An update of the relief efforts by Hunermand Pakistan that I blogged about earlier…

Dear Brothers and Sisters Assalam o Alaikum,

By the Grace of Allah subhana hu wa ta`ala we (Tahir Farouqi, Ali Raza and Danish Qaiyoum) returned from Charsadda villages after successfully completing the first round of relief efforts in the flood hit areas. We got to witness pain, anguish, disaster, hunger, misery, violence and above all, Allah’s anger in the form of rivers flowing way out of control. I simply go out of words when trying to express the feeling. This email contains some details which will give the reader a basic idea about how we drove the overall effort. May Allah accept this little effort and contributions from everyone who stepped forward.

What were our areas of focus?
Our main camp of ‘Hunermand Pakistan’ was based in NavaKilla Charsadda. Navakilla is a village which is about 4-6 km away from main Charsadda City Adda. This small town is surrounded by many other small villages. River Kabul and River Sawat flowed across these areas which caused massive destruction. Our main focus remained on these 12 small villages around NavaKilla which were shattered by the flood. Little relief efforts came to these places since accessibility to these areas was tough. Alhamdulillah we were able to gain access to these areas.

We have been also coordinating with our friend’s/relief workers in Bisham of District Shangla. Let me tell you that Shangla has the lowest Human Development Index in the province and second lowest in the country! Hundred of families have been badly affected by the flood, land sliding followed by heavy rain in the surroundings of Shangla were also witnessed.

What was the destruction like?
As I mentioned before, no words can express. You should have been with me to feel the pain and misery that these people were going through. Broken bridges, destructed houses, tearful eyes silently communicated the message “We have lost everything but hope.” “Who will help us now?” Attached with this email, you can find images which can give you a little idea about the destruction we witnessed. I have added short description next to each image. Shortly I will be releasing a full youtube video that we made which will give you a more clearer picture about what was going on.

The situation in remote areas of Bisham is quite different to other flood hit areas. There is no road access to the remote areas of Shangla, as all the connecting bridges have been broken. I will be sharing pictures of that area as soon as we get them inshAllah.

What did we do to help these shattered souls?
Alhamdulilah, we managed to provide 800 flood hit families with a 5 weeks Ramadan Food Package in Charsdda and around 300 families will be covered next week in Bisham of District Shangla inshAllah. This Ramadan Food Package was designed to help an average family of 7 people to spend the Holy month of Ramadan with a little ease. Each package included:

• 40 kg Atta (Flour)
• 4 kg Chawal (Rice)
• Rooh Afza Sharbat (1 bottle)
• 10 kg Sugar
• 1.5 kg Masala (Spices)
• 5 kg Oil (Ghee)
• 1.5 Kg Tea Powder
• 3 kg Lobia (I don’t know what we call this in English)*
• 2 kg Chana Daal and 2 Kg Moong key Daal
• 1 kg dates

[* My note - these are black-eyed beans, I believe.]

What was the process that we executed during this relief effort?
Dr. Abdullah is a trained relief worker who has actively played his part in Sawat Region during the IDP disaster. He is also coordinating the Disaster Management Unit at University of Kohat. With a PhD in Social Works, he is the person responsible for Hunermand Pakistan which ran us through the following process of relief effort:

1. Formation of flood impact survey teams and assignment of these teams to different villages.
2. Collection of information with respect to flood impact caused to each home in these villages.
3. Dissemination of flood impact information to brothers and sisters across Pakistan who then came to help. This information contained details about immediate bare minimum needs of the victims which were required for their survival.
4. Verification of the documented impact. This verification was done by us (Tahir, Ali and Danish)
5. Devising the relief packages, purchasing food supplies and conversion of supplies into well defined packages.
6. Distribution of Ramadan food Package to flood hit families.

The distribution process in Shangla is slightly different as there is no road access to that area. Mules are being hired for the distribution of the food supplies.

What’s next?
As I write, the relief efforts initiated by our team still continue to operate in the mentioned areas. With disaster striking in Sindh, we are creating alliance with a highly trusted relief organization which has already started providing relief operations (medical and food supplies) in Sindh. More details will be revealed very soon inshAllah. For those who are interested, kindly contact Tahir Farooqui (farooqui.tahir@gmail.com) or myself, Ali Raza Bhanger (arbhanger@gmail.com)

JazakAllahukhair for all your prayers and support!

Ali Raza Bhanger
Timelenders.com
C: 0332-5554443

Images from Relief Workers in Pakistan

A view of the destroyed crops. The poor farmers have no place to work for…

These were 5 small houses in the village of Rajjar. Can you find them?

This was the street which had houses on both sides.

Another view of a street in a village of Charsadda. 12 feet water stood here for more than 7 days.

A 3-storey school on main GT road which was fully submerged in water for a few days.

An iron bridge on main GT road. This bridge was fully covered with water and was finally swept away. We provided relief efforts just few kms away from this location.

From left to right Ali, Danish, Dr Abdullah and Tahir discussing the distribution process in our storage room.

Our storage room: We spent the night converting supplies into separate bags for Ramadan Packages. More than 50 people worked all night long to perform this job.

A view of our storage room after the food supplies were converted to separate Ramadan Package (Bags).

Our food supplies kept on coming in finding its way in the storage room and then finally landing in the hands of deserving flood victims.

In view of the upcoming Ramadan we added 1kg of dates to each Ramadan package. The team is working in full swing at night time in order to meet their deadline.

One of our loaded mini trucks is moving ahead while our distribution staff is using a van from Maymar Trust.

Distribution taking place in one of the affected villages. Around 1,000 houses were destroyed in this small village called Rajjar.

