Muslim Life Hackers

Almas Asad: Empower Your Children through Play

• Mifrah M • Episode 4

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In this episode, Almas Asad, a primary school educator turned stay-at-home mom with a small business, shares her philosophy of teaching young children under five using Montessori principles, focusing on real-life experiences and stimulating open-ended development. Emphasizing on infusing Islamic principles in teaching, she also shares insights on how simple tasks, like solving puzzles or coloring, are beneficial. The conversation extends to the significance of setting realistic short-term goals and the importance of time for oneself as a parent.

Timestamps:
02:30 Understanding the Montessori Method
06:07 Setting Realistic Goals for Children
16:14 Infusing Islamic Principles into Teaching
20:37 Positive Association with Learning
21:10 Choosing the Right Toys for Learning
23:53 Incorporating Real-Life Experiences in Play
25:37 The Importance of Active Play
26:39 Creating Activities from Household Items

About Almas Asad:
Almas Asad, a former primary teacher from Sydney and now a stay-at-home mom (SAHM) of three, runs a small business called “Eager Little Beavers,” specialising in educational toys and learning resources. Inspired by her inquisitive son, she focuses on creating Montessori-inspired learning experiences for children. Almas also manages a YouTube channel offering parenting advice, including tips on handling toddler tantrums and potty training.


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Almas Asad:

In order to stay sane as a parent and as a working mother, you can't really bog yourself down to those goals. It's the small things, that the small achievements that it keeps you going. So there's certain things that I feel like my son or my daughter is able to do and I commend them for that. I appreciate them doing it, but at the end of the day, I do have that sense that they're not able to do this. They're not able to write yet. They're not able to read yet. if we do that, then we're not only putting our children down, but we also putting ourselves down.

Mifrah:

As-salamu alaykum and welcome to the Muslim Life Hackers podcast. I'm your host Mifrah Mahroof and this is the podcast where we get better every day. Through conversations with experts, leaders, and inspiring individuals. We're going to give you actionable insights to help you win in this life and the next. So if you're ready to level up in every area of your life and you committed to living with excellence for the sake of your Lord. You're in the right place. Get ready for insights, inspiration, and a whole lot of life hacks. This is a Muslim Life Hackers podcast. Let's dive in.

Mifrah Mahroof:

As-salamu alaykum Almas, and welcome to the show.

Almas Asad:

Wa ʿalaykumu s-salām Mifrah. How are you today?

Mifrah Mahroof:

Alhamdulillah, I'm going good. How's your day going so far?

Almas Asad:

Alhamdulillah, It's been a really good, It's been a good productive morning.

Mifrah Mahroof:

That's awesome. So, before we start, Almas, can you give us an introduction about who you are and, what you do?

Almas Asad:

Yeah, sure. I am a primary school teacher, primary trained teacher, turned stay at home mom, but also a small business owner. I've got three children ages four, three and nine months now, so they're all under five. And what I love to do, is create exciting learning experiences for my children at home that allows them to learn through play pretty much. And a lot of those practices are pretty much inspired by Montessori principles. I've learned to kind of adapt as I go. So a lot of the principles kind of align with my Islamic values. The one thing that I enjoy as being a teacher and a mom is to teach my children with the minimum amount of resources, minimum amount of activities or toys or anything that we have at home, and create a fun experience for them. It doesn't necessarily have to be, something really high end or really aesthetic looking, but what I wanna do is kind of get them to learn new things every day, whether that be at home or maybe just going outside sometimes, but mostly at home.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Awesome. I heard about the work you were doing, what was like particularly that concept of teaching children under five through play, and that's something that I really wanna explore in today's episode. I wanna first of all start off with actually asking you, like, you mentioned something about something called Montessori method, and the principles associated. Would you be able to give us an introduction to that?

Almas Asad:

Yeah, sure. The one thing that I really, learned over the years being a parent and also a teacher, is that I came across this whole Maria Montessori method and there's lots of those principles that I really loved. So Maria Montessori focuses on allowing your children to kind of learn through play and engage in real life experiences.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Okay,

Almas Asad:

So whether that be at home, but allowing them to kind of be like focusing on like the children. So it's child-centric. There's a lot of hands-on learning and pretty much allowing them to be the instructor and you are kind of facilitating that their play. So they're kind of being the guide, they're doing what they want, but you are kind of facilitating the play for them. It allows your child to think open endedly. So there's a lot of open ended play and allows your children to think in a wide perspective and kind of I'd say a lots of resources that you have at home and like creating a learning experience with what we have at home. So I think lots of the practical like life experiences that you can do at home with your children is that teaching them to bake or teaching them to do gardening or whether that be learning like certain things while you're go, going out grocery shopping, so like everyday life experiences, but adapting and making it a bit more child-centric.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Right. So from what understand, it sounds like teaching them real life experiences or like real life things that we do in a playful method, that's in for them.

Almas Asad:

Yeah, definitely.

Mifrah Mahroof:

So I guess the question that comes to mind right now is like when you look at age groups and, so a 1-year-old can't do, what 2-year-old can do, or a three or four or five. So it's like it's different ages, have different abilities. And so how do you actually know what your child is capable of learning? So that you can be able to put together that play, I guess.

Almas Asad:

I think the one thing that I've learned over the years is that it's not like one child size fits all type of thing because I definitely see differences with my children. I know it's hard not to compare your children, just within siblings or comparing your child to another child. But the one thing that I've learned is that, I'd say just me being as a teacher is that

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yeah.

Almas Asad:

once you've kind of seen your child in that environment, in that learning environment, and they're doing a certain thing and you see that they're able to do, a certain skill, they're able to, like do a puzzle without any assistance or they're able to do, um, like engage in some kind of sensory play without any assistance or type of like problem solving activity. So you kind of adapts where you go you so you know what I try and do is because I see a difference between all three of my children. I'd say

Mifrah Mahroof:

Hmm.

Almas Asad:

because she's third, she's a lot younger now, but I tried adapt with the activity that I've planned with them. So for instance, if we've got a water play activity, we might have lots of puzzles that we put into the water, like add a kind of like a bath drop in there to make it colorful. And my daughter, when she was one, she was pretty much just playing with water and the puzzles. She wasn't doing anything with the puzzle pieces, but he was like at age two and a half or three at that time, he was trying to getting the pieces and kind of sitting into the puzzles So that's sense of differentiation. So they're both doing the same activity, but we are adapting it. So she's engaging in a sensory play, but she's also getting that exposure of all the puzzles, whether that be numbers or alphabet letters. But he's kind of doing two things that once he's doing the problem solving and he's also engaging in that sensory play.

Mifrah Mahroof:

So what I'm curious to know at this point is when you actually set up these activities, like, how do you actually go about with like are you very strict with the schedules or have like certain goals you wanna reach in terms of like what your children should learn at that age? say for example, I've, heard how in the Montessori method, children would learn how to like fold a napkin or something and those little, day-to-day, chores you can say. So it's like, do you have goals that you set that you want your child to learn? This, this, this, and then you put that together or how do you actually go about with the implementation? I guess that's where my question is coming at.

Almas Asad:

Yeah, that's a very good question, Mifrah, and I think I get that a lot from a lot of parents, but I think me being a teacher naturally, I have this kind of, success criteria at the back of my head that, you know, or I want him to do. I want him to learn the alphabet at the end of this year, or I want him to count to 20 by end of this year.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yeah.

Almas Asad:

But I think it's a matter of in order to stay sane as a parent and as a working mother, you can't really bog yourself down to those kind of goals. So there's certain things that I think it's the small things that, the small achievements that it keeps you going. So there's certain things that I feel like my son or my daughter is able to do, and I commend them for that. I appreciate them doing it, but at the end of the day, I do have that sense that, they're not able to do this. They're not able to write yet. They're not able to read yet. if we do that, then we're not only putting our children down, but we also kind a putting ourselves down. okay, so saying to not have goals, then would you say, you could definitely have like short-term goals, certain things that you feel that, your children will be able to achieve. try not to have really high end goals because if you're starting off small, if you're starting off just now by the end of this month, I want them to start reading that seems really like impossible to do, but I'd say sort of goals that your children will be able to do, and I think every parent knows their children on their own. I don't think any educator or any teacher is able to know a child, unless their actual parent, because I think the parent is the the only, actual teacher that they have because they've been with them since the day they were born to now.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Hmm. Okay.

Almas Asad:

So I think what you know of your child and I think you learn and you adapt and the type of goals that you feel that they can achieve. Maybe simple things could be like, by the end of this month If they're a 1-year-old, I want them to be able to, solve a puzzle, something small, I think the best thing about Montessori is that you start small and then you work your way up from there.

Mifrah Mahroof:

So as a parent, Let them be your guide. Right? And then, help them be able to learn these skills. So if I'm understanding these principles and I want to see this in my child, like for example, my 1-year-old daughter, how do I start like, I'm convinced that this this is how I wanna inspire my child to empower them to grow and learn. But it's like, do I need to go out tomorrow and just like, buy all these Montessori toys? where do I start?

