Canons firing to mark the first day of Ramadan outside Dubai Mall (library picture)

Good morning, afternoon or evening wherever you are or whatever time you happen to read this note. I haven't been able to blog this weekend as together with many Muslims around the world we welcomed Ramadan in the UAE last Thursday. Our kids have their advent calendars ready and we made our own Ramadan celebration board to really get into the mood.

Ramadan Kareem to you all!

Muslims around the world fast from dawn to dusk for 30 days. Fasting because God asked them to do it. Of course it allows us to be more aware of how fortunate we are but the main essence of Ramadan is to get closer to God through extra prayer and worship. So if your students seem more tired this month cut them a bit of slack. In fact over here we're only teaching from 10am-2pm these days to ensure the students get some time to rest and recuperate. It is fascinating to note that almost all the Worlds' Religions practice fasting as a way of getting closer with their Lord.

So onto 'Three ways of staying busy' this week in lockdown!

1. Have a go at cutting your children's hair - we bought a Wahl hair trimmer from trusty Amazon and after waiting around a week for delivery our sons were finally able to get a haircut - albeit reminiscent of old Phil and Grant Mitchell from way back when! It was nice for them to finally be able to see again 😜Following on from our Prank Wars last week, the girls managed to convince their little sis that she was also having her hair cut - cue her new phrase "Heeeeeeyyyy." Which caused me to finally shut down Prank Wars.

2. We have been in lockdown for 6 weeks now and the kids are really getting antsy now; I've had to step up my game and be more available for them - another reason why this blog did not get written earlier. Obviously they just need to go out and run it all out which is really impossible at the moment even though the country is slowly lifting bans and easing up on shopping malls, the hot weather is also a deterrent these days. Luckily PE with Joe is available online 24/7 so sometimes we repeat workouts ("Oh look! Joe is on AGAIN!!) The 'Scooby Doo' one is a firm favourite now! We've also realised that sometimes you just gotta let them fight it out, so yes- we have had some 'refereed/ wrestling matches this week!'

I found a Taekwondo online school and a Zumba one now so I carved out some time to spend with the kid(s) that don't want to take part in that activity. the pandemic has really made me think about choices and how younger ones feel heard and happy when they are listened to and when they have a choice. The two workouts I have linked are really easy and $27 for a 6-week course of Taekwondo is amazing considering they'll be good enough to achieve a belt out of it!

3. I mentioned games like 'Never have I ever' and 'Would you rather' before - but it's worth revisiting - this time let the kids make up the choices... within minutes you'll be ROFL like we were!

All in all its been a pleasant week and we have been busy creating content for the launch of LoveLearning.Online Lessons next week which we are excited to share with you very, very soon!

[first posted on LoveLearning.Online Apr 28 2020]