Like most parents, I suspect, we are guilty of using television/shows as an electronic babysitter every now and again. Over time though, we've noticed that watching tv tends to result in a decline in our kids' moods. They're fine while the tv is on, but switching the tv off is a sure recipe for whiny, miserable children.
We have always been quite strict with screen-time in two respects: 1) we have tried to limit the amount of time our children spend in front of screens and 2) we try to be extremely careful with what our children are allowed to watch.
I came across a Nouman Ali Khan quote a while ago which made a big impact on me. He says "You can't just pretend that the things you watch, and the things you hear, and the places you go will not have an impact on your character. They will." I suddenly realised that so many of the tv shows that I used to love to watch had actually subtly impacted my character over the years without me even being aware it - these shows would inform my perceptions of what is "normal" or "cool" in terms of language, relationships, places, fashion, food etc.
I've now drastically cut down on my tv consumption and try to only watch things that I think would benefit me - things like documentaries or lectures. In that same vein, my husband and I have carefully curated a list of shows that we are happy to allow our children to watch. I find that there is so much in the everyday tv shows aimed at kids, some of it extremely subtle, that I would not like to influence my children.
Sometimes I miss the shows though. I often struggle with myself at the end of a long day as the temptation to snuggle in front of the tv (or computer) with a yummy snack and completely zone out is extremely high. Especially when my eyes and brain feel too tired to read (and I love to read).
So I get it when my kids have had a really busy day and feel like they want to relax and escape into an alternative world. While I would love to drop everything and read aloud to them, I can't always do that. And despite there being some great kids shows that I'm happy to let them watch, there is only so much screen-time I am willing to allow.
Here's where Miraj Audio comes in.
After trying out one or two individual tracks on my then 4 year old, I bought a subscription last December in anticipation of a 12 hour road trip with the kids for the summer holidays. I was desperately hoping that the audio stories would provide entertainment for some of that time. I didn't anticipate how much we would all love the stories, my husband and I included (my 2 year old excluded - we discovered that she's a bit too young for them at the moment).
Since then, our use of the audio stories haven't just been limited to time in the car. In the past six months we've used them at all hours of the day whenever we need some entertainment or I need a few minutes to do things and need to keep my son busy. My children's friends have also listened to some of the audio stories with them and have been equally as captivated.
The stories are a mix of fictional stories about muslim children (like the album "The Muslim Child"), stories of the Prophets [peace be upon them] from the Quran (like the story of Ibrahim a.s. or Yunus a.s.), stories based on hadith and fictionalised accounts of historical islamic figures like Salahudin. They are read in a brilliant manner, with lots of expression and sound effects and are thoroughly entertaining. Even though many of the stories are aimed at older children, my son (who is now five) enjoys them all. I enjoy them all! A bonus is that they have versions of some of the stories without any background music at all, which is great if you are wanting to limit the amount of music your children are exposed to.
If you check out their website, you will see that you have two options when it comes to the audio stories. You can either buy the individual stories or subscribe and have access to all the stories including any new releases. Unfortunately for us South Africans, the political and economic farce playing out in our country at the moment has left our rand in a very sad state so when converted into rands, the audio stories may seem a bit pricey. However, given the hours that we have spent gaining benefit from these stories, I feel that the money spent is well worth it.
Dr Aisha Hamden mentions in her book Nurturing Eeman in Children that our job as parents is to keep our children on fitra (the natural tendency towards goodness and God that they are born with). This sounds simple, right? We just need to keep them from being corrupted. However, I find it extremely challenging and also, absolutely terrifying as it is such a great task that we as parents are entrusted with. Our children (and ourselves!) are bombarded with many things that would cause us to stray from God, so I am always on the lookout for any resources to help bring us closer to our deen (religion). Miraj Audio is a great resource in that respect.
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