Almas Asad:

I think honestly, it just comes down to starting very small, you

Mifrah Mahroof:

How does small actually look like?

Almas Asad:

Okay, so for example, you've got like a small little shelf over here and you've packed them with, I think that the one thing that I used to do, and I think I've learned that from my experience, is that you've got all these toys and you've just shoved them into the shelf. Now your

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yeah. Or in box,

Almas Asad:

yeah, or they're in a big box. Your child will go up to them and feel automatically, they're gonna feel overwhelmed. They're gonna feel.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Uh, right. So that's the reason why there, like my daughter, I noticed the toys in the box. She doesn't take everything out like everything's in the box.

Almas Asad:

Yeah, definitely. they're all in the box and, and she might be seeing the same thing. She might be seeing the same toy, the same activity every single day, and she might tend to get bored of it. So the one thing that I do is to make your learning environment or the child's play area or whatever area that they have to make it as simple as possible to try and make it as simple like as minimal as possible. So you might be having just four activities per week, like a four little cubicle, little shelf, and putting four activities there. And as like, you know, every week you could be rotating it and you could be rotating the same thing over and

Mifrah Mahroof:

do

Almas Asad:

again.

Mifrah Mahroof:

What do by activity? Do you mean like a toy in those four boxes? So I'm imagining one of those Ikea shell like those four boxes, So just put like a toy in there, or

Almas Asad:

Yeah.

Mifrah Mahroof:

what do you mean by activity?

Almas Asad:

It could be like a puzzle and you've taken the puzzle pieces out, put them in a basket, or you've taken the little puzzle pieces and wrapped them in foil or any type of like colored paper. So what your daughter, or like your someone else's son would be able to do is like, there's like a process to try and get to the end result. So it's not just, oh, putting them in there. Oh, I've already done this mom. So you've added like another step to it. So they're like, oh. I have to do something to try and get to the end of result. I feel like kids naturally, they want to win. They wanna get to the end. So if you slow up the process a bit, they are more motivated to move on and they're challenged in a way. that could be one activity or you could perhaps be doing like a coloring book with those set of coloring pencils, that's in another shelf

Mifrah Mahroof:

So you them in, in like a tray or something inside the shelf.

Almas Asad:

Yeah. it doesn't always have to be in a tray. because not necessarily, not everyone has those trays or any type of tray. I know there's all this, there's like this, this plethora of, aesthetics on Instagram,

Mifrah Mahroof:

what I'm imagining.

Almas Asad:

Yeah. And you get really bogged down by that. And I think those are the things that really used to overwhelm me at times. But I knew that at the end of the day, if my child is getting challenged, if my child is getting, those learning experiences at home and they're happy, that's all that matters. you you've got that resource, you've got that toy, whatever it is, and they're playing with it in a certain way. And they're happy, rather than them continuously bugging you or come and play with me, which they may do,'cause obviously they're children, they want you to be there with you. just making it very simple, have those four activities and those four little cubicles and with time, try and just like rotate them. Whether that be like every week or every month. I'd probably say every week for children that are a lot younger, because they tend to get more bored, a lot easy than like older kids.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yeah, that actually makes a lot of sense. And like from a clutter, perspective, it makes me feel better too.'cause it's like there's so much toys I feel has it's, well not a lot, but she has like a box of toys and I feel even that's a lot of toys. But if I can move that somewhere else and then just take a few out so that she can play with it, that does make it feel like those toys were worth worthwhile.

Almas Asad:

Definitely, and they've used well in a way where you feel that, it's worth its money type of thing. If it's like a very expensive toy or anything like that, or if it's like a loading resource that you've purchased online from like, some kind of small business.

Mifrah Mahroof:

So do these toys always have to like, when we say toys, do we always have to buy certain type of toys to make this work? Or like, is it possible in that shelf, like can put like a pot and a spoon in there and put that as an activity.

Almas Asad:

that's the amazing thing about Montessori principles is that it's all about adapting and it's all about using like everyday life items. It doesn't necessarily have to be toys. It could be, obviously. wooden place like the bowl of water or like a scoop or anything like that in the cubicle. But you might have an activity in the afternoon where, once you've done with work, you're sitting down and you've got like a whole tray of water and they've got like a scoop and all they're doing is that they're just pouring and they're scooping. So it's like scooping and transferring and they're getting that kind of, they're getting at that fine motor skill development. They're getting that sensory play

Mifrah Mahroof:

It's very interesting.

Almas Asad:

And also like that hand eye coordination as well. So you feel like they're doing something simple but they're actually learning a lot and it's actually, these type of activities help them later on strengthen their, like find motor skills and be able to grasp a pencil once they are ready to actually pick up a pencil. cause obviously you're not gonna give your child a pencil and start telling them to start writing a sentence. It's impossible.

