Hi Peeps!
I could use a little help please - I am currently working with a muslim family with whom we are completing an assessment, which obviously includes family issues, background, makeup etc the usual really but with some child protection concerns - however I want to try to understand a little more about the muslin culture with regards to parenting styles, views about children and their place within the family etc - was wodnering if anyone could point me in the direction of any books which might be useful? Sorry does that make sense, got my weekend head on!
any help would be greatly appreciated - i just want to be sensitive to any differences and ensure that these get included.
hi lolo,
we have always been told your best resource would be a local muslim support group such as a faith group or some kind of community group that you could ask all sorts of questions you need to know, of course it goes without saying you should ensure confidentiality of the family but you could just ask the group for infomation for your own personal development. I have a good document but unfortunately can only attach it to an email so if you let me have your email address i will send it to you.
good luck
hi lizzer, thanks for that, did try to find my local support group today, but got called away on something else, isn't it always the way!! will try to email you and will continