Fasting for the First Time

Dear Diary,

Alhamdulillah, after a week of Ramadhan and much persuasion, Imran is finally fasting though on a half day basis. This is his first time fasting. Yesterday and today he fasts until 2pm. Yea!!! That’s good enough for me. Not to mention a huge step on his behalf.

A day before Ramadhan, he was very excited to try fasting after I explained to him what puasa is all about and reasons why he should start fasting. What happened next morning was entirely different story. He asked for his glass of milk as usual when it was time for him to go to school. I reasoned with him now that he started fasting he cannot eat or drink anything until he came back from school. My intention is to train him to fast half day during school days and full day during weekends. Then the drama began….Imran started crying and whining. As I didn’t want his day and his fasting experience to start on a wrong foot, I gave in and let him have his milk. For the past one week, there were all sorts of excuses which resulted in Imran not fasting. “Mama, Adam lapar.” “Mama, Adam puasa tapi minum sikit je.” “Mama, Adam muntah sebab perut kosong.” “Mama, Adam makan sikit rasa-rasa je kat sekolah tadi.”

So, you can imagine my joy when he came home from school yesterday and said this when I asked him whether he ate anything in school, “Tak. Adam tak makan apa-apa pun hari ni. Adam puasa.” I pray he will successfully fast (even half day) all throughout Ramadhan, Insya Allah.