Mifrah Mahroof:

On topic motor skills that you mentioned, I remember, hearing somewhere how like, children these days because like they know how to swipe on the phone, but they have weak motor skills in other areas like holding areas like holding or something because didn't have that experience

Almas Asad:

That's so true, I also saw a video and it was actually really sad where there was a child, he was sleeping he was in some kind of zone or like, he was so zoned out. He was sleeping, but he had like an imaginary iPad and he was just swiping. It was like he was swiping through like reels or something and I was like, it's so sad nowadays because Because kids are so, connected to their devices. They're so connected to their iPads. They don't really realize that once you've put them to the side, I know that iPads and technology is advanced and there's so many ways that you can teach your kids through those learning apps and everything as well, but sometimes, you are not, your child isn't gonna be, getting all of the skills.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yeah. And we see how that is actually when you see the effects of when they grow older and they can't hold a pen properly or they can't do these basic things that we take for granted

Almas Asad:

Oh, yes. I'm so grateful for my parents for not being, always making us sit in front of the tv. there was a certain time in the afternoon or anything they, but then again

Mifrah Mahroof:

back then in those days, we didn't have TV running for 24 hours anyway. Like shows and end at So I mean it's a totally different world. Our children now growing up in

Almas Asad:

Yeah. and it's just this aspect of having so many choices. Now, as soon as they come on, they can just go on YouTube and watch whatever the favorite show they have, whatever movie they wanna watch, whatever cartoon that it's right there. And at that time, we had to wait, we had that anxious like excitement level that, oh my God, my favorite cartoon is gonna be on at 4:00 PM. I know like one episode per week, right? And then we have to wait the next they call seven days. Can you believe that? We have to wait seven days to watch half an hour show I know, and, and I think that's why we're so blessed in a way that we had that kind of childhood. I know like our children are blessed as well now because they have all these options and, Alhamdulilah, you know, there's there's technology advanced as well. But there's certain things that we were, blessed with. life is, changing over time

Mifrah Mahroof:

and I guess that's also for us to acknowledge that, the world is a different place and we have to be cognizant of that as parents, that we have different challenges than our parents and we have the tools to deal, with that as well. So I mean, like one of the things that I noticed you also do is you actually infuse Islamic principles into the way you're teaching your children, and I'd love to hear more about that. Like how does that look like?

Almas Asad:

I think I started I'd say like a year or two ago where I noticed, I came across this amazing Instagram page. It was a sister, her name was Zainab, and her Instagram page is called BRB Raising Kids. The minute I went on her page is I was just, I just fell in love with her content and her whole, Islamic block. Her whole teaching practice was about Quran inspired Montessori play. So I was like, oh my God. I love montessori. I love, learning about Quran, I love the tafsir, sirah of the Prophet SAW. So, I really wanted to get my kids to fall in love with that as well. And that's one thing that I think when we were kids, uh, Alhamdulilah, that our parents gave that Islamic foundation, but I don't want my kids to, not get that base. not fall in love with the sirah, you not fall in love with like certain surahs. so what I try and do is that we get like certain Surahs that might be simple for your children to understand. Like for example, we've got like surah An-Naml or surah An-Nahl the Surah is about the ants, Surah about the bee. so what we're doing is that we're learning about the Surah, what's so amazing about the Surahs is that, lots of the scientific, principles and scientific facts come from the Quran, that a lot of people don't know there might be certain things like I know that, the Surah about the bee where like children, can learn about the structure of a bee. They could learn about, pretty much the anatomy of the bee and how bees, collect nectar from a flower or it could just be like one verse from a Surah and then kind of unpacking that, Surah that verse, and just like creating a lesson out of it. Creating like a whole bee lesson, the unit of the bee.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Would you say something though that is more appropriate children who are a bit older, like say five

Almas Asad:

I'd say definitely for children, probably ages four and five.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Okay. So you would say the process of infusing more Islamic education would be around four and five?'cause I'm thinking 1-year-old would play with the bee like A with the A toy bee. Of course

Almas Asad:

Yeah.

Mifrah Mahroof:

But else would they know? you could just like play the surah

Almas Asad:

or like, there's lots of videos on YouTube, which kind of, explain the whole, like explain a certain Surah through like, storytelling. You could like make them and then you could just sit down and discuss the Surah. It doesn't have to be an actual activity. You could be discussing, What did you learn about the Surah? Um, what are the certain things that you feel like you really loved about it? And then later on as they, grow up, you could kind of extend on that learning.

