Help from Muslim mumsnetters please

[Copperblack]

Hi, I currently am fostering a sibling group of Muslim children and would love some guidance on making Ramadan special and meaningful. One will be fasting for the whole period, one for alternate days and the other is too young. From speaking to them it’s a very special time, and I want them to have as positive experience as possible. I’ve linked them to a friend and mosque, but activities are limited to Covid. I’ve bought a Ramadan planner that has prayers and thoughts for each day and have got lots of gold and purple decorations ( their request). I could do with recommendations for the dawn meal and any other traditions ( they are from North Africa). Of course I can’t recreate it perfectly, but I want it to be really positive, and I’m interested in learning myself. I’m going to fast some of the time, but I have kidney issues and can’t do it for a full 30 days. Any suggestions or guidance welcome, and the eldest will be able to help me work out whether they are suitable and relevant so anything that works for you, please let me know!

MashAllah, these children are very lucky to have you looking after them.

We break our fast with dates with butter and a gallon glass of water. We then generally eat chorba (soup, I can PM you a recipe?) and flatbreads to begin with, then a main meal (cous cous, slow cooked meats, etc) with salad and plenty of hydrating fruits for after.

We have an Iftar ‘treat box’ (a wooden box I hand decorated, perhaps something you could do with the children?) which has baklava in to offer around, the adults usually have with coffee and children with milk.

For suhour we usually have porridge with banana and honey, washed down with lots of water.

We hang lots of lanterns/lights up for decoration, it makes for a really nice atmosphere at Iftar.

Hope that’s some help to you

How old are they? The Ramadan Book Club is something they could follow with your support - just google and it will come up. There are activity books you can get related to Ramadan too.

Other ideas - put on Islam Channel for the athan at Maghrib for fast breaking.
Encourage the idea of charity giving, especially in the last 10 days. They could be given an allowance and figure out where to donate it/what cause.

Thankyou - these ideas are perfect, and I would love the recipe! They are primary and secondary aged.

Some more ideas:

Bake something to give to neighbours, or some leftover food from Iftar always goes down well too
Each child chooses a charity to donate to
We have a corner with big cushions, blankets and lights where we can read the Quran daily together
We revise the 99 names of Allah
Big emphasis on not arguing with each other (especially over what cartoons to watch next!)

Thank you for doing this wonderful thing for these children .

I'm not of the same heritage so my traditional cuisine is completely different but yes to traditionally breaking fast with dates. Although I don't actually like them myself . I'm also sure you're well aware that meat will need to be halal. Also yes to listening to the azan for the dawn prayer (will they be doing that? Probably something to ask them, as you will need to help them keep up to date with times) and for breaking fast too. Might be good to print off a timetable with all the prayer times for your local area and stick it on the fridge or something as they change as time goes on.

I would take your lead from the children tbh especially if one is in secondary school. They may be able to tell you about the traditions in their heritage?

In my family for suhoor we would eat whatever we wanted and not anything specific or traditional which is commonly the case in my culture. Our parents would just encourage us to eat and most importantly drink as much as possible really to help us get through the day.

Op, one thing we do at home is give the person next to us their first bite to eat at Iftar. So, I would pick a date and put it to my husbands mouth for him to eat and he would have done the same to me but it can be anyone, a child, a grandchild, a sibling etc. I have also in the past opened windows or a door to welcome the angels in.

Sorry, just to add that you can also get books that contain a story for each day of Ramadan.

I wasn’t born into the faith, in fact I’m not practicing, but my family are and I do everything I can to make things very special for them.

Op, for you,

www.amazon.co.uk/s?ref=nb_sb_ss_sc_1_16&sprefix=tamadan+stories+&k=ramadan+stories+for+children&tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Thankyou so much for this! I’m really looking forward to it now - yes I’m getting up with them and want to make it very special. Our neighbours are Muslim ( though from a different tradition) so we can definitely take some food round to them too. It’s tricky because of safety issues I can’t connect with their community to support them but there are some brilliant ideas here.

Great ideas above, last year my son had started doing the odd fast or two and for suhoor he would have cereal and a date. Chopped dates soaked in milk are delicious too, the dates are moist and chewy and the milk is nice and sweetened to drink after.

Just before iftar we sit at the table with the food before us and for 10min or so before we break our fast we sit and give thanks and do dua (supplications).

There are lots of lovely children’s books to read during Ramadan and the planner is a great idea.

Lastly we do a lot of charity during the month and especially in the last 10 days. So maybe encourage them to think what causes they could donate to, either now or in the future if they are not able to at present.

@Copperblack

Thankyou - these ideas are perfect, and I would love the recipe! They are primary and secondary aged.

Sorry have just seen this, will PM the recipe when I’m at home later on

@Anne1958

Op, one thing we do at home is give the person next to us their first bite to eat at Iftar. So, I would pick a date and put it to my husbands mouth for him to eat and he would have done the same to me but it can be anyone, a child, a grandchild, a sibling etc. I have also in the past opened windows or a door to welcome the angels in.

These are lovely ideas, I’m going to adopt them

In North Africa it's usual to break fast with dates and water, and a bowl of harira soup. It will be nice if you eat all together even those who are not fasting.
Don't forget the presents and new clothes on Eid!