Quran Competition

Yusuf recently participated in MAC's Quran Competition.  He read surah Ma'un and mashaAllah did well.  They held an awards ceremony for the participants and families.  Yusuf got an award, certificate and lego toy gift set.

7:00 am

When Yusuf was a baby hed always sleep in our bed.  I dont regret doing this, I loved sleeping beside him and Im so happy I had that opportunity to give him all those extra cuddles!  Ibby on the other hand was annoying to sleep with! Both him and I slept better if we were in separate beds, whenever he'd come into mine hes squirm constantly until I put him back in his crib.  Now my two babies sleep in their own room in own in the own bed.  Mashallah my husband is a big guy and we only have a queen sized bed (it was so tempting to buy a king-sized at times)... so when the two boys make their way to our bed in the middle of the night, we do not get a good sleep.  Though I enjoy their cuddles, we just wake up way too tired.  Ibby use to stayed in his own bed but Yusuf got him in the habit of coming to our room since hed wake him up when he wanted to come.
So anyways, I saw this idea on Super Nanny a while ago, I got an alarm clock and put it in the boys room.  They already have a nice clock, and I believe kids should learn to tell time on a proper clock, but in the middle of the night they cannot see it.  So I told Yusuf, if he wakes up in the middle of the night he should look at his clock.  If the first number is not 7, he should read ayatul kursi and go back to sleep.  We made a chart and if they stay in their beds for 10 times they get a reward, but if they come to our bed 5 times they get a consequence.  Alhamdulilah so far its working really well!  In the last week theyve only come to our bed once.  InshaAllah I hope this is an effective way to teach him without causing the boys any sadness (I was so tempted to put child safety gates on their door! haha).

1-2-3 Magic

I just bought this book two days ago and Im really enjoying it.  I highly recommend it!  Ive read another book by the same other and I found it really beneficial.  I like this book because its short, easy to read and very practical.
Check it out at a bookstore or library and see what you think = )

Good Deeds Jar

Congrats to Yusuf! He filled his good deed jar! Im so proud of him and Im really liking this form of positive reinforcement! Here are some points I have to mention regarding this method:

-Yusuf was not allowed to ask for rocks
-I tried to observe small acts of kindness and later on mention to him that I noticed. ie. holding the door for me when we went to the mosque (without me having to ask him to)
-I only rewarded him for things he did without being asked... but sometimes would give him one if he cleaned up his toys the first time I asked him to and without complaining
-I did not give him rocks for any religious deeds (i.e. praying).
-We discussed as a family what kind of things he may like to do when his jar is full (bowling, Chuckie Cheese and Toys R Us were on the list)
-I kinda make the final decision with taking him to Chapters ( but he still got super excited alhamdullah). By the way, hanging out at Chapters is a super cool way to spend time together as a family = )
-Im really happy we went to Chapters instead of Toys R Us because the choices are more limited to beneficial things (well mostly)
-He chose the car completly on his own and I agreed
-He saw a few books he thought he liked but they were really random (ie. Moms from Mars) so I chose a bunch of books that I thought hed like and let him choose one
-My husband and I agreed that there was a $20 limit ... and we ended up spending $15
-After we went to Chapters we had a short discussion about how when you do good things in life, Allah rewards you with the best reward.. better than anything that Momma / Baba can buy. And how we have to keep doing good deeds our whole life so inshaAllah we can go to Jannah.

- I was a little hesitant to use this method because I didnt want Yusuf to get dependent on the reward system. Of course rewards are great and all but I also want him to develop the feeling to do good just because its good, and it pleases Allah. I really noticed an increase in Yusuf's motivation to do good things (without asking for stones) so alhamdulilah this was a success. We have emptied the stones and have begun again = )

Good Deeds Jar

As all children do, Yusuf is going through a phase where he is testing his limits... including talking back, using bathroom words [constantly] etc. Ive noticed when we give attention to the negative behavior, it doesnt really eliminate it [ though consequences really do work with him]. Anyways, I wanted to reinfoce positive behaviour and saw this idea on a blog a few weeks back. I bought a glass jar and some rocks from the Dollar store. The jar is placed in the middle of our kitchen table so that #1 Ibby wont get ahold of it and #2 so that he sees it often. The rules are as follows: Myself and Mahmood give the rocks for good deeds/behavior that we notice from Yusuf; Yusuf is not allowed to ask for a rock; if he has bad behavior, rocks may be taken out; when the jar is full we will have a family meeting to discuss what his reward will be.

So far, hes loving it, and he only asked for a rock once [ I thought it would be alot more]. Yesterday I gave him one rock for holding the door open for me and my sister in law when we went to the mosque [without us asking him to]. And Mahmood gave him one this morning for being very caring with his little brother by bringing him balls to play with and convincing him to come out of the bathroom [which is Ibbys fav place to be if one of us accidently leaves the door open].

So, so far so good, I shall keep you updated inshaAllah.