apprehend \a-pri-ˈhend\ – to grasp the meaning of; understand, especially intuitively; perceive. Mothers’s Day is due. And it’s purpose is to apprehend our mothers – for a single day, a single moment of that day, to focus our luminescent faculty of ‘Aql given us by God. Surely we are capable of…
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I am a Syrian American mom of three children living in Michigan, and I always felt I had an obligation to serve those in need, especially children. Once I learned of the reality of Muslim children in foster care and the lack of Muslim homes licensed to care for these…
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Munira Ezzeldine and Noha Alshugairi, American Muslim counselors, educators, and moms, have published a parenting book for Muslim parents – “Positive Parenting in the Muslim Home”. At a time when Muslim parents in America are struggling to help their children cope with the stresses of rising Islamophobia and a sense…
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It’s only a matter of time before what’s on every news channel and on every Facebook feed bleeds into our children’s consciousness, or those of their classmates at school. And that makes it a good time to talk to our children about their bodies, boundaries, inappropriate touching, and sexual abuse….
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Arianna Huffington argues that we are in the midst of a sleep-deprivation crisis. Her book, The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time, has sparked new discussions about the negative repercussions of sleep deprivation and the way in which it compromises our health and overall well-being. There…
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For months, perhaps even for years, I had been composing in my mind the letter I was going to write to my daughter before she left for college. I wanted to fill it with wonderful memories and maternal wisdom, with practical advice and big doses of encouragement. I wanted to…
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My kids’ best friends and their mom, one of my best mom friends, are Jehovah’s Witnesses. There are a lot of things I love about that. At my kids’ preschool, parents often talked over the unexpected challenges of parenting. I quickly found that I could relate best to Melinda (not…
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Dear Elizabeth: Should book reports be expected of elementary school children? Confused Dear Confused, It is my belief and experience that when children are in elementary school, book reports are neither important nor advisable. The goal in the early years is to nurture a love of reading in children–reading…
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Dear Elizabeth: My son is two years-old and all he does is play. Should I put him into an early-education program? Dear Concerned: Absolutely not! I wouldn’t put a two year-old into an early education class for several reasons. First, let me start by saying that a two year-old child…
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In 1982, I began fasting half-days during Ramadan for the first time, my hands painted with henna in celebration. I was in Mrs. Campbell’s third grade class; the only Muslim in a school of more than three hundred children. She growled my name “So-fee-AAH! We do not write on our…
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