Mifrah Mahroof:

explain it more. Yeah,

Almas Asad:

Yeah, definitely

Mifrah Mahroof:

sense. Yeah, I mean I definitely do se a lot of value even like playing the Quran or resigning the Quran are around been they're young cause they pick it up and it just makes it easy for them to memorize later on because they heard that a lot.

Almas Asad:

I think in the early years we don't realize it, but the children's brains are like, they're actually like sponges. They're grasping so quickly and there's certain things that you don't want them to grasp, but they learn very quickly. Um. but like the certain surah, like I know for a very long time we were playing surah Al-Fatihah in the morning and Alhamdulilah both my children are able to recite

Mifrah Mahroof:

recite. MashaAllah. And quite young right? Four and five.

Almas Asad:

my daughter's three. four

Mifrah Mahroof:

Oh your daughter's three, mashaAllah, nice.

Almas Asad:

my son's gonna be five next month.

Mifrah Mahroof:

so your 3-year-old can recite surah Al-Fatihah now?

Almas Asad:

she has moments where she would be able, she would sit down and recite the whole thing, but then she has days where she would be like, no, I'm not doing it. And I'm like,

Mifrah Mahroof:

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. but, but like, to actually hear that she was able to do is very encouraging.

Almas Asad:

Yeah, Alhamdulilah,

Mifrah Mahroof:

really nice.

Almas Asad:

just certain surahs like short surahs that you don't realize that your kids, are able to learn. We really underestimate our kids' abilities, you know?

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yeah, Yeah, I agree.

Almas Asad:

My aim is not to just shove knowledge down their throats, but adapt with them and be flexible. if I feel that my child is getting really overwhelmed, my son tends to do that, he starts to get really bogged down. But if he doesn't understand something, he's like, I mind, I'm not understanding it. And he gets really worried and it gets anxious about it. We kind of move away from this space you know what, we don't have to do this today, Assam

Mifrah Mahroof:

yeah. we can do it tomorrow, we can do it another day, because,

Almas Asad:

At the end of the day, we want our kids to be happy. We want them to be learning. But, in a way where they're happy, they're willing to do it again type of thing. Not feel that, oh, my mom's gonna sit me down again and,

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yeah. So you can associate like positive memories with learning. So it's not like, a stressful when I'm learning

Almas Asad:

like as we were young, we were like taught to sit down and like go through like, or study or do your homework. Um, and then we were gone out to play. But what I want our children to what my children or like, you know, of this generation is to kind of connect that like a positive, connection with learning rather than just feel that, learning is just, work, but learning can actually be

Mifrah Mahroof:

enjoying. I agree. So that learning can continue throughout life. Yeah, Inshaa Allah, and that's very important. Yeah. All right. Nice. Well, look, then the next thing I wanna actually speak to you is actually more on the topic of toys, right? So, what are good toys to look out for? What are the bad to look out for? Because now I'm thinking about setting up this environment for my daughter and I might have to go out and, buy stuff, or I have to get rid of some toys, which she has. And wanna I wanna hear your thoughts.

Almas Asad:

I think there's lots of toys out there. there's so many out there. There's so many resources. There's so many websites, there's so many small businesses, but I feel like the toys are where you feel that there's no purpose to them. they're just

Mifrah Mahroof:

making sound do you mean by No, purpose to them.

Almas Asad:

Like they're, not really an objective out of it. it could just be like a little toy teddy bear or something. You know, teddy bears are great, they sometimes like a sense of comfort for your children, but they it be like a teddy bear that's making so much noise. I wouldn't put that on a shelf because I feel like your child's not really getting anything out that.

Mifrah Mahroof:

All right, so it's just the teddy bear that like you, you kind of press and it sings, for example. So you see

Almas Asad:

Or things and stuff. I feel like it's a ton of toy that's it might be overstimulating your child, it might not really be getting your child to do anything. and your child's just doing the thing. They're pressing the button over and over again and your child not be,

Mifrah Mahroof:

okay.

Almas Asad:

not

Mifrah Mahroof:

So it's those like toys that they're just like clicking on the button and it makes a noise and they have nothing to do, I guess no problem solving, know nothing

Almas Asad:

hundred percent. And I feel like nowadays There's lots of online stores. There's lots of, even like the normal department stores, like Big W Kmart stuff, they've actually started putting lots of open-ended style toys where, there's a lot more that you can get out of it, like a puzzle, like a wooden puzzle. Lots of wooden toys, which are, they may seem, boring, but there are a lot more, resourceful and they last longer as well. I think all of those plastic toys, they break really easily and sometimes can be a bit of a hazard unless, you feel that, they're a lot more older to kind of manage with toys like that. I know my son, like he's really into superheroes and everything like that. I'm not getting rid of all of his Marvel toys and stuff like that. He loves them and I let them get, I sometimes buy them for it, but I feel like

Mifrah Mahroof:

So are you saying the Marvel toys are like useless toys?

