Amman — The family is the basic building block of society and the first institution responsible for shaping a child’s awareness and guiding their behavior. The book “Parenting: A Systematic and Practical Approach to Family Education,” published by the International Institute of Islamic Thought Jordan Office, highlights the family’s role in shaping children’s personalities and strengthening their psychological, emotional and moral capacities. It presents an educational approach that combines theory with practical application and addresses parents directly.
اضافة اعلان
Written by Hisham Al-Talib, Abdul Hamid Abu Sulayman and Omar Al-Talib, with the translation reviewed and edited by Nizar Al-Ani, the book explores, through a series of practical topics and activities, the main challenges facing family relationships and ways to strengthen communication between parents and children. It also focuses on building a safe and stable home environment based on dialogue, understanding and participation, while emphasizing the importance of the early years in shaping a child’s personality and value system.
The book also examines ways to develop children’s personalities and leadership abilities and address challenges associated with social and technological changes, including excessive use of television, video games and mobile phones. It offers alternative activities aimed at strengthening interaction among family members and making positive use of their time together.
Drawing on educational experiences from both the Muslim and Western worlds, as well as Islamic heritage, the Prophetic tradition and contemporary human experience, the book seeks to provide a practical guide to help parents develop their parenting skills and build stronger and more effective relationships with their children.
The book approaches family education from a systematic and practical perspective, targeting parents and focusing on the family’s role in shaping children’s personalities and psychological and value systems, particularly during early childhood.
The book comes within the framework of the International Institute of Islamic Thought’s vision of contributing to efforts to address intellectual stagnation and civilizational decline in the Muslim world by revitalizing Muslim thought and moral consciousness, with a particular focus on family education as a fundamental pathway to building individuals.
It emphasizes the development of cultural, educational and social skills within the home, as the first environment in which children learn to distinguish between right and wrong. It notes that knowledge alone is not enough to ensure proper behavior; willpower and emotional development must also be cultivated so that individuals can translate what they understand intellectually into practical behavior.
The book highlights the family’s central role in complementing what schools provide. While schools equip children with academic, physical and artistic knowledge and skills, families play a fundamental role in establishing values and shaping children’s understanding of people, life and the world.
According to the authors, “Parenting” addresses parents of different beliefs, schools of thought and religions. It is also intended for anyone interested in benefiting from the advice, guidance and family activities it offers. Rather than addressing specialists and experts in education, the book focuses on providing practical knowledge that parents can apply in their daily lives.
The book focuses on the main obstacles and problems facing families, seeking to offer practical solutions and explore ways of raising individuals who demonstrate integrity and good character, while developing leadership qualities that enable them to contribute to building society.
Among the book’s main objectives are emphasizing the importance of sound parenting in raising children and building families and reinforcing parents’ educational responsibilities as a priority in both theory and practice.
It also aims to teach parents the educational skills needed for effective parenting, helping raise children with strong personalities and good character who possess the qualities needed to contribute to society and human civilization.
Another objective is to help parents create a happy and balanced family environment capable of fulfilling its functions while strengthening bonds, cohesion and cooperation among family members.
The first part of the book discusses the benefits of sound parenting, defines the concept and explains ways to achieve it. It also examines the realities of parenting practices and available sources of information about parenting in the Muslim world and the United States, while presenting approaches to raising children with sound character and the ability to bring about positive change in society.
The second part focuses on methods and tools for promoting children’s physical, psychological and emotional development, while the third examines the foundations of personality development.
The book also discusses the impact of excessive television viewing, computer and video games, and mobile phone use on children and family life, offering practical alternatives to help families reduce excessive use.
At the end of each chapter, the book provides a series of simple activities and exercises for parents and children to complete together. These aim to strengthen dialogue and communication within the family, help family members understand one another better, enjoy time together, participate in decision-making and exchange skills. This contributes to building family relationships based on compassion and connectedness and creating a happier, more cohesive home environment.
Some activities require external resources, such as public libraries, learning from the experiences of other families or seeking professional advice. The authors encourage families to carry out these activities at home or around the dinner table, turning them into opportunities for dialogue and positive interaction. They consider discussion, reflection and family dialogue to be educational goals in themselves.
The authors emphasize that continuous and effective communication is one of the most important aspects of raising children, given its role in helping them grow into happier and more responsible adults. They highlight the importance of parents learning when and how to speak with their children and, more importantly, how to listen to them with attention and patience.
Despite the unconditional love parents naturally have for their children, they need to develop communication skills, as communication is a two-way process that should continue in a positive manner. The book also stresses the importance of helping children develop their abilities and potential without resorting to force, while benefiting from the experiences of other parents in dealing with difficult situations and challenges.
The book also calls on parents to reconsider certain inherited traditions and old practices, noting that the age of a practice does not necessarily mean that it is correct or appropriate, particularly amid changing circumstances that require more creative and effective parenting approaches.
It also examines some common mistakes parents may make unintentionally and the challenges they face when raising their children, offering suggestions for addressing them.
One area receiving particular attention is the development of leadership qualities in children. By leadership, the authors do not mean seeking positions of authority or control, but rather developing individuals with physical and moral strength who adhere to human values, can contribute effectively to society and possess a sense of civic responsibility and good citizenship.
The authors believe that for many teenagers, the home has become little more than a place to sleep and eat. They stress the need to provide a safe, stable and happy home environment for both parents and children. In their view, a home is not merely walls and a place to live, but a space for communication and connection where each family member learns their role in building family relationships.
The book notes that many parents and children struggle to build positive relationships. In some cases, frustration and anger can cause efforts toward mutual understanding to decline, replacing communication and compassion with estrangement.
The authors emphasize that raising happy and balanced children is a fundamental goal for parents. The book offers ideas and practices that can help increase the chances of achieving this goal and building successful relationships between parents and children. They also stress the importance of taking opportunities to improve relationships with children and not giving in to the idea that it is too late to make a difference.
The book includes data and statistics drawn from multiple sources and different time periods to illustrate general trends and give readers a sense of the potential for change. The authors explain that while statistics are important in supporting decisions, they are inherently subject to change. They have therefore been included for reference and guidance rather than as fixed and absolute facts.
The authors also received comments and suggestions from several experts and reviewers regarding the book’s format and presentation. Some suggested publishing it as a series of booklets, while others recommended separating the theoretical and practical sections. A third group suggested producing a practical guide combining theory and application.
The authors express their appreciation for these suggestions, noting that this edition represents the book’s first version. They look forward to benefiting from readers’ feedback in future editions and publishing the book in different formats and sizes.
The authors conclude that the book is the product of their practical experiences in both the Muslim and Western worlds. It seeks to combine guidance from revelation and the Prophetic tradition with insights from human experience in Islamic heritage and Western culture, contributing to the field of parent-child relationships and family education.
Resource: Al-Ghad. Reporting: Aziza Ali
