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My daughter came home last October holding a flyer. Class costume parade. She just stood there in the kitchen, still had her backpack on, waiting for me to say something. And I didn't know what to say. Not right away. Candy, costumes, feels harmless…

Bath night used to be a full negotiation in our house; my son treated soap like a personal insult. At some point, I mentioned that being clean is actually part of praying properly in Islam, not just a parent thing, and something about that reframing…

First Friday prayer with my son, and he spent most of it trying to climb over my shoulder to inspect the ceiling, loudly asking why everyone was "doing yoga." Nobody seemed too bothered — mosques tend to be forgiving toward little kids — but it made…

"Why don't we watch the ball drop?" A fair question from a kid whose friends all stay up for New Year's Eve. Took a while to explain we actually have our own New Year, one that moves around the regular calendar and doesn't land on the same date…

Her best friend moved away last year, and rebuilding a friend group from scratch at that age is genuinely rough to watch from the sidelines. It also opened up a good chance to talk about what actually makes someone a good friend, beyond convenience…

A video game controller. That's what the fight was over, and my older kid held onto the grudge for what felt like an unreasonably long stretch given the stakes involved. Eventually I sat both of them down and told the story of the Prophet forgiving…