Muslim nursery or play group?

[sumayyah_afshar]

Asalam alikum

i wondered if anyone knows about a muslim play group or nursery, my son is young but i would like him once a week or so inshallah to intercat with other kids i wentto my local one and the kids were really naughty swearing and so on so i was wondering if anyone knows any group of sisters who meet up weekly and allow there children t ntercat. i know people doing it at mosques bt i'd rather my son didnt see the mosque as play time!!!!

[muslim forever]

salaam sis

which city/ country? in bham, uk there are plenty.

wasalaam

[sumayyah_afshar]

lol oh yea i shouda mentioned wat part of the world im in, i am in london... i am in sw but i wud g other areas within london

[muslim forever]

salaam

Sorry sis, I don't know any in London. But you cud perhaps look in the Muslim directory.

wasalaam

[UmmIbrahimIsa]

I don't know any in London sorry.

But in our area we have the weekly gathering of what's known as a "Mother's Meeting" or "Tea Party" It's where we, mothers, all gather around sometimes with our young children or older children, those that are not in school and are home schooled and while the children interact with each other, we, the mothers get to sit and chat, talk about parenting, our children's future, activities to do while we enjoy tea and juice and tons of food from all over.

The children's ages vary from young to pre-teen tween. Most of the kids sit down quietly beside their mothers and some are told to go to another "PLAYROOM" so the mothers can discuss, yet during FOOD TIME that's when the kids all play with one another.

Yes for sure you'll meet a few kids that are wild and all. But you should just deal with that. Rather than take your child completely out of that environment, let him be there yet enforce certain rules that kids have to follow so that their bad behavior or language doesn't effect your child.

I remember there was this kid that use to mouth off a lot when I would teach. Rather than take your children away from this guy, you're punishing your kid for this rude kid's mistake.
These parents should teach their kids better manners and how to behave when they go to the masjid, islamic center or even get together with other muslim children, or just children in general muslim or not.

The best way to teach them though is by example, and how you, act yourself around others and how you treat others. Are you patient and understanding? Do you overlook others' faults? When you are upset, do you curse? do you easily get upset? If yes, how do you deal with yourself if you're angry? Do you throw a fit? Do you whine? Do you jump up and down and pull out your hair or tug at your hijab ends? Does steam come out of your ears? Does flames come out of your mouth? Does your nostrils flare?

All this depends on you, and how you act around your child. Your child is a mirror of you and despite our intentions the kids usually end up picking up all our bad habits before our good. So whenever we're talking down on the kids, we must realize this is OUR bad faults and they're just imitating it and we should remain positive to get them to pick up our good deeds.

Besides most kids that misbehave are doing it for attention. Some are just doing it for fun but main case is they crave ATTENTION. Unfortunately, we as parents sometimes give into their demands easily.

Insha'Allah though sis, best thing to do is if you don't really find a sufficient one in your area then organize one. How? Call up sisters you know in the area, muslim or not, just mothers in the neighborhood and let them know you want to get together once a week for an hour or two, in the park or at someone's house or even a community center room and just share ideas with each other, have tea with one another, or brunch, or let your children play with each other and learn to deal with one another and accept the differences between each other.

I think the only way is through that and we shouldn't hold it on someone that someone isn't on the path or someone is.
Like I remember this one group didn't want this other mother to join the group because she was not practising and they didn't want her influence to influence the others into seeing it her way. By excluding her completely and making her feel unwelcomed she got this bad image about muslims in general and made a generalization/stereotype about them because of this. This made her further from Islam rather than bring her closer. If only people accepted her as she was, she would have came around eventually. Even if it took a year or 5 years or so it would eventually get to her because that's just how Allah's Power works.

Allahu Alim
Insha'Allah it'll go well for you.
BTW these groups don't have to be large, it can be anyone from one family to ten to twenty families or mothers all getting together.

Good luck!

[maymunah]

there are no muslim nurseries or playgroups in my town so its either a mixed group regardless of faith or none.

[UmmIbrahimIsa]

for those that don't have one.
start one up.

plan one when to have it, where, and all of that.
Then advertise it...call people up, think of a theme of what to talk about or just a play group of kids playing together in a park or an area activities than mothers discussing over tea/sweets and juice and all.

Keep a notebook of all the sisters interested with their names, phone numbers, cell numbers if they have it, addresses, their kids names, ages, and if they would be interested in hosting....

and if they wanted to talk about something what would they be interested in talking about and would they be interested in also talking with others about.

good luck
take care

[The Deen]

Assalamu Alaykum,

Have you tried looking in the muslim Directory?

I know of a nursery in my area which is supposed to be a really good one. It's Noor ul Islam. You can check their website here: http://www.noorulislam.co.uk/

[maymunah]

good idea but Umm ibrahim u need play equipment for little kids what of that, i dont have money to provide that for lots of kids?

[UmmIbrahimIsa]

The best tools is in your household and best activities are kids using their own imagination for keeping themselves busy.

Anywhere from building a fort/house/tent with bed sheets around chairs and using books to hold them down, to pinning the sheets to the walls, tacking them into, to just pretend play.

Using old clothes to dress up in, pretend food or even real food for snacks to hold them over.

They could pretend to own a grocery store and save up on old cartons and jars and boxes.

You would be so surprised at what these kids could come up with if you give them the opportunity, the tools, and plus giving them the choices on what they can do in their spare time.

Even getting out board games to keep them busy, like memory, or go fish, or Uno, this teaches them colors, numbers and helps them to match each card with the other and so forth.

Again you would be surprised at what these kids can do in their spare time.

Insha'Allah it'll go well.