I blogged earlier about a group of activists helping out the flood victims in Pakistan. If you want to know how dire… how desperate the situation is, do read Fruitful Fusion’s post written by Farhaan Safdar, who is working with the people in Pir Sabak, near Nowshera.

You can also help by donating to the following organisations:

• Al-Khidmat Foundation
• Alamgir Welfare Trust

UmmeYusuf, Pakistan’s knitting and crochet genius (ma shaa Allah), is also doing her bit to help. She is donating all proceeds from sales of her patterns till the end of September to the flood relief efforts here in Pakistan. Please support her efforts and buy her patterns – they are lovely ma shaa Allah! Visit her blog to view and buy the patterns. May Allah bless you for your intentions and efforts, UmmeYusuf … ameen.

As we enter the blessed month of Ramadan, let us not tire of supplicating to Allah. O Allah, verily we seek Your help, we believe in You, we put our trust in You and we praise You and we are not ungrateful to You. O Allah, You alone we worship and to You we pray and prostrate, for Your sake we strive. O Allah deliver our brothers and sisters from this calamity and give them patience and courage in this time of distress … ameen.

From an activist, Brother Tahir Farooqui, who is helping the flood victims in Pakistan:

Bismillah,

… When was the last time you drank a clean cool glass of water and thank Allah for all that we have in this world. This is the real situation of hundreds and thousands of people fighting for a small bottle of water as their families await help from heavens. Would you please share?

My Dear Brothers, Sisters and Respected Elders, Assalamu Alaikum,

As I type, the “flood of the century” is still engulfing new areas and adding to the immense scale of devastation in our beloved Pakistan. At this time of crisis, we on behalf of “Hundermand Foundation operating from Kohat University” would like to appeal to all brothers, sisters and elders to support Pakistan and to help alleviate the sufferings of the flood-affected people and also make dua as well.

Myself (Tahir Farooqui) along with my team members, Brother Ali Raza Bhanger & Brother Danish Qaiyoum will be traveling to the Northern Flood Hit Regions on Sunday 8th August at 1:00 pm inshAllah. Alhamdullilah, with regards to our previous emails, several individuals have generously contributed to this cause. May Allah provide His blessings and Peace to all those who contributed and made efforts in His way. Ameen

As compared to the huge devastation that has been caused, the donations are still very small. Our teams continue to operate in full swing (by the grace of Allah) and we request you once again to please put forward your share no matter be it little. The month of Ramadan is right ahead and Allah promises that you will be rewarded many folds if you take this step forward. We beg you to please pay attention to this request… It is a matter of few hundred thousand precious human lives we are talking about!!

I along with the team will be documenting each penny that is spent inshAllah. Stories, pictures and more will be sent to you once we are there to keep you updated. Your Zakat, Khairat and Sadaqat will be utilized in the best of ways inshAllah.

Remember, they have lost every thing but hope. Take care of one family and Allah will take of yours!

Bank Account information for donations:

Acct Title: Tahir Farooqui
Acct #: 0111-03600000723
Savings Account
Meezan Bank Ltd.
Saba Palace, Sharae Faisal, Karachi.
Swift Code: Meznpkka

Kindly contact me (+92-333-216-1256) in case you have any questions in this regard.

JazakAllahukhair!

P.S: We are also in the process of setting up camps in Sindh as well, some of our brothers are working for this as well. May Allah Swt give us the Hidaya to perform Tauba & Istigfar so that we can be saved from these natural disasters. Ameen

Peace,
Wassalam & kind regards,

Tahir Farooqui | Timelenders.com | call/sms: +92-333-216-1256
http://pk.linkedin.com/in/tfnews

An old one… but still relevant.

This is an edited version of a comment I had written (in 2006) in response to a sister’s thoughts on the Malay language. She had spoken about the Malays in Singapore and the need to return to appreciating the Malay language and heritage to build an outstanding and glorious generation.

In penning down these thoughts, I hope that I don’t appear contentious. Well, actually, who cares if I do? :P First of all, I don’t deny the advantages of learning a language or, for that matter, more than one language – it helps to build rapport and forge friendships and it is certainly an asset for da`wah. I also agree that the Malay language can be profoundly beautiful.

My take on the Malay language is simply this: that it is just another language. I confess, I do not have the interest to expand or cultivate the Malay language nor do I feel mortified that people other than Malays are teaching Malay at varsity level. I may draw a lot of flak for what I am about to say, but you see, even though I am a Malay, I do not find it necessary. By this, I mean vital to my identity or mission in life. Lest I be misconstrued as a ‘banana’ (i.e., that I am “yellow on the outside but think I am white on the inside”), let me clarify that I do not think that English is superior to Malay either. :)

What makes a Malay “Malay”? Is it the ancestry? Is it the language? Is it the mores he adopts? I remember the Malay movies I watched when I was growing up. They emphasized certain traits like honour, courage, hospitality and gentility (sopan-santun) and back then, I thought these formed the core of our identity.

The more I think about the matter, though, the more convinced I am that race or culture are secondary at best and irrelevant at worst. I have a HUGE problem with the Malay culture – and here I stress once again that I am a Malay and have no problem saying I am one, in case someone feels like walloping me – especially when people place it above religion. I am tired of attending events with music and free mixing. I am tired of hearing how a man must provide hantaran for his bride. (Look it up… these are wedding gifts and money that are given to the bride and do not come under mahr.) I am tired of people saying, “Tapi ini budaya kita!” (“But this is our culture!”) even when told that a certain action is bid`ah and haram.

I used to work in a Malay/Muslim (I hate that term – why not just “Muslim”? but I digress…) organisation and come Bulan Bahasa (Malay Language Month), we would get requests from other Malay organisations asking us to support or sponsor their efforts to promote the Malay language/culture. There were a few worthy causes, but many involved things that are questionable or haram (music, dance etc). In general, it was a reflection of how we Malays are just not understanding the reality of our sad situation.

