Ramadan Parenting Challenge Day 29: Be Trustworthy

Ramadan Parenting Challenge 2014

And those who keep their trusts and covenants. And those who stand firm in their testimonies. And those who guard their Salat (prayers) well. Such shall dwell in the Gardens (i.e. Paradise), honoured. (Qur’an, 70:32-35)

To be trustworthy is to be able to keep someone’s trust in you. The trust they give you to keep safe for them could be a secret, a task, a possession – anything they entrust you with. If you do not keep a trust then be aware that it is one of the signs of a hyprocite. Abu Huraira reported that the Prophet (s) said, "The signs of a hypocrite are three: 1. Whenever he speaks, he tells a lie. 2. Whenever he promises, he always breaks it (his promise). 3. If you trust him, he proves to be dishonest. (If you keep something as a trust with him, he will not return it.)"  (Bukhari 2:32)

Prophet Muhammad (s) was always known as Al-Amin, which is the trustworthy. Before he became a Prophet people would entrust their property to him and they would be confident that he returned it. When he became a prophet, they unbelievers tried to kill him but he made sure that all the things that they entrusted to him were returned to their rightful owners.

How important the trust is, even to your enemy! What about those whom you love? Your children, for example, who trust you to love and nurture them, do you return that trust?

Trustworthiness is based on four things: high creditability, high reliability, high intimacy and less of self-centredness (Take a quiz on ‘How trustworthy are you?’ and get a mini report on which of these four characteristics are your strength and weakness).

How high are you on creditability, reliability and intimacy with your children and low on self-centredness so that your children are able to trust you? Can they believe in what you say? Can they depend on what you do? Do they feel safe sharing things with you? Are you paying attention to them as oppose to yourself?

Challenge for today is to:

1. Be trustworthy so your children can trust you.
2. Do the quiz to find out your strength and weakness towards being trustworthy. This will really help you to work on your weakness so that you can be more trustworthy.