Today’s My child and Me series will be a short reminder regarding the Sunnah of playing with children. Yes you read that right!

To develop emotionally in a healthy way, children need to play! We sometimes forget that a child is just a child when he/she plays! We sometimes complain, “you don’t know anything but playing”, “you play too much!” etc. Yes, even though there is a time for everything and children shouldn’t necessarily play ALL the time, we tend to use the above phrases even when a child is just being a child and playing!
In some studies, it has been found that children actually learn through play!

The Prophet (SAW), who is our role model, not only played with his children, but with his wives and the children in Madinah!
‘A’ishah(RA) narrated that while she was on a journey along with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ): “I had a race with him (the Prophet) and I outstripped him on my feet. When I became fleshy, (again) I had a race with him (the Prophet SAW) and he outstripped me. He said: This is for that outstripping.” [Sunan Ibn Dawud 2578]

Even though this race happened in private, Aisha(RA) is not embarrassed to narrate it. She finds it an important aspect; something worthy to be memorized by her many students and to be narrated down through history!

Anas ibn Malik (RA) reported: The Prophet (SAW), would play with Zaynab, the daughter of Umm Salamah. The Prophet would keep saying, “O Zaynab! O Zaynab!”
Source: al-Ah‌a‌di‌th al-Mukhta‌rah 1580

Thus, as we see, it is normal for your child to play and it is Sunnah to play with them too! Even with the Prophet (SAW)’s responsibilities, he still found time to play with children and be loving and caring towards them! Let us find time to practice this Sunnah and get rewarded in the process.