Human life is beautiful but the most beautiful part of it is childhood. Children are like flowers. They are soft and gentle and have to be taken care of with great care and responsibility. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) set a very clear example of love for children. He used to shower love on his grandchildren. According to a hadith, the Holy Prophet kissed Hazrat Hassan bin Ali (RA). At that time Aqra bin Habis Tamimi was also sitting near him. He said: (O Messenger of Allah!) I have ten sons. I have never kissed any of them. He looked at him and said: He who does not show mercy is not shown mercy (Sahih Bukhari).
If parents want to see how successful they are in their lives, they can only do so by looking at their children. If children are morally good, that is the success of parents. Thus children are the real measure of success or failure. Therefore, parents should teach their children good manners and literature by creating a better environment in their homes. Children do not need blackboards, flip charts or multimedia to teach morality, but as parents, habits, actions and words have a lasting effect on children’s minds.
The home environment is the single most important factor that has a profound effect on a child’s life. From the earliest moments of a child’s life, a child depends on his parents to meet his every need. Parents are the first teachers of the children and play the role model for them. Most children are fortunate to have the desired home environment full of love and affection from their parents.
However, if the relationship between the parents is strained for some reason, then the child suffers the most. Usually when a child is born parents put all their activities aside and their first priority is their children. The mutual love and affection, care and protection of the parents is the guarantee of the child’s prosperity. We live in an age of technology and technology has made its mark in every sphere of life, including the upbringing of children. Thus, the responsibility of raising a child for the parents has increased many times over. Human childhood consists of various stages like infancy, kindergarten, primary education etc. At each stage, children need to be cared for and raised differently.
Many children today are seen playing with toy guns or weapons. Children should not be given such toys as they promote aggressive mentality and war frenzy in children. It is also said that children who play with toy guns are more likely to have a lack of patience. Likewise, they should refrain from watching pornographic films or videos that contain scenes of violence and bloodshed. Children should be allowed to use parental supervised social media with a few precautions.
There is a saying that babies are loved, school going children are monitored and teenagers are treated like friends. In short, children are a mercy, and they must be protected. Allah says in the Quran, “O you who believe! Save yourselves and your families from the Fire of Hell, whose fuel is men and stones” (66: 6)