As a teenager, I had teachers who, seeing how the Malays were lagging academically, pushed us on. Religion was never mentioned, only ethnic pride. I suppose they felt that Islam was a given and was thus taken for granted. I never questioned it then either, but I think that had they instead brought religion to the forefront and used that as a means to attain excellence, how much better it would have been. They would have gone to the root of the problem and achieved success that went beyond the books.

Pride in language and culture are but flawed stategies to success. We can’t gain honour or achieve kegemilangan by promoting our culture or language. We can only get it by striving for the pleasure of Allah and we can only do this if we obey Him and put our deen supreme. This we can only do with knowledge and how can we truly understand if we do not know the language in which Allah spoke to us?

The sister mentioned in her blog, “So before we start learning about other people’s language and religion, shouldn’t we be experts in our own language and religion first?” If we were to try to be experts in our own religion first, then I think that our time and effort would be better spent, not on Malay, but on Arabic. It is infinitely more beautiful and complex than any other language.

Most of all, it is the language of our faith.

Language can shape one’s character, so if we were to hope for excellence for the Malays, then again, I think the best language would be through Arabic. Ibn Taymiyyah rahimahullah said, “Using a language has a profound effect on one’s thinking, behavior and religious commitment. It also affects one’s resemblance to the early generations of this Ummah, the Shahaabah and the Taabi’een. Trying to emulate them refines one’s thinking, religious commitment and behavior.”

Why do the Malays continue to harp on how important Malay is? Why are we so sad that our youngsters are not fluent in it? Why do we not instead grieve over the fact that we cannot understand the Book that holds the key to our salvation?

I am not trying to say one should simply sweep Malay under the carpet; neither am I saying that we should deny our Malay heritage. I am just saying that we are Muslims first and last and that Arabic should be our lingua franca.

After all, what are the Malays without Islam? Nothing much really.

Q&A: The Best Kind of Play for Kids
by Vikki Valentine
Taken from National Public Radio

Play has never seemed more like work.

Sending kids off to play used to be a break – for children and their parents. But now, with thousands of play options, from elaborate princess dresses and video games, to a cultural emphasis on structuring every minute of a child’s time, play has become stressful and expensive.

But neuroscientist Adele Diamond and psychologist Deborah Leong have good news: The best kind of play costs nothing and really only has one main requirement – imagination.

When children learn to rely on themselves for playtime – improvising props, making up games and stories – they’re actually developing critical cognitive skills, including an important one called “executive function,” they say. Essentially, executive function is the ability to regulate one’s own behavior – a key skill for controlling emotions, resisting impulses and exerting self control and discipline.

Diamond is a professor of developmental cognitive neuroscience at the University of British Columbia. Leong is a professor of psychology at Metropolitan State College of Denver, and co-author of the book, Tools of the Mind: The Vygotskian Approach to Early Childhood Education.

Below, they answer your questions on how children can get the most out of play.

Almost all people agree that video games can be a downfall for our children. Do you think that Wii gaming is going in a better direction as far as getting children moving with video games? – Carol Halliburton, Dover, Tenn.

Wii will certainly help with visual-motor skills and perhaps reducing obesity, but I do not think it will help with executive functions. A superior Wii player will react automatically. For improving executive functions, you need games that require children to stop and think, where their first impulse would often not lead to the best result. Certainly, a video game could be constructed that challenged executive function skills, but I have not seen any like that. – Adele Diamond

We are looking at preschools for our twins. What questions should we ask? If they allow free time for play, is that enough? – Lisa Payne, Los Angeles

You should ask how much time is devoted to play each day and whether it’s free play or supervised or planned play.

Free time for play is better than no or little play, but it is not enough.

For example, social pretend play is an excellent means for exercising and building up the executive functions of working memory (children must hold their own role and those of others in mind), inhibitory control (children must inhibit acting out of character), and cognitive flexibility (children must flexibly adjust to unexpected twists and turns in the evolving plot). But social pretend play doesn’t have much value if children are free to abandon a play scenario after a few moments or are not held accountable for staying within their chosen role.

And play needs to be facilitated by adults who are trained in observing children and in understanding how play contributes to children’s mastery of concepts and skills. – Adele Diamond

My son is a 4-year-old who loves to engage in imaginative play. His favorite is to pretend that we are an animal family of some kind. But he will not do this kind of play alone. He insists on having a playmate, either me or a child his age. Is this a problem? – Martha Stinson, Alexandria, Va.

It is not at all important that he play alone. It’s very good that he enjoys social imaginative play. – Adele Diamond

Is there any way to turn the process around again in the adolescent years? Is there a way through imaginative play to restore in high school students what they may have lost out on in their early childhood years? – Beverly Opalka, Waukegan, Ill.

Yes, imaginative play can be helpful at any age, as can martial arts, dance, music, many sports or storytelling. What you are looking for is a fun activity that requires sustained concentration, holding information in mind and using it (often complex information), and something that requires resisting what might be your first inclination. – Adele Diamond

I teach kindergarten and I notice that a lot of play focuses on recreating TV shows or movies. How can I encourage more creative play? – Julie Bernstein, Oak Park, Il.

Vivian Gussin Paley, a longtime kindergarten teacher and MacArthur “genius” award winner, has written wonderful books about having children make up stories and then act them out with their classmates. The children took great pride in seeing their stories become the study of a class drama. I suggest that you take a look at her books. – Adele Diamond

You suggest encouraging children to talk to themselves. How does one do this? – Cat Gould, Phoenix, Ore.

When you, as an adult, want to make sure that you remember to do something correctly, you may silently repeat the instruction to yourself. It helps you to regulate your behavior. The same is true for children, but even more so. They need more support for self-regulation, and they can’t yet do that silently, so they say it out loud.

