Ask our children:
1. If a mother and father love their child, will they do anything to harm the child?
2. Must we listen to our parents who care for us, or should we follow our friends who always dare us and challenge us?
3. Who is more important, our parents or friends?
Now relate to them the following story:
Story:
There was a cute little boy, Yusuf. His parents loved him and took good care of him. He always listened to them and they were the most important to him.
One day at school he got caught up with a bad friend who taught him bad words and bad habits. His parents were very worried. They kept on begging Yusuf to stop joining his bad friend. However the bad friend would say to Yusuf: “Your parents do not want you to enjoy life, so ignore them.” Unfortunately Yusuf believed the words of his bad friend and continued to follow him.
One afternoon the bad friend challenged Yusuf to bring all his fathers money in a bag and meet him at a place where a car will pick them up. “We will have lots of fun”, he promised Yusuf. Yusuf agreed and he went home to fetch the money. In the mean time the bad friend arranged a group of robbers to pick Yusuf up. He lied to them that Yusuf wished to join them on their next robbery.
Everything happened as planned. Yusuf met his bad friend at the agreed place. The bad friend took the bag of money from Yusuf, and the car came and picked Yusuf up. At first Yusuf was surprised as to why his friend remained behind, but then he thought to himself that there is no place in the car and that his bad friend wanted him to enjoy himself first.
The robbers stopped outside a huge mansion. They asked Yusuf to stand guard and watch if anyone comes. Yusuf stood innocently while they were busy looting the place. After a while Yusuf noticed that from a distance a few police vans were approaching them. He immediately warned the robbers. They fled while Yusuf remained standing at his place, not realising what was actually happening.
The police grabbed Yusuf, handcuffed him and put him into the van. They searched for the others but failed to get them. It was only then that Yusuf realised that he was assisting in an actual robbery. Yusuf was then driven to the police station. While all of this was taking place, Yusuf’s parents were frantically searching for him as it was late at night. They decided to report Yusuf missing at the police station.
To their surprise they found Yusuf there. He related to them what had happened. The bad friend was arrested and brought to the police station. He mentioned to the police the whereabouts of the robbers. They were arrested and jailed. Yusuf and the bad friend were released.
Then mention to them the lessons learnt from the story:
Lessons:
1. Always listen to our parents.
2. Our parents know what is better for us.
3. Do not keep bad company and friends.
4. Our parents come before our friends.
Ask your child to mention the lessons in their own words and ask who amongst them will always listen to their parents.