Overwhelmed is an understatement as to how I felt when I gave birth to my first born. On the one hand I was so grateful to Allah for this gift and on the other I was so scared of the responsibility that was now enjoined upon me. Allah is the one who guides and I pray to Allah to guide my children. But what actions could I take to guide my children along the straight path, to make them of the righteous, of those pleasing to our Creator? I knew nothing about parenting, so I began my research. It is only by doing this that that I came to realise that it is our duty to nurture the love of the deen into our children. Desi Doll toys have been an amazing contribution towards this. Love the intro!
I first purchased their talking Arabic Alphabet Puzzle and the Arabic Alphabet Play-dough shapers set. Both my kids enjoyed these. They often asked to play with them and loved the sounds that the puzzle made. I was surprised how just by playing with these toys my son learnt some of the alphabet letters and my daughter easily learnt all of them without me even ‘teaching’ them.
After this success I decided to purchase more toys from The Desi Doll Company, this time their Aamina and Yousuf talking Muslim dolls. It’s so funny how the effects of Aamina have stayed with my daughter to this day. Aamina amongst other things sings Islamic nursery rhymes and in one nursery rhyme Aamina asks Allah to “make my actions kind and fair.” When my daughter was 3 I asked her to start saying Allah’s name at the times of dua such as when going to the bathroom or when leaving home. Instead of saying Allah, she would say “Allah Allah kind and fair” i.e. mimicking the rhyme she heard from Aamina. She is now 5 years old and whenever I ask her to say her duas, she still says this, and my 3 year old son copies her. My son also has Yousuf doll which does the same as Aamina but in a cute boy’s voice. I think having the kids voices in these dolls, and in fact all their toys is a great benefit as children can always relate better to kids voices which I know The Desi Doll Company makes sure are cute but clear and with the right tajweed.
Next came their Dua pillows which I purchased four of: two for my kids and two for my nephews. Oddly both my sister and I were a bit annoyed by the pillows at the start. Why? Because the kids loved them so much they wouldn’t sleep! I had to give them to kids before their bedtime so by the time it was time for bed they were happy to put the pillows lights on and cuddle or lay their head on (it) them and sleep. Heaven forbid if one of the pillows ran out of battery or you couldn’t find one: because of course that is when the fighting would start that the one that was working or not lost, was “my one,”; “no it’s mine…”
After that came their Travel Dua Keyrings which were given as Ramadan presents. My son would play around with his but my daughter would not attach her’s to her bag. Instead she wanted to carry it everywhere in her hand, she loved it so much. She took it to school and showed it off to her friends and now keeps it by the front door. I have seen her pressing it when we are about to leave home without me even asking her and this just shows how effective these toys are with such little effort.
With my daughter’s iPray Salah Pad, also from the Desi Doll Company, I love the way she has been getting every member of the family to press the buttons for her whilst she is doing her prayer. She is meant to be doing this herself, but tells me she wants to ‘concentrate’ on the actual prayer! I even caught her in the kitchen last week and all her hair was wet. I asked her what she was doing and she said the lady on the salah pad was telling her to do it (she was listening to the bit in the wudhupart, where it explains how you wipe water over your head). I had to obviously tell her that she doesn’t have to soak her hair but inside I was smiling and laughing that Alhumdulillah she really loves learning about salah. All of these toys from The Desi Doll Company are so effective in teaching my children but all in such a fun and pleasing way, I couldn’t recommend them enough.
As a mother, it is wonderful to see my children enjoying and playing with toys that are Islamic, I wish these were around when I was growing up. They (It) really help reinforce what I am trying to install in them as a parent. Children love three things the most: toys, play and their parents. Desi doll toys can be played with independently by children but where I can, I try to play together with them. I hope that the impact of these Islamic toys, play and my presence will all work together to nurture the love of Islam so many of us aspire, as parents, for our kids to have.
At the start of my journey I was scared of fulfilling my responsibility, and I still am. But I can’t tell you what a comfort it is to my heart to have such great Islamic toys that my kids are loving. It makes me feel as if I am doing something right (may Allah accept all efforts we make as parents). Desi Doll is such effective educators, my children have learned from their toys and yours can too! Thank you Desi Doll for helping to spread the love of Islam; may Allah reward you and guide all our children. Ameen.