Almas Asad:

I do agree. I do think they're use

Mifrah Mahroof:

your son hear this

Almas Asad:

I do feel like they're useless, but at the end of the day, it keeps him happy. And when he's doing that, he's independent play and he's engaging in his like, superhero world. That's the imaginative play going on. we wanna encourage them in play in learning experiences where I feel that they're getting challenged in a way where they feel that you are getting something out of it, you know, where you feel that your child

Mifrah Mahroof:

yeah. So

Almas Asad:

from that setting.

Mifrah Mahroof:

curiosity,

Almas Asad:

Yeah, definitely. It nurtures the curiosity. It brings them into some kind of, like, in a world where they can actually, Learn and pick up principles and stuff and, relate it to the real world. I think a really amazing tool that we've started doing is we started playing monopoly

Mifrah Mahroof:

okay.

Almas Asad:

With my 4-year-old. My 3-year-old kind of just sits there and she's like the banker type of thing. She kind of like

Mifrah Mahroof:

cute.

Almas Asad:

like's the money and stuff. What Monopoly does, obviously we might not be playing it as rule by rule, but what we're doing is that. We're, learning the whole aspect of buying and selling and what needs to be bought and if I purchase a sort of property, I can get money by someone coming into my house and, paying me rent. but we make it as simple as possible. Like it might not be if a property is in the book of the rule, of the monopoly

Mifrah Mahroof:

yeah. yeah. Make it more age appropriate

Almas Asad:

Yeah, make it all age appropriate. So, and my kids love it. They love the handling of the money. They feel like they've got actual money in their hands and we could relate that to a real life experience, we could go out shopping to Kmart or something the other day. I gave them like a$20, note and I'm like, Hasam, what do you think you can do with a 20 note? And he goes out and he is like, I'm gonna, I feel like if I buy something, for$10, I told him obviously,'cause he doesn't really understand subtraction or multiplication or anything like that. I told him that, you can get two items for$10 or you could get, um, you could get four items for five each. So he went out and he got like. One item for$10 and if you got two items for$5. So it's that whole aspect of kind of giving that real life experience. they're learning as they go, so they like, as they got older, they're like, oh, okay. My mom, like, when we were lot younger, she gave me like certain budget and I had to work around that. I try and make it as simple as possible. Obviously, if I feel that he's not getting it or she's not getting it, I kind of move away from the sign...

Mifrah Mahroof:

Those toys, try to connect them to like real life experiences as much as you can. Um, so that it can be worthwhile for them to play with. And, and it challenges them, it grows them, it helps them with their motor skills. So that makes a lot of sense. So not just those ones where they're like passively play with it. So what I'm hearing is like active play. So they're taking a part in playing with that. that, makes a lot of sense. you know the funny thing on toys, I remember having this conversation with a friend of mine and she was like, to me, oh, you know, kids don't even play with toys. And she's like, just go to a secondhand shop and buy like, old phones and like these little, gadgets kind of thing that are very fiddly. And let them just play with that

Almas Asad:

Yeah, I think

Mifrah Mahroof:

I that was very creative. I know we're got around to actually doing that, but I can imagine like, back in our days when we were younger, like, those phones and stuff like, you like click it and then it like moves around and you can get a lot of active play out of that.

Almas Asad:

Yeah. and I think what we don't realize is that there's lots of things at home that you could create like a whole activity outta, it might be like a container or like a plastic container and stuff. And you put like, I don't know, rice in it, and they just, you get a spoon that's like three things and that's an activity for them, like for your 1-year-old or like 2-year-old or something.

Mifrah Mahroof:

true.

Almas Asad:

Yeah, it's really, really simple. But, I feel like because there's just so much out there, people just tend

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yeah. I guess that's where feel overwhelmed and we of tend to complicate it Oh yeah that's that's so true. Hmm. that was really helpful. And in fact, I imagine, actually, I think I can even go and start setting up some sort of basic environment now actually, with the information that you gave. So I'm thinking of putting together some sort of shelf and putting just four activities and getting rid of that box or hiding it somewhere in the house.

