SO as you all know, I teach at an Islamic school where the desks are low and we all sit on the carpet the good ol’ desi way. Everyone takes their shoes off at the foyer.
I do one on ones for a couple of subjects so there’s a few children who come in with very poor hygiene, such as smelly socks, long nails with black stuff in them, unbrushed teeth with bad odor, etc.
I feel bad for them as they are little kids and politely tell them to go home and ask their mommies to help them tidy up. I don’t have the heart to send a note home and neither is it my responsibility to cut their nails, etc.
Any suggestions on how I can handle this? Should I send a general memo out to all parents with some guidelines? Will that be offensive?
hmmm tough situation.....a general memo might me good as no one parent will feel attacked but then again you might offend all of them. How old are the kids ? Could you not do a class on the importance of hygiene in islam and then include in the notes you send home that thats what the kids learned that day ? Perhaps this would give a subtle hint to the parents.
i agree....a general memo is not directed at certain but to all students. You could teach them the importance of cleanliness in Islam via references of various hadiths and engage them to participate. One of the students could be the 'hygiene police of the week' :D and every week a new kid would be the police officer or something :)
EDIT: so i just posted after a while and realized others have said the same thing.
As a side note, it really pisses me off when parents don't take care of their kids hygiene......I know that kids get into things but there is a difference between messy and dirty.
I don't think that'd be offensive at all but keeping the desi mentality in mind it might be.
Actually i'd say its not just desis but all ethnicities. You never know if someone is so hypersensitive htat they will take constructive criticism as an insult, even if their action/inaction is wrong
Some parents who cannot make sure their kids behave, when someone else does, they take it as an insult to their parenting skills.
I teach at an Islamic school as well. You can try sending a newsletter telling the parents about the various activities that things kids are learning in class. One segment of the newsletter can be about cleanliness....you can include a relevant hadith.....and then mention how kids' immune systems are developing and how (apart from religious reasons) it's important for them to be clean in various ways (washing up, clean clothes, etc). And make a cute little cleanliness checklist in the newsletter.....or put it on a separate sheet......and it could be a checklist that the KIDS (themselves) use.....before leaving home. Know what I mean? It can be fun for the kids to go through the list and see if they have all those things.......and plus you're making the parents aware in a general way.
And you can even do a group reward system. You know where the whole class gets points for behaving well, etc. You can give overall points/rewards for everyone being dressed neatly. Stickers/candy, etc. And that is another way to motivate them, etc.
You can either try to phrase the note in a way that it is still kind. The other suggestion is to do a lesson on the importance of hygiene in Islam and actually bring in things toteach the kids how to clean up. Make them actually do it in class (I know this is going well beyond the call of duty, but I am sure you will be rewarded for it. Also, you could ask for parents to help out in the classroom on that day.
Then tell them their homework is to practice at home and send a letter to the parents explaining the assignment and encouraging them to help.
Sahar, the parents of the kids in question will never come in but I like your idea of sending a letter about the interactive assignment.
In the Fiqh class, we are talking about bathroom habits…next is body cleanliness…lemme see how I can incorporate that into an assigment…maybe do a checklist for the parents and have them sign it ?
what we do is that we teach the kids about taharah and istinga and how important cleanliness is in islam. it's a whole unit, in where there is a test as well. Teach the kids that it is disliked to have bad breath while praying, for example. The kids come in uniform (green bottoms and white tops) and after every class there is a general assembly and shaykh sometimes talks about good hygiene, clean clothes, etc. Stress that the masjid is Allah's home and when we come to Allah's home we shoudl be in our best appearance.
Seeing that you have kids as young as 4, unfortunate as it might be, sometimes u just have to tell the parent face to face (when they pick up their kid) about the issue but in a way not to offend them.
RV, I have the reward system in place already and unfortunately it hasn't changed anything much :(.
I like the newsletter idea. We do have a quarterly newsletter and I think our next one whould be about taharaah.
They all know what you are going to tell them in newsletter. The parents are adults they were not born and raised in a jungle by wolves. I would still recommend a direct approach pointing out specific thing you want the parents to address. If you have the well being of these kids in your heart then you should not be scared of the reaction of their parents. You do not want to be friends with , those lazy bums anyway.
I love the idea of uniforms Afshi. I wish we could implement them at one point...in fact once we grow into a larger set up, we could even pay for one uniform per child from the school fund as most parents have issues with the minimal tuition, let alone asking them to spend towards a uniform. At least the kids will be dressed clean and we don't have to deal with choti choti kameezain that bare all when the kids bend. After a long time I have finally been able to establish the full sleeves and hijab/topi rule. Kids were coming in with all sorts of play clothes with spongebob characters on their tshirts and half pants! We talked about masjid ettiquettes and send home a letter about dress codes at the masjid. Some parents had issues with that. I got feedback saying we're too strict with little children and they should be allowed to wear whatever.
actually we dont sell the uniforms..we jsut tell them that they have to wear green bottoms (pants/skirt) and a white shirt (but no pics on the shirt). so a lot of the boys wear on army green pants and white button up shirt or tshirt. some girls wear green pants while some girls wear green skirts (they they had gotten sewn or bought).
They all have to wear white topi or hijab. Otherwise they are confined to sitting with the Shaykh (or my husband) for the whole day instead of sitting with their friends.
we are pretty good with the uniform..dont have too many issues...there is the odd kid that doesnt wear it..but otherwise alhumdulillah its fine.
i think the biggest issue is attendance and commitment. We see a lot of kids register and join the class, but after a couple of weeks, their attendance is random and it effects the whole class sometimes, since they come after months at a time.
we shoudl start a whoel new topic/thred about islamic school ideas/suggestions.
actually we dont sell the uniforms..we jsut tell them that they have to wear green bottoms (pants/skirt) and a white shirt (but no pics on the shirt). so a lot of the boys wear on army green pants and white button up shirt or tshirt. some girls wear green pants while some girls wear green skirts (they they had gotten sewn or bought).
They all have to wear white topi or hijab. Otherwise they are confined to sitting with the Shaykh (or my husband) for the whole day instead of sitting with their friends.
we are pretty good with the uniform..dont have too many issues...there is the odd kid that doesnt wear it..but otherwise alhumdulillah its fine.
i think the biggest issue is attendance and commitment. We see a lot of kids register and join the class, but after a couple of weeks, their attendance is random and it effects the whole class sometimes, since they come after months at a time.
we shoudl start a whoel new topic/thred about islamic school ideas/suggestions.
Do that Afshi! I mean start a thread on that topic.
In our school, attendance isn't an issue much. The kids are eager to come in and enjoy school. It's mainly the haggling on tuition costs, bad hygiene, parents not getting involved in kids progress....that type of stuff.
but I like your idea of sending a letter about the interactive assignment.
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