With a 5-year-old, you can tell him that if he repeats something to himself, it will help him to remember. So if they are trying to learn to spell something, for example, tell them they will remember it better if they spell it silently to themselves.

With even younger children, have them tell a friend or say it aloud to help themselves remember. So, for example, if a child is trying to remember his phone number, we would ask the child to say the phone number, or we would ask the child to tell a friend the phone number. – Deborah Leong

I teach kindergarten in a public school. How much of a full 7.5-hour day do you recommend be given to play? How do I defend this choice to parents and administrators who want to see children learning to read at this age? – Lauren Salazar, Springfield, Va.

We believe that children in kindergarten should engage in play at least 30 to 40 minutes each day. This is not just wandering around from thing to thing, but planning the play in advance with other children — where the play is negotiated with the group, where there are roles and pretend scenarios, based on books, that develop and change with the story line.

This kind of play is about developing reading skills, and it promotes the kind of creativity and flexibility in thinking that is measured in creativity tests. When children engage in this kind of make-believe play — which is more akin to dramatizing the story— they are playing with the components of the story, and they deepen their understanding of the story line, and how they can change the story.

For instance, I saw these little girls, they were playing Cinderella, and one time they would pretend the step-sisters were nice, and one time they would pretend Cinderella was mean. They were playing around with the characters and the story line, which helps the comprehension skills they’ll need when they’re fluent readers.

The second thing is that they are really immersing themselves in the world of the author, just like when an adult reads a book and the words disappear — you’re living the story, and that’s what they’re practicing doing. It’s really important in kindergarten that the play be a take-off on stories they read or that are read to them. Preschoolers play what they know, what they’ve experienced. But in kindergarten, play should be totally imaginary. – Deborah Leong and Adele Diamond

Does supplying children with props for unstructured imaginative play, such as simple costumes and accessories, help or hinder their level of self-regulation? – Deana Porretta, Clarksville, Tenn.

The more children need to use their imagination and hold in mind what they selected a given object would stand for, or what role each person decided to play, the better. Therefore, it’s better not to use costumes or accessories that are targeted for specific scenarios, e.g. doctor or fireman, but rather for children to use available materials to come up with their own way to identify the fireman and what they want to stand for the water hose. – Adele Diamond

I am virtually a single mother to a 4-year-old healthy, smart, happy girl. In order for me to be able to get things done, I have resorted to TV and DVD movies to keep her unfocused on me. What is the acceptable max amount of TV time? – Githa Spring Hampson, Santa Monica, Calif.

There is no set amount of time, but the less time the better. Getting your child interested in drawing something, stacking blocks, building (or dismantling) something, or telling a story to a stuffed animal would be far better for her development if you can get her engaged in that. – Adele Diamond

I have a 13-month-old son. What kind of activities could you suggest for that age group to encourage imagination? – Connie Clifford, Freeport, Maine

You can play hiding games with him, where you hide something and he needs to find it. You can turn those into a problem-solving task by putting a barrier in the shortest path to the hidden treat so that your son needs to detour around to retrieve what you’ve hidden.

You can also play simple versions of the game Concentration. You have a set of cards that are put in rows and columns, and you get to turn over two cards on your turn. If those cards match, you get to keep the cards.

Say you turn over a panda bear as your first card – you have to remember where the other panda is.

You don’t need cards – you can use cups with little toys underneath, like little animals or little balls. But they only get to keep the toys when they have two of a kind.

Or try multiple-step imitation games, such as putting a tiny animal on one end of a stick from an ice cream pop (using the stick as a lever), and then showing the child that if you press down on the other end of the stick, the tiny animal goes flying. Such imitation games tax working memory and could be great fun for your son for long extended periods at a time. – Adele Diamond

My daughter will be 3 next month. She loves imaginative play, but when we play together, she is extremely bossy toward me. She constantly tells me I am doing things “wrong.” Do I indulge her and let her make all the rules? – Sheri Hyman, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Your daughter sounds very normal for her age. She is engaging in “other regulation,” that is, regulating other people. “Other regulation” is the first step in learning to regulate oneself. It is easier to see what others should do, and when others make mistakes, than to see what you yourself should do and when you yourself make a mistake.

It is fine to talk about taking turns, but she may not be able to do that quite yet. You could suggest what to do, such as, “We could do this or this,” and then, importantly, let your daughter choose.

You could also perhaps turn the pretend situation into your child telling a “dolly” what to do. Sometimes giving an inanimate object the duty of doing what your daughter wants can help a lot.

Note, it is one thing when you are playing with your child, and another when you are telling her to go to bed. It’s not good to give into her whims when you are telling her to do something she needs to do. — Deborah Leong

Old-Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills
by Alix Spiegel
February 21, 2008
Taken from National Public Radio

On October 3, 1955, the Mickey Mouse Club debuted on television. As we all now know, the show quickly became a cultural icon, one of those phenomena that helped define an era.

What is less remembered but equally, if not more, important, is that another transformative cultural event happened that day: The Mattel toy company began advertising a gun called the “Thunder Burp.”

I know – who’s ever heard of the Thunder Burp?

Well, no one.

The reason the advertisement is significant is because it marked the first time that any toy company had attempted to peddle merchandise on television outside of the Christmas season. Until 1955, ad budgets at toy companies were minuscule, so the only time they could afford to hawk their wares on TV was during Christmas. But then came Mattel and the Thunder Burp, which, according to Howard Chudacoff, a cultural historian at Brown University, was a kind of historical watershed. Almost overnight, children’s play became focused, as never before, on things – the toys themselves.

