Keeping Promises - Inspirational Story as a Parent

Last week Friday, Tariq asked me,

Mama..., can Tariq watch movies tomorrow after swimming class in the morning..?

It depends sayang... If you focus during training... kick properly... listens to Coach.. dont golek2 rolling around like a dolphin in the middle of the pool.. then Mama will let you watch DVDs after your swimming class.., I said to Tariq

Okay Mama... Tariq promised! He answered me cheerfully.

True enough, Tariq kept to his words during the whole training. He was kicking strong, his butterfly strokes were better, his freestyle strokes were faster and he did more laps than usual. 

So the moment he got into the car after his class, I said to Tariq,

MashaAllah.., you were awesome today Tariq! Macam nie la Mama happy! 

See Mama... kan Tariq promised just now... Tariq say Tariq will kick fast so Tariq pun kick fast... Tariq promised so Tariq do... just like Prophet Muhammad kan Mama... when Prophet promised.. he always do... so Mama.... Can Tariq watch movies now...? said Tariq's while grinning from ear to ear.

I immediately burst into laughter.

Cheeky boy! I knew it!

But Alhamdulillah.. 

Fulfilling promises is something that I drilled into Tariq from the very beginning. 

I love to tell him stories about how Prophet Muhammad fulfill all his promises.

We must be like Prophet Muhammad okay Tariq.. when we promise.. we must fulfill.., I always tell Tariq.

So, whatever I promised him, I will take the task to do it. 

Like if I promised him toys, I will give him the promised toys. But if I promise him punishment, he will get exactly that punishment too. It goes both ways.

And as he grows, he learn that when he promise me, he too must fulfill his promise. 

It takes a lot of patience, back and forth and explanations but over the years, Tariq began to understand that promises are not made to be broken. 

Like the Arab proverb says,

A promise is a cloud; fulfillment is the rain..

So, thanks for giving Mama your promised 'rain' sayang.. 

And here is my promised 'rain' for you.. the ticket to watch whatever movies you want for the whole Saturday morning! 

Win-win.

Alhamdulillah! 😍