1 Picture 1 Story Week #72 | It's time to learn pray

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The age of seven in my religious teachings means that a child enters a period called Mumayyiz, in this phase the child is able to distinguish between good and bad words and actions. In line with that, in terms of health science, at the age of seven children will experience cognitive development (curiosity) and also psychology (feelings and thoughts).

Therefore, it is my obligation as a parent to teach my child to worship. As I did with Khalif, my first child, I wanted to teach him how to pray properly. This is the right time to start teaching Khalif, which since childhood, Khalif has often seen me and my wife praying every day, and this time it's time for Khalif to practice it directly.

We started by teaching wudhu, Khalif looked very enthusiastic even though he was still confused about the steps several times, and his wudhu water soaked his shirt and pants a lot. "Dad, did the water get on my shirt and pants?" asked Khalif with a laugh. I just smiled and replied, "It's okay son, just change the shirt." After finishing with the ablutions, I started by teaching the prayer intention, takbir movements, then continued with ruku', sujud, and so on. Khalif tried hard to follow every movement I showed him, although sometimes he was still wrong in saying the prayer.

There was a surprise that made this moment even more memorable, Khalif's two-year-old brother, Keenan, who was originally just playing in the corner of the room, when Khalif started practicing prayer, suddenly Keenan approached and stood next to us, as if he wanted to say "I want to pray too!". And slowly Keenan began to imitate Khalif's movements in a very funny way. When Khalif ruku', Keenan immediately joined in squatting in a slightly inverted position. Likewise, when Khalif prostrated, Keenan fell down and lay on the floor laughing.

Seeing Keenan who wanted to follow, Khalif lovingly also gave the code for his younger brother to follow him. The cute Keenan just raised his hand while smiling widely. I couldn't help but laugh at the behavior of the two of them. Even though Keenan doesn't fully understand yet, his enthusiasm to join the prayer is very pleasant to see.

Seeing the two of them praying together made me feel very grateful. Not only Khalif who already knows his obligation as a Muslim to pray, but also Keenan is starting to recognize prayer. I hope that both of them continue to grow up with a strong faith and always support each other in every step of their worship later, until they grow up.

Their togetherness in worship, although full of silliness and laughter, is a great memory for me. I hope that through this process, Khalif and Keenan not only learn about the movements of prayer, but also about closeness to Allah and the importance of worship in their lives.

I would like to invite @ifatniza, @sriiza and @megaaulia to participate in this contest created by @suboohi.