“It’s interesting to me that when we talk about play today, the first thing that comes to mind are toys,” says Chudacoff. “Whereas when I would think of play in the 19th century, I would think of activity rather than an object.”

Chudacoff’s recently published history of child’s play argues that for most of human history what children did when they played was roam in packs large or small, more or less unsupervised, and engage in freewheeling imaginative play. They were pirates and princesses, aristocrats and action heroes. Basically, says Chudacoff, they spent most of their time doing what looked like nothing much at all.

“They improvised play, whether it was in the outdoors… or whether it was on a street corner or somebody’s back yard,” Chudacoff says. “They improvised their own play; they regulated their play; they made up their own rules.”

But during the second half of the 20th century, Chudacoff argues, play changed radically. Instead of spending their time in autonomous shifting make-believe, children were supplied with ever more specific toys for play and predetermined scripts. Essentially, instead of playing pirate with a tree branch they played Star Wars with a toy light saber. Chudacoff calls this the commercialization and co-optation of child’s play – a trend which begins to shrink the size of children’s imaginative space.

But commercialization isn’t the only reason imagination comes under siege. In the second half of the 20th century, Chudacoff says, parents became increasingly concerned about safety, and were driven to create play environments that were secure and could not be penetrated by threats of the outside world. Karate classes, gymnastics, summer camps – these create safe environments for children, Chudacoff says. And they also do something more: for middle-class parents increasingly worried about achievement, they offer to enrich a child’s mind.

Change in Play, Change in Kids

Clearly the way that children spend their time has changed. Here’s the issue: A growing number of psychologists believe that these changes in what children do has also changed kids’ cognitive and emotional development.

It turns out that all that time spent playing make-believe actually helped children develop a critical cognitive skill called executive function. Executive function has a number of different elements, but a central one is the ability to self-regulate. Kids with good self-regulation are able to control their emotions and behavior, resist impulses, and exert self-control and discipline.

We know that children’s capacity for self-regulation has diminished. A recent study replicated a study of self-regulation first done in the late 1940s, in which psychological researchers asked kids ages 3, 5 and 7 to do a number of exercises. One of those exercises included standing perfectly still without moving. The 3-year-olds couldn’t stand still at all, the 5-year-olds could do it for about three minutes, and the 7-year-olds could stand pretty much as long as the researchers asked. In 2001, researchers repeated this experiment. But, psychologist Elena Bodrova at Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning says, the results were very different.

“Today’s 5-year-olds were acting at the level of 3-year-olds 60 years ago, and today’s 7-year-olds were barely approaching the level of a 5-year-old 60 years ago,” Bodrova explains. “So the results were very sad.”

Sad because self-regulation is incredibly important. Poor executive function is associated with high dropout rates, drug use and crime. In fact, good executive function is a better predictor of success in school than a child’s IQ. Children who are able to manage their feelings and pay attention are better able to learn. As executive function researcher Laura Berk explains, “Self-regulation predicts effective development in virtually every domain.”

The Importance of Self-Regulation

According to Berk, one reason make-believe is such a powerful tool for building self-discipline is because during make-believe, children engage in what’s called private speech: They talk to themselves about what they are going to do and how they are going to do it.

“In fact, if we compare preschoolers’ activities and the amount of private speech that occurs across them, we find that this self-regulating language is highest during make-believe play,” Berk says. “And this type of self-regulating language… has been shown in many studies to be predictive of executive functions.”

And it’s not just children who use private speech to control themselves. If we look at adult use of private speech, Berk says, “we’re often using it to surmount obstacles, to master cognitive and social skills, and to manage our emotions.”

Unfortunately, the more structured the play, the more children’s private speech declines. Essentially, because children’s play is so focused on lessons and leagues, and because kids’ toys increasingly inhibit imaginative play, kids aren’t getting a chance to practice policing themselves. When they have that opportunity, says Berk, the results are clear: Self-regulation improves.

“One index that researchers, including myself, have used… is the extent to which a child, for example, cleans up independently after a free-choice period in preschool,” Berk says. “We find that children who are most effective at complex make-believe play take on that responsibility with… greater willingness, and even will assist others in doing so without teacher prompting.”

Despite the evidence of the benefits of imaginative play, however, even in the context of preschool young children’s play is in decline. According to Yale psychological researcher Dorothy Singer, teachers and school administrators just don’t see the value.

“Because of the testing, and the emphasis now that you have to really pass these tests, teachers are starting earlier and earlier to drill the kids in their basic fundamentals. Play is viewed as unnecessary, a waste of time,” Singer says. “I have so many articles that have documented the shortening of free play for children, where the teachers in these schools are using the time for cognitive skills.”

It seems that in the rush to give children every advantage – to protect them, to stimulate them, to enrich them – our culture has unwittingly compromised one of the activities that helped children most. All that wasted time was not such a waste after all.

Transcript of a report on National Public Radio. You can listen to the story here.

February 22, 2008
NPR reporter Alix Spiegel reports on how play has shifted focus from “activity” to “things.”

MATT MARTINEZ: Great, great, great. I’m very excited. The number-one-most-e-mailed story at npr.org is headlined: Old-fashioned play builds serious skills, with an S not a Z, unfortunately. It’s by NPR science reporter Alix Spiegel, and it basically traces how childhood has been changing, and she starts with an episode of “The Mickey Mouse Club.” She says that’s a turning-point of sorts.

In 1955, it basically changed the way that children would be spending their time, and some experts say the shift has altered children’s imaginations, the way that the minds develop. So here she is explaining what happened that day.

ALIX SPIEGEL, reporting:

It was during the first episode of “The Mickey Mouse Club” that the Mattel Toy Company introduced a new product, a toy gun that the company claimed had almost magical properties.

