Here comes the holy festival of sacrifice "Eid-ul-Azha", one of the biggest feasts in the Muslim calendar. The sacrifice of animal is an obligation for every well to do Muslim. All around the world Muslims celebrate this holy festival with enthusiasm. For children it is a time of great enjoyment and merriment.
Their festivities start weeks ahead of the Eid day. Since sacrificial animals are mostly bought weeks before Eid-ul-Azha, children take regular care of their feedings and get attached to them in a short time. The religious festival is an ideal opportunity for parents and teachers to teach children about the spirit behind sacrifice of animals. This will help them to understand true meanings of sacrifice.
A teacher says that "the festival of Eid-ul-Azha is an occasion to teach students lesson that we should prepare ourselves to make sacrifice for the sake of Allah just as Prophet Ibrahim (AS) was ready to sacrifice his beloved son for Allah".
Children are enthusiastic to talk parents about their detailed plans to sacrifice animals on Eid-ul-Azha. Parents can take advantage of this excitement to boost child's self-confidence. Educators are of unanimous opinion that encouraging a child to give his/her
opinions and suggestions as taking decisions will help growing power of decision making. Families, while distributing Qurbani meat to needy and poor people, give their children lifetime lesson of sharing and caring for needy and deserving people. Seven year old Zaheer says "My parents distribute one third of meat to orphanage because they also have right to enjoy the Eid day".
Roaming with cows and goats is a joyous activity for children. Often children get themselves hurt because of wild running of cows and goats. Ali says with innocent smile that "we should avoid wild running because it can hurt our Qurbani animals. My father says that in the Day of Judgement our animal will come with his horns, tail, ears and meat".
Many children misbehave with Qurbani animals. Consequentially parents need to teach children that Qurbani animals are not for the enjoyment and fun. They should be told that animal with fault becomes unfit for sacrifice. Further harm to animals is a bad habit and they should treat them kindly.
They should understand the philosophy of Qurbani. Every animal should be treated well since they are a proof of our submission of our obedience to God's will. Children love to take care of their animals during Eid-ul-Azha. It is parent's duty to teach them how to treat these animals. Last year a family had to bear a loss because children gave bath to the lamb in cold winter night, which made him sick to death.
Sometimes their excitement is so strong that parents find themselves helpless to keep their children's concentration on studies. But are cannot take away the enthusiasm that this occasion being for children. Let's pray that God will transmit true spirit of Eid-ul-Azha to our new generation.