How do you set up time to worship, cook and care for your child in Ramadan?

Mothers find themselves in a dilemma as soon as the month of Ramadan arrives, whether they have trained their children in a bedtime routine, or those who have not been trained; the children's biological clock is usually set to go to bed after sunset, which is the time of breaking the fast, which constitutes a crisis, because the young child gets used to the presence of his mother before bedtime, or the desire of children over the age of 6 to participate with their father to perform Taraweeh prayers, and to follow programs directed to children.

For these reasons, you will need to make some adjustments to your children's sleep schedules, and the tasks required of them during the day, to enjoy a quiet month, without a day that lacks the spirituality of the holy month, or a lot of chaos.

• If this is your first experience in setting a routine for your child's day, the first step is to understand his needs, such as: when to eat, when he needs to sleep, when to wake up, or do random things, and monitor him for a few days without interfering with any modifications, and write down those appointments.After a week of following your child, you will know his needs, which will help you plan easily, and enable you to determine your own routine according to his day if he is an infant, or start changing his food routine, activity, and sleep, if he is over 6 years old, by waking him up early 15 minutes every day than the previous one.
• A month of Ramadan means for some mothers to stay up late, wake up with the noon ears, and have difficulty preparing breakfast amid the children's demands. The solution to this dilemma is to advance the nap period, or reintroduce it into the daily routine; some children give up sleep during the day with age, and babies sleep only about 15 minutes, which means a lot of fuss and obstacles in your way.In the new system, you wake up early to worship, so that your children wake up to play, complete homework, and electronic classes, provided that the time before the nap is full of activities, so that the older child sleeps for 45 minutes continuously, which will postpone his desire to sleep at night until after Children younger than 3 years old can take more than one nap during the day.
• Parents usually get tired of fasting during the day and want some time to relax in the evening, but children do not understand this, for young children, Ramadan does not seem different except for the behavior of their parents, and to change that you can talk to them about the holy month, and they will feel excited and important, especially if you add some activities to their day such as decorating rooms, and paying attention to you and their father while you hold prayer on time, which has the greatest impact on the children's psyche.
• You should not stop your older child's activity schedule, so that he does not lose the cognitive skills that you spent months teaching him, and because you need some special time to worship during the day, but you can change those activities in order to introduce him to the holy month in a way that does not require your presence with him.

You can start with activities that rely on copying, printing, coloring, and pasting, such as designing cardboard lanterns, drawing the five pillars of Islam, designing prayer times, or short Quranic surahs to perform at family gatherings, so that the child learns to respect your own time in practicing religious rites.

• The difference in food schedules in the month of Ramadan adds a burden to you, because your child will not eat the same food that you will eat after fasting an entire day, but this does not mean that you will cook all day.The solution is to prepare a list of all the foods that your child can eat during the month of Ramadan, snacks, and easy recipes that do not need to be prepared, such as relying on low-calorie nuts, yogurt, and fruit as a snack before his nap, and feeding him part of the healthy dish, which you prepared at his nap time, and which is included in your breakfast, So you don't have to feed him at your iftar. Similarly, when feeding, you will gradually advance your feeding dates to suit Iftar and Suhoor dates.
• If you train your child to wash dishes throughout the year, and you are afraid to retreat from that step, because breakfast time conflicts with the new routine you wish to establish, it is better to prioritize what is most important, instead of fighting every night about washing dishes, because he wants to pray with his father, or follow a series with you, his tasks can be postponed to the morning, and avoid complaining on the nights of the holy month.

Children can help you with some daily household tasks (Getty Images)

• Make sure to postpone most of your child's physical and mental activities for the morning to ensure that he sleeps during the day, and avoid any activities that stimulate his mind after nine o'clock, while collecting electronic devices from his room, collecting pre-Ramadan toys, and calming the atmosphere at home, so that everyone is ready for bed, which is what you also need before Suhoor.
• You can help your child to accept changes in his day, and if he resists the new routine, give him the opportunity to choose, and set rules for a new routine, children love to participate in the decision-making process, and it is difficult for them to refuse to follow the rules they have chosen. For younger children, you can pair the table with pictures to help them understand how the day is going, and that doesn't replace their need for support and reminders in a nice way, and thanking them for the effort and not the end result.