(Soundbite of television advertisement)

(Soundbite of Thunder Burp toy gun)

Unidentified Announcer: It’s broken the sound barrier. It’s the Mattel Thunder Burp with a real, vibro-sonic sound chamber that’s loaded forever and ever. No batteries, no caps. That Thunder Burp looks like real, sounds like real.

(Soundbite of Thunder Burp toy gun)

SPIEGEL: Historian Howard Chudacoff says that until that October afternoon, no toy company had ever tried to sell merchandise on television year-round. The only time toy manufacturers advertised on TV was during Christmas.

But then came Mattel and the burp gun, and according to Chudacoff, a professor at Brown University who recently wrote a history of child’s play, almost overnight, children’s play became focused as never before on the toy itself.

Professor HOWARD CHUDACOFF (Cultural Historian, Brown University): It’s interesting to me that when we talk about play today, the first thing that comes to mind are toys, whereas when I would think of play in the 19th century, I would think of activity rather than an object.

SPIEGEL: You see for most of human history, what children did when children played was engage in free-wheeling, imaginative play, elaborate narratives of pirates and princesses. Basically, they spent most of their time doing what looked like nothing much at all.

Prof. CHUDACOFF: They improvised play, whether it was in the outdoors, the fields and the forests, or whether it was on a street-corner or somebody’s backyard. They improvised their own play. They regulated their play. They made up their own rules.

SPIEGEL: But Chudacoff argues once TV and toys began to supply children with ever-more-specific scripts and special props for their stories, the size of children’s imaginative space begins to shrink, and that’s not the only way that imagination comes under siege, according to Chudacoff.

In the second half of the 20th century, he says, parents were increasingly concerned about safety, which again affected play.

Prof. CHUDACOFF: Because then adults wanted to structure it more, to create environments that are safe, that are secure, that cannot be penetrated from the threats from the outside world.

SPIEGEL: To protect their children, parents began to place their kids in adult-moderated activities, which says Chudacoff, has another benefit, especially to middle-class parents worried about achievement. They promise enrichment.

Prof. CHUDACOFF: You know, karate classes and gymnastics, summer camps not only create safe environments for children but also give them enriched lives and ways to create self-esteem.

SPIEGEL: So clearly, the way that most children spent their time has changed, and of course there have been other changes in the lives of kids, but a growing number of psychologists believe that these changes in how children play have led to changes in their cognitive and emotional development. Here’s some of the evidence.

Back in the late 1940s, some psychological researchers did a series of tests on children. In one of the tests, they asked kids ages three, five and seven to stand perfectly still without moving. The three-year-olds couldn’t do this exercise at all, the five-year-olds could do it for about three minutes, and the seven-year-olds could stand pretty much as long as the researchers asked.

In 2001, some researchers actually repeated this experiment. But as psychologist Elena Bodrova explains, the results were very different.

Ms. ELENA BODROVA (National Institute for Early Education Research): Today’s five-year-olds were acting at the level of three-year-olds 60 years ago, and today’s seven-year-olds were barely approaching the level of a five-year-olds 60 years ago, so the results were very sad.

SPIEGEL: Sad because the children were less able to do something called self-regulation. Self-regulation is the ability to control emotions and behavior. It’s a key component of a broader set of skills called executive function. Kids with good self-regulation aren’t impulsive, they have self-control, discipline, and this self-regulation is incredibly important. In fact, good self-regulation is a better predictor of success in school than a child’s IQ.

Ms. LAURA BERK (Executive Function Researcher, Illinois State University): Self-regulation predicts effective development in virtually every domain.

SPIEGEL: This is executive function researcher Laura Berk of Illinois State University. She says make-believe is a powerful tool for building self-regulation. That’s because during make-believe, children engage in what’s called private speech: they talk to themselves about what they are going to do and how they are going to do it, laying out the rules of play for themselves.

Ms. BERK: We find that this self-regulating language is highest during make-believe play, and this type of self-regulating language, which we call private speech, has been shown in many studies to be predictive of executive functions.

SPIEGEL: Basically, it’s through this private speech that children control and regulate themselves. In fact, private speech is how adults control and regulate themselves, too.

Ms. BERK: If we look our own use of private speech, what we find is that we’re often using it to surmount obstacles, to master cognitive and social skills, and to manage our emotions.

SPIEGEL: Unfortunately, the more structured the play, the more children’s private speech declines. Essentially what’s happening is that because children’s play is so focused on lessons and leagues, and because kids’ toys increasingly inhibit imaginative play, kids aren’t getting a chance to practice policing themselves. When they have that opportunity, the results are clear: Self-regulation improves.

Ms. BERK: One index that researchers, including myself, have used to look at that is the extent to which a child, for example, cleans up independently after a free-choice period in preschool. We find that children who are most effective at complex make-believe play take on that responsibility with greater willingness and even will assist others in doing so without teacher prompting.

SPIEGEL: Despite the evidence of the benefits of imaginative play, a number of child-development experts say free-choice play is in decline even in preschool. Here’s psychological researcher Dorothy Singer of Yale.

Dr. DOROTHY SINGER (Psychological Researcher, Yale University): Because of the testing and the emphasis now that you have to really pass these tests, teachers are starting earlier and earlier to drill the kids in their basic fundamentals, so that play is viewed as unnecessary, a waste of time. I mean, I have so many articles that have documented the shortening of free play for children, where the teachers in these schools are using the time for cognitive skills.

SPIEGEL: Singer and others argue that it’s not actually helpful to leave imaginative play behind. They say that all that wasted time is really not such waste after all.

STEWART: That’s NPR’s Alix Spiegel with the most e-mailed story right now on npr.org. You can see a list of all of the most e-mailed stories you heard on today’s show npr.org/bryantpark.

