Aaila Magazine December 2013/January 2014 Edition Out Now.

Assalam-alaikam,

The newest edition of Aaila, the Muslim Family magazine is now out. I really enjoyed writing my column this month (10 Lessons to Make Parenting Easier), I hope you enjoy reading it too. An extract is below and the full column is here.

"This year marked ten years of me being a working mother, not necessarily something I am proud or ashamed of – it’s just the way the decade has panned out for me. This state of acceptance is a fairly recent occurrence though. The past ten years have been marked with anxiety about my children, fear that they will miss out or be emotionally or developmentally stunted in some way, embarrassment at being told I should not be working and must be a selfish person. I have felt pride in upholding all of my responsibilities and never allowing my children to be an excuse to achieve less at work as well as never allowing my work to be an excuse to do as much as I could for my children.

Now that I have four children and my oldest is coming to the milestone of the end of her primary education, I feel I am at a good place to look back and review my experience. After all the years of worry, I found that the children are growing up to be healthy, happy and confident. We have good relationships with them and we have made Islam central to our family life. The fact that I work has made them quite independent as I expect them to do more themselves. They also trust me deeply because every day I have left them and come back to them at the same time allaying any fears that they may have had at the beginning about their mum being away. At the same time I have my regrets as I see bad habits and character flaws creep in. But I recognise that every parent experiences this and wonders what more they could have done and that these flaws are part of what makes them human and unique individuals.

So after ten years of being a mother, working and now accepting my situation for what it is, I have learned a lot about what makes my life easier and helps me to do more. I hope sharing some of these things will help other mothers, whether they formally work or not."

There are lots of other great articles too, including:

Muslimah Dilemma: Achieving your Goals in the Islamic New Year By Tasnim Nazeer

Marriage Maintenance By Uzma Riyaaz

A Beginning Towards A Better End InshaAllah By Maria Karim

No more Christmas for me, please...By Klaudia Khan

What exercise means to your life By Cordelia Gaffar

A thought for fathers By Abu Sahla

Please do visit the magazines site and leave a comment if you can.

If you are interested in writing or contributing to Aaila, please contact the editor Sister Umm Imran at aailamagazine@gmail.com.

If you want to advertise your business, service or product, Aaila might be just the forum for you. You can contact Sister Umm Imran at the above e-mail for further information.