When Kids Are Around

"Ummi, I think they don't like to learn it."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because when you keep telling them to repeat the letter, their face looks like they want to cry, like how I feel when Abi does my surah with me."

I have been teaching some sisters how to read the Arabic alphabet with the tashkeel, using the Malaysian IQRA' series. Of course the pronunciation is the hardest part, and many times I had to ask them to repeat the pronunciation until they get it right. I had asked my kids to help me because since it's just me teaching a bunch of sisters, I couldn't possibly do it with all of them at once since it's easier to work with individuals at a time. The kids eagerly agreed, but in practice, I ended up teaching the sisters by myself.

I was contemplating whether to go to the masjid or not one Saturday, because most of the sisters had said that they were not coming, but a few of them hadn't yet replied to my email about whether she could come or not. So the kids are always aware of this extra curricular activity of mine very weekend.

So I suppose, it's no surprise that H shared his insights with me. His face was serious when he said the above. I couldn't help smiling, and in return I asked him,

"So you don't like doing surah with Abi?"

"Well, I like doing the review, but I don't like when we first start learning it," he explained.

S had also once reported her observations to me, regarding the army of cupcakes I had made for the AlMaghrib promo.

"Ummi, don't make that frosting again. I don't think they like it. I saw one cupcake half eaten behind a door," she said with a giggle, thinking of that poor cupcake sitting by itself, abandoned behind a door.

"Hmm...then they like the sweet kind, you think?" I asked her.

I hated the sweet frosting, so I had made the less sweet but buttery kind of frosting. Well, apparently, the Somali taste buds prefer the sweet kind, as one Somali sister said to me.

"So do you think I should make half and half then, S?"

We were discussing possibilities of cupcakes for the class Code of Scholars, (which has passed us by the way and we ended up not making anything for it).

S nodded, still giggling over the thought of that lone half eaten cupcake.

I'm half ashamaed to say that my kids are experts at eavesdropping. It can be good and it can be bad, but so far it has been rather amusing to say the least.

H or was it N once offered me an analysis of a sister's character based on that sister's pattern of conversations with me. I guess maybe they've been doing too many character analysis in language arts.

And when I told the sisters what my kids had said, they either were amazed or burst into laughter.