Almas Asad:

you might be needing that box. Maybe like, once in a lifetime you won't be needing it. if you've got those four activities, you could be like rotating it as well. Like, not just, having those four activities.'cause I feel like kids tend to get bored and there might be

Mifrah Mahroof:

Oh, yeah, yeah, You'll, I guess I'll take those four activities and put it back in the box and take another four out of the box or something like that like that. Yeah. Alright, that sounds good. we're actually near the end of our interview, so I'd like to, ask you a few questions that we ask all our guests. so the first one is, what is one life hack that has improved your life?

Almas Asad:

I think the one life hack that I think as a parent, that has literally been a game changer for me. and I know some parents probably won't agree with me with this because it's all about, management of time and anything like that.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Hmm.

Almas Asad:

Just waking up a few hours earlier before your children has been an absolute game changer for me. Like whether that be staying up after fajar and having those moments to yourself, whether that be trying to meet like a goal that you have your own. Working on your own passion project or whether that be, doing your own work, that your own type of soul project that you're working on. or just getting like a bit of time to just unwind because I feel like now it's just so hard. because there's so many working moms out there. We don't get that time to ourselves. I know there's lots of parents that don't get that time in the morning. So maybe like sometimes allocate a certain time in a during the day or whether that be in the evening, whether that be an hour or two, but I would definitely suggest waking up earlier in the morning. Which means sleeping early, which has also really helped me as well. allowing me to focus more, in my work and, trying to meet my own personal goals. It doesn't have to be career oriented. It could just be like personal development goals. Does that be learning to be more confident with ourselves or learning to work on our self-esteem or learning to be umm as,

Mifrah Mahroof:

yeah, so like personal growth?

Almas Asad:

Yeah. definitely. So I think that's the one thing that has really helped me grow. I think in the beginning it's really hard because you're not used to waking up that early or you are used to going back to sleep after fajar or something. But, if you do get those early hours it's a lot more quiet. And if your daughter or your son do wake up in the morning, they, might be able to feed them or anything like that, or put them back to sleep. Or if your kids are a lot like a way early birds, then I'd say they're a lot more quieter in in the early times of the day. I feel like with my children, they do sleep early, even if they do wake up early in the morning, they're a lot more quiet. and even if they're in their corner, I still get that time to kind of

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yeah, true. I've noticed that as well. my daughter generally has a good mood in the morning. She's happy going around herself and playing.

Almas Asad:

unless they're sick or if they're like, going through something or something like that, obviously it doesn't work out every single day. for a parent every day is different, even if you're able to do that like once or twice a week, it really affects your mood as well. So when your kids do wake up, you are a lot more happy. You are able to cater to their needs and you're a better parent that's the other day

Mifrah Mahroof:

I agree. And that's a really good point that you brought up about even just trying that for one or two times a week because I know I've tried many times to wake up in the morning and be able to get some work done and just will work on myself, and it always makes me feel good, positive and uplifted. But the struggle is like when I wake up and I'm already sleep deprived from the night, it's like I feel like I've to choose between the but just hearing that, I can even do it for once or twice a week. think that's very doable because. My body can recover the next day. I can sleep in a bit more to balance out the sleep that until my daughter grows a bit older and I can properly sleep.

Almas Asad:

Yeah, I think it's a lot easier for me now once my kids have been like three or four and my daughter's a lot younger. I know once she hits that 1-year-old Mark, it's gonna get hard for me again. I'm in that period where I'm kind of in a fantasy world.'cause Alhamdulilah, my kids have been really good these past couple of, months. Alhamdulilah, it's just about time management and I think a lot kind of, Alhamdulilah, get grants barakah for you, when you do work in those early hours as well. Because at the end of the day, that's what, our prophet had recommended for us as well to try and work in early hours of the day.

Mifrah Mahroof:

it's also interesting that you mentioned this because just last night I felt like I wanted to wake up early morning, but I couldn't because I wasn't sleeping well and I just like made dua to Allah SWT and said ya Allah, like Isha is really late, like Right now, because summer and I'm not getting enough sleep, but I really wanna wake up in the morning and do things in the morning. And like today I was able to wake up and I had a nap later on. But it balanced out and I feel good and I feel positive. So I think it's also just placing our trust in and not being so attached to how many hours you sleep. It just like, Allah will give the quality in my sleep and he'll take care of me.

Almas Asad:

A hundred percent. Yeah. it's just having the right intentions as well if you're waking up for a certain thing, I'd say I wouldn't suggest to wake up early and like watch a movie or something like that. I just, not the thing I would do. but I'd say just having that bit of me time, whether that be reading a book or doing your own work, just having that kind of quiet time, it has really helped me because, all my kids, they're under five and gets chaotic in the house sometimes with all three of them,

Mifrah Mahroof:

you

Almas Asad:

That's one of a life hack for me.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Awesome. And the next question, that we have is What is a book that has helped you level up in your life?