Taken from: NPR – The Evolution of Play

A couple of very stupid comments from the officials in France who actually think they sound believable! Or maybe they don’t really care to convince. *shrug*

“These clothes are used in public, so they can contain molecules, viruses, et cetera, which will go in the water and could be transmitted to other bathers.”

Emerainville Mayor Alan Kelyor said he could not understand why the woman would want to swim in head-to-toe clothes. “We are going back in civilization,” he said by telephone. Women have fought for decades for equal rights with men, he said. “Now we are putting them back in burqas and veils.”

So… who’s discriminating whom?

French pool bars Muslim woman for ‘burquini’ suit
By Maria Danilova, Associated Press Writer – Wed Aug 12, 7:05 pm ET

PARIS – A Muslim woman garbed in a head-to-toe swimsuit – dubbed a “burquini” – may have opened a new chapter in France’s tussle between religious practices and its stern secular code.

Officials insisted Wednesday they banned the woman’s use of the Islam-friendly suit at a local pool because of France’s pool hygiene standards – not out of hostility to overtly Muslim garb.

Under the policy, swimmers are not allowed in pools with baggy clothing, including surfer-style shorts. Only figure-hugging suits are permitted.

Nonetheless the woman, a 35-year-old convert to Islam identified only as Carole, complained of religious discrimination after trying to go swimming in a “burquini,” a full-body swimsuit, in the town of Emerainville, southeast of Paris.

She was quoted as telling the daily Le Parisien newspaper that she had bought the burquini after deciding “it would allow me the pleasure of bathing without showing too much of myself, as Islam recommends.”

“For me this is nothing but segregation,” she said.

The issue of religious attire is a hot topic in France, where head-to-toe burqas or other full-body coverings worn by some Muslim fundamentalists are in official disfavor.

France is home to western Europe’s largest Muslim population, estimated at 5 million, and Islam is the nation’s second religion after Roman Catholicism.

A 2004 law banning the wearing of Muslim head scarves at public schools sparked fierce debate. That legislation also banned Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses in public classrooms.

French lawmakers recently revived the issue of Muslim dress with a proposal that the burqa and other voluminous Muslim attire be banned.

President Nicolas Sarkozy, a conservative, backs the move, saying such garb makes women prisoners.

The “burquini” covers the arms to the wrists and the legs to the ankle and has a hood to cover neck and hair.

An official in charge of swimming pools for the Emerainville region, Daniel Guillaume, said the refusal to allow the local woman to swim in her “burquini” had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with public health standards.

“These clothes are used in public, so they can contain molecules, viruses, et cetera, which will go in the water and could be transmitted to other bathers,” Guillaume said in a telephone interview.

“We reminded this woman that one should not bathe all dressed, just as we would tell someone who is a nudist not to bathe all naked,” he said.

Guillaume said France’s public health standards require all pool-goers to don swimsuits for women and tight, swimming briefs for men and caps to cover their hair. Bathers also must shower before entering the water.

Guillaume said Carole had tried to file a complaint at a local police station, but her request was turned down as groundless.

Carole told the daily Le Parisien she would protest with the help of anti-discrimination groups.

Emerainville Mayor Alan Kelyor said he could not understand why the woman would want to swim in head-to-toe clothes.

“We are going back in civilization,” he said by telephone. Women have fought for decades for equal rights with men, he said. “Now we are putting them back in burqas and veils.”

The suits have a clear market.

Women “jump on the occasion so they can swim with their families. Otherwise, they end up staying on the beach and watching,” said Leila Mouhoubia, who runs an online site from France that specializes in the sale of Islamic swimsuits. Sales, she said, are strong.

“I think it’s forbidden (in France) because it presents an image of the Muslim woman (and) they have prejudices against Muslims,” she said by telephone. “They want women to be undressed.”

Mouloud Aounit, head of the anti-racism group known as MRAP, said the decision to ban Carole from the pool appeared fair, since pool authorities were observing regulations. But Aounit lamented that the incident was likely to fuel religious tensions.

“The rules must be the same for everybody, regardless of the color of their skin or their religion,” Aounit said. “The concern I have is that this case will again lead to stigmatization of the Muslim population in France.”

The all-body suits, worn regularly by some women in Muslim countries, are growing popular in the West. They can be seen on female Muslim lifeguards on Australian beaches, in the United States and various European countries, from the Netherlands to Sweden, which OKed them after two women won discrimination cases last year.

Sister Farhana of Sketched Soul is launching yet another charitable project… this time for the children of Ghazza. She is taking in toys and clothing and will arrange for their transportation.

Spread the word!

Saw this first at Laila El-Hadad’s blog, Raising Yousuf and Noor: Diary of a Palestinian Mother.

How many civilian casualties would it take before you question the attack? “There’s not a number involved…”

“Nothing good is going to come out of this unless they keep fighting all the way with this, till they wipe them all out.”

“Dude, its a repeat… (of the Holocaust)… we are being persecuted again, for the trillionth time ever…”

“What haunts me? It’s the memories of 6-year-old, 7-year-old Palestinian children watching with tears in their eyes (video) when you’re tossing their room, breaking their wall, taking their father and slamming him into the wall before arresting him.”
- Avichai Sharon, July 2005, CBS News

“Controlling a road that is for Jews only – as the third generation descendent of Holocaust survivors! That is an atrocity.”
- Noam Chayut, on obeying orders to keep Palestinians off certain roads even though they linked Arab villages,
July 2005, CBS News

Testimony from Noam Chayut and Avichai Sharon,
Israeli Defence Forces veterans and members of Beaking The Silence,
about what has been going on in occupied Filasteen.

More at Breaking The Silence.

An excerpt from an article by Jimmy Kerr at the SSP blog.

I ACCUSE

In the spirit of Zola, I accuse several institutions of perpetrating a sustained character attack on the people of Palestine, the Arab world and Islam.

