"Preparent.id": Preparing myself to be a parent

Life is full of responsibilities, and on top of that, I believe that (someday) my most immense responsibility will be being a parent to my children. As all of us know, parents are most likely the first "figures" that their children look up to, and we are responsible for teaching them as they grow into adulthood. Even though I have not found my partner-in-life-to-be yet, I agree that preparing myself to be a good parent should not have to wait until I get married or have achild. Starting to learn about parenting earlier is an excellent thing because becoming a parent is a serious duty, and indeed, I want to give all my best to my kids.

Furthermore, there are many ways in parenthood, and I am sure that everyone has their preferences in nurturing their child. However, I believe that combining cultural and spiritual aspects is the best way to raise my child. Everything should be balanced: providing them with supportive educational programs and healthy nutrition, ensuring their physical health and safety, maintaining their social lives with their peers, listening to their thoughts, their needs, and fulfilling their hearts with the beliefs of God.

I would definitely insist to my child a sense of "wonder," that there is "something" powerful beyond everything who has created all the things in the world beautifully... someone who has unlimited capabilities, strong enough to make everything possible, by beginning with a simple question like, "How do you think the sun rises from the east and sets to the west?"

I want to make them understand that God is everywhere; He is watching us and loving us unconditionally, knowing that,after all, we are just humans, nothing to be compared with Him. All we can do is believe in Him, remember Him bypraying five times a day, and ask for His guidance, which would make them feel grateful as humans and as Muslims.

In relation to this, I started looking at which program or activity would support my needs and my eagerness to learn howto prepare myself to be a good Muslim parent. Luckily, I found preparent.id, a platform that provides sharing and learning to be excellent and ideal adults with parenting knowledge. They regularly share parenting-related educational content, and in August, they will launch a mini bootcamp on "Marriage Preparation." The bootcamp, taught by expert speakers in Muslim parenting, would be held ten times virtually, on various topics ranging from the basic to the fundamental, divided into ten topics:

1. The etiquette of seeking knowledge

2. Aqidah

3. Honoring Parents in Islam;

4. Understanding the Meaning Of Marriage

5. The role of husband and wife in marriage

6. Knowing and accepting who you are

7. Making peace with your past

8. Listing your vision and planning your future life's marriage

9. Choosing the best partner (Muslim orMuslimah)

10. The reality of marriage preparation

According to preparent.id, a child is God's greatest gift, so we must do our best to raise and nurture them.To be idealparents, we need to prepare in the essential subjects listed above, including choosing the best partner to accompany us and raising the children for a lifetime.

Yup, without any doubt, I registered myself and would be starting the class next week. I have a plan to share the thingsthat I learned and the insights that I got from the bootcamp on my blog, insha Allah.

"We may not be able to prepare the future for our children, but we can at least prepare our children for the future." - President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Bismillah...