Learning to See the Rainbow

One of the most difficult, mind boggling, stressful, nerve-wracking, and most beautiful things I have ever had to do in my life is raise a child.

And then two. 

Raising children is like being on a boat in the middle of a raging thunderstorm while golf ball sized hail is plummeting from the sky and your one and only hope is to try to keep the boat afloat and make it to the other side in one piece. 

But what if it's not? What if the golf ball sized hail is really just me throwing more things into my boat than I really need- social norms, cultural pressures, personal insecurities, drive for perfection- weighing me down when I was sailing just fine without it?

What if the thunderstorm is really just a drizzle from the clouds clearing the horizon to yield a beautiful rainbow? 

Sometimes the reason that we struggle when it comes to raising our kids is because we stop seeing them as what they really are- children. We, as parents and caregivers lose sight of their perspective.  We see them as posable dress up dolls to bend every which way we please, according to our standards. Would we tolerate that if someone did that to us? Would we be okay with someone continuously telling us how to act, what to say what not to say, how to play? 

Understanding a child's perspective and psychology, acknowledging that a tantrum doesn't stem from an intrinsic characteristic but rather a need not being met, and knowing that a child is innately good and innocent, are the first steps towards raising strong, confident, and empowered little human beings. (It also helps with our sanity!) 

Maybe, just maybe, if we change our perspective and learn to see the world from the pure and honest eyes of our children we might focus on the beauty of the rainbow rather than the dark clouds that come before it. 

On this beautiful night of Laylatul Qadr, I'm starting this blog with the hope that Allah accepts my attempts towards raising a strong, faithful, compassionate Muslim Ummah, for it takes a village to raise a child and we are all in this together. 

May Allah accept all your duas tonight and I request you all to keep my family and me in your prayers, inshAllah. <3