Sometimes, especially living in Western countries and even nowadays in Islamic societies surrounded by Western ideas and expectations, it is hard to keep young children interested in participating in acts of worship when they would rather be watching TV, playing on the playstation or on the internet. It is very important that as parents that we model the actions and behaviors that we want our children to emmulate and follow. There are many examples from the sahaba that we can follow and also new ones that we can share from amongst ourselves.
Below is an example of a calender for the month of Ramadan. Each day has a pocket in which a child will choose and see what is hidding inside. Sometimes it will be a special type of candy that they never have had or, in our case they only get candy during Ramadan and Eids. Or it will be a colorful paper that has something written on it that will encourage them to do good deeds during this special month.
Such things could be reading a surah or aya depending on level of the child, with their father/mother etc., donating a certain amount of their own allowance to the poor, doing another form of charity for a needy person, such as helping an elderly couple clean their yard, offer to do their grocery shopping, or collecting clothing, books and toys for a poor family. If your family is not that adventurous, it can be something like having an older brother reading a story at bedtime to the younger kids, or teaching them to play a new game or some new surahs from the Quran.
This particular one was made from left over pieces of material from another project with loops at the top that just slide over a stick that can be placed just about any place in order to hang it.
Other traditions are lighting the fanouse that have Islamic designs on it. Another fun thing to do as a family is to take one or two hadith that a child chooses out of a book such as Riyadh us-saliheen and discuss it around the family table as you are breaking fast. Also after breakfast make it a tradition to sit as a family and take turns reading from the same surah out loud so that the family is tied together in a stronger bond and brings out the essence of Ramadan.
Brainstorm and see what kinds of traditions your family has already or what can you start to make Ramadan important and a focus in your life, and to build and strengthen your iman and ibadah as a family.
May Allah increase us in knowlege and faith