I accuse the corporations of propping up, what is almost universally recognized as a pariah state for having any dealings within that state and for making money out of that state.

I accuse the vast majority of our cultural leaders and so-called personalities, who are in a position to grab the media agenda of covering their mouths either in fear or in willful ignorance instead of speaking out as befits people of their stature

I accuse the vast majority of academics and other educated people, of similar crimes to celebrities, all the more heinous, given their intellect and their unique position in society as educators as well as agenda setters. I accuse them of refusing to engage with the issue in any meaningful way.

I accuse that fourth-rate estate of propagating an image of the average Palestinian as something separate from “us” in effect creating a false division, for underreporting the blockade and for blacking out the truth of the history of the Israeli/Palestine conflict

Finally, I accuse our so-called political leaders and elected representatives of tolerating the Pariah State of Israel and its long history of hideous crimes. I accuse those cardboard cut-outs of doing virtually nothing whilst this state gets away with mass murder.

Not once have any of those despicable cut-outs ever made an unequivocal statement against Israel. Anything that they say is tempered and undermined by support for Israel. They never mention injustice, only that the bombs and rockets should stop, they never mention the Palestinian dead. They never give the historical context. They are a disgrace, second only in their horribleness to their friends in the media.

Read the article in full here.

* Imaan.Net does not necessarily approve or endorse all of the content of other sites. Linking to other sites does not indicate any association with or endorsement by Imaan.Net.

“The likeness of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah is as the likeness of a grain [of corn], it grows seven ears and each year has a hundred grains. Allah gives manifold increase to whom He wills. And Allah is All Sufficient for His creatures’ needs, All-Knower.” [Surah al-Baqarah 2:261]

“And We place the scales of justice for the Day of Resurrection,
so no soul will be treated unjustly at all.
And if there is (even) the weight of a mustard seed,
We will bring it forth.
And sufficient are We to take account.”
(Surah al-Anbiya 21:47)

“Oppression (dhulm) will be darkness (dhulumat) on the Day of Resurrection.”
(Bukhari & Muslim)

You will learn on the Day when Allah will gather the former and the latter peoples…
when hands and feet will tell about what they did,
then you will know!

That day the matter between you and us will be settled.

“Any person who betrays a Muslim whose sanctity is being violated and reputation is being dishonored, Allah will betray him when he is in need of help and any person who protects a Muslim whose sanctity is being violated and reputation is being dishonored, Allah will assist him when he is in need of help.” (Related by Abu Dawud)

May Allah give courage and fortitude to our brothers and sisters in Ghazza… May He forgive the shuhada of Ghazza and may He grant the mujahideen victory, ameen.

Music was a big thing for me when I was growing up. I used to record MTV and play the videos over and over again and was hardly seen without a pair of headphones in my ears. I was first in line at the music store when U2′s Achtung Baby was released – actually, I got there before the shipment of the album arrived and had to return a few hours later. I felt really together.

But I wasn’t really.

My being so ‘together’ cost me a great deal – money I could have spent on charity and on beneficial reads … time I could have spent cultivating good habits instead of acquiring wicked ones that stubbornly dog me … energy I could have spent on pursuits that could have drawn me closer to my Lord… the list goes on.

Even after I gave up listening to music, I resisted throwing my CDs and tapes away. I guess I was still, in some small and twisted way, enthralled with these musicians, their beguiling tunes and poetic lyrics. I don’t know why I wanted to maintain some tie to my past and my former ‘role models’. It is funny how strong a hold the dunya has and how foolish the human being can be.

I began reading more about my religion and I felt small. I felt really small. I read about giants who truly had the stuff that legends are made of. They had so much love, passion and drive for the deen. I wondered why my heart felt so impervious… so dead.

Then I read this hadeeth: Anas said that a man came to the Prophet and asked, “When will the Last Hour come, Messenger of Allah?” , “What have you prepared for it?” he asked? He replied, “I have not prepared a lot of prayer or fasting or charity for it, but I love Allah and His Messenger.” The Prophet said, “You will be with the one you love.” (al-Bukhari) I realised then that I was just hanging on to dead weight. Did I really want to be raised with the likes of Mick Jagger, Kurt Cobain and James Hetfield? The very idea scared me. It took several garbage bags to get rid of the physical burden. The emotional ties? For the most part erased, but still a constant struggle.

I would like to spare my kids of all this. I know I may not be able to shield them from all the evils and temptations in this world, but I make du`aa that they will form a deep attachment to the Qur’an and Sunnah and that they will have such a deep love for the true heroes that they will not look up to lesser characters, who will only disappoint them with their compromise, misplaced tolerance and about turn on ideals.

As a hadeeth states: It is related that a man came to the Prophet and said, “Messenger of Allah, I love you more than my family and my possessions. I remember you and I cannot wait until I can come and look at you. I remember that I will die and you will die and I know that when you enter the Garden, you will be raised up with the Prophets. When I enter it, I will not see you.” Allah then revealed, “Whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger, will be with those whom Allah has blessed: the Prophets, the men of truth, the martyrs and the righteous. And such people are the best of company!” (an-Nisaa 4:68) The Prophet called the man and recited the verses to him. (at-Tabarani)

Sister Fatima Barakatullah has written a timely article that touches on music and the nasheed culture. She expresses what I haven’t the eloquence to say. Please read it here:

Global Peace & Unity Event by Fatima Barakatullah

If you are blocked from blogspot sites, you may access her site through feeds at say, Bloglines, or by using PK Blogs.

You know what is really sickening? It is that at a time of affliction and suffering, some people have raised the prices of food, medicine, blankets, clothes and even shrouds.

Yes, you heard it…

Shrouds.