Observing randomness
Finding a pattern
Last week or so, I have been quite observant. I have pondered on the randomness of the interest of my kids and kind of attempting to find a pattern. Of course, in such a short period of time, one cannot figure any credible pattern. But it definitely surprised me. When granted liberty, how abruptly does Maryam and Zahrah pick up a task and then abandon it, that too without any apparent reason, is baffling.
Some of the activities that I saw my kids engaged in during the week are documented below:
Maryam and Zahrah both started praying salah with me for almost a week. They asked me to pray together and seemingly enjoyed it, too. But then all of a sudden, without any good reason, they abandoned it for last 3 days.
When I brought skipping rope, Maryam initially did not like it. Then I did it once, she saw her dada doing it too, and suddenly that thing piqued her interest. She started trying and became good at it in a span of 4 days. No compulsion. Nothing at all. She took it to a level where she does 60 skips in a go.
I have been reading Quran with translation, together with a video lecture these days. After 12 days of doing that and without asking anyone to follow me, she brought Quran into her conversation. Like saying to me that 'baba, you and I are quite similar in many aspects; we both look same, love ice cream, and we also love reading the quran'. And I was shocked to discover that. I never saw her reading the Quran. May be that's the seed sown for the future.
Maryam is loving the drum beats. She listened to drumming on her sports day, even though she never participated in school. But she loves drumming on any surface she finds, be it Zahrah's back, armrests of the chairs, dining table, her lap, etc.
Zahrah loves her family. She has begun to write, starting with the names of her father, mother, dadi, and dada. She wants to communicate through this medium.
Maryam and Zahrah both love playing with sand, so I take them to the nearby community park, and they love creating structures, as many kids do.
Maryam is loving to write personalised notes to her friends and teacher. I cheered her to write something specific to make it personalised when she asked for my feedback on her Eid cards. That made a difference. She is writing different words now, using a variety of phrases. She also writes well for me and to her family members.
Maryam plays typing games on my laptop frequently which allows her to become better at typing while having fun.
One thing that I am beginning to believe more and more is the power of modeling behavior. Both of my daughters adore me. Earlier, I used to read books, but mostly in my office. But now, I aim to model it at home. My daughters see me read, write, take notes, use stick notes, listen to lectures, etc. When it comes to children, nothing is lost. They are like a sponge who never fails to absorb whats around them.