Almas Asad:

I wouldn't really say I'm an avid reader, but these past couple of months I've been working on reading. I'd say when I was a lot younger, when I was in primary school, I loved to read like, you know, those Emily I think books, those Goosebumps series. Um, in those premiers reading challenge, if you were in primary school. Public private schools. everyone would know what that is. Um, but yeah.

Mifrah Mahroof:

public privat

Almas Asad:

school, right but as I got older, obviously life comes of the way and you forget about books because there's pathology comes of the way. But the one book that, has helped me is, the one right here. So it's called Montessori Method at Home, umm

Mifrah Mahroof:

okay. So this book that I've read,

Almas Asad:

I've got like a few post notes here because as I go, I'm trying to, put notes in there because again, as I say, I'm not really a professional. I'm not like an expert in Montessori.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yeah.

Almas Asad:

but I've learned a lot from this book and it's given me, that kind of, Guidance to try and that kind of motivation to keep going because there's lots of principles in there that are so simple that you can do an everyday, like, just everyday life. this is one book that's helping and another book that I'm actually reading at the moment, just the Kindle, which is called, um, How to Speak to Anyone, and I think it's by Leil, I can't remember his last name, but, that's a really good book because it's helped me. And there's one thing that I've really, felt since I was younger is I felt like I didn't really have a very high self-esteem. And I, I'm a bit of an introvert extrovert, you could say. So I tend to, when there's a whole room full of people, you probably won't be able to notice me. But when there's just one person and there's just me, I probably would be speaking more because. I think that's just how I work, but the one thing that I'm working on is my communication skills. And it's one thing that's helped me become, a lot more confident, with just my whole YouTube journey and, Inshaa Allah when I do start my podcast journey as well. it's a great book. I'm probably, I'm still in the early stages, but, it's one thing that really got it me to understand like the whole systems of eye contact and, smiling more, or being a lot more, happy, even if you're not happy. I wouldn't say to fake it, but I think the saying, that comes is to, fake it till you make it. It's sometimes that kind of does work because I feel like you can train your brain in a certain

Mifrah Mahroof:

way

Almas Asad:

Yeah.

Mifrah Mahroof:

'cause your external influences your internal

Almas Asad:

Definitely. Yeah. if you feel that you are reacting or if you're being in a certain way, if you're being very positive, your brain will automatically become a positive person. You'll automatically become a more positive person. if you just try train to become a lot more positive and you train to smile a bit more, or you train to make more eye contact with strangers, not in a weird, awkward way

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yeah.

Almas Asad:

only if you're, active communicating with them. So, yeah. that's two books that I'm currently working reading.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Almas, thank you so much for joining us today,

Almas Asad:

Thank you so much for having me. Mifrah. it's been a really good journey.

Mifrah Mahroof:

so one last thing is that you mentioned YouTube, you mentioned podcast. Where can, listeners find you if they wanna learn more information?

Almas Asad:

I have my Instagram page, which is called Eager Little Beavers,

Mifrah Mahroof:

we'll link that all in the show notes.

Almas Asad:

on my Instagram page, you've got my link tree, and in my link tree you've got the links to my, YouTube channel. and InshaAllah. I'm still working on my podcast channel, which, currently, in the works in production as well. And yeah, so you could probably see those links there. On my YouTube, it's mostly, those in our shorts. We've got like our learning through play activities that we've been doing on Instagram, and also the longer content. It's more like our product of school contents, so pretty much like how to handle tantrums or how to train your child.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Uh, that's important.

Almas Asad:

mix and yeah, simple mix. And that I think that I wanted to share with everyone, that I've learned over the years as a parent, and also a teacher as well. So yeah, I really hope, everyone does enjoy, and does subscribe to my channel as well. So the channels called ELBeavers, yeah.

Mifrah Mahroof:

ELBeavers. E-L-E-L-B. Beavers.

Almas Asad:

so it's ELBeavers so there's just one B, so

Mifrah Mahroof:

ELBs. Okay. Awesome. All right, well thanks so much Almas.

Almas Asad:

Thank you so much, Mifrah.

Mifrah Mahroof - Podcast Ending:

Hey everyone, that wraps up another episode of the Muslim Life Hackers podcast. I really hope you enjoyed our chat today and got some great takeaways from it. If you like what you heard and don't want to miss out on our next conversations, hit that subscribe button. It really means a lot to us and helps us grow the show. And you know what? If you're feeling extra generous today, drop us a review or a rating. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thank you again for tuning in until next time, keep striving and getting better every day.

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Mifrah Mahroof

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