. if your son is really young then sometimes the sight of a cut on his hand is disturbing to a smaller child, but we need tough but not rough sons , remember in islam everything has to be balanced .
Encourage the boys to wrestle within limits and dont turn your back on them for a second or someone could get hurt , take them to martial arts , swimming and horseback horseback riding . listen to the series by Anwar Awlaki on the Phrophet's sallallahu alaihi wa sallam life and along with the series on Abu Bakr and Umar Radhiallahu anhom write down little quotes that you can feed to your son so he grows up with great muslims as his heroes and not the latest football player. Take them for hikes and to the park get him up and down the climbing frame not sitting lazily on a swing asking to be pushed.

Things together as a family hmm picnics , science museums , go to your local tourist office you will be surprised at how many things you can do that are in your own area as a family , these kinds of activites should only be done at the weekends as children also need to learn how to be happy in their own company as well , they need to learn to sit in a corner and read or listen to you read them something , word games , looking at an Atlas learning about new countries .
This all might seem like hard work but if you introduce a few things at a time InshaAlaah it will work .
At the time of the Phrophet and his companions it really was a perfect time there were study circles in the Masjids I would imagine everyone looked after each others children . Like Hilary clintons books title "It takes a village to raise a child"

Also brother get the masjid doing something at the time of the phrophet the masjid was the centre of everything , also brother look back at your own childhood InshaAlaah you will find something that you can instill in your own child.

May Allaah (sbwt) help you ameen .

[juwairiyah]

Assalamo'alaykum Warahmatullah Wabarakatuh

This I would do with my niece and nephew...

I would ask them islamic questions and keep a small prize for those who would give the correct reply.
It was always a multiple choice type so they wld ve to choose any one out of four.Thye wld always guess but Alhamdulillah this way they learnt mashaAllah.
Prize does'nt mean expensive things err like an icecream
really I too enjoyed this way.....

[UmmMusab]

I know its hard spending family time without the tv! but try turning it off! thats we've finally learnt to do in our house, lol!

Well the tv isn't all bad, it could be a good way to give dawah maybe, for example, the issue of Lebanon in the news, even this may be a form of dawah. Islam Channel is also EXCELLENT!!! try watching this with family members..?!

But Islamic things as a family...how about, well depending on how many people in our family, you can do a shared khatam of the Qur'an, we often do that in my house. You put everyone's name down in the house in a list, and either share out the chapters or surahs (whichever way you prefer) out to them, and then stick that list on the fridge, and when that person's done, you have to cross their name off the list, and soon, within a few days, you have completed a family Khatam.

It's nice because you can even get the little ones involved, even my little 4 year old niece has her name on the list with a short surah written next to her name, so everyone feels involved.

Other things involve listening to lectures, like sister UmmA said. Sometimes we listen to the "Stories of the Prophets" by Sheikh Anwar Al Awlaki, they're interesting for younger ones to listen too.


Another idea may be to get all the brothers and sisters together, get a simple book, and everyone reads one page from the book, you read the book together, even if its a simple book on Death or something. Try to make it regular, even if it's for 1 hour a week, and again get the younger ones involved too.

Family events may include going out to eat?! But I think it's important you communicate with family members, because you won't believe the number of people I know who don't talk to their immediate family members?! I mean how crazy is that?! If you build a good relationship with your family members, it should be easy to talk to them about anything, and hence it may be easier to give dawah to them.

May Allah bless you for your efforts.

Take care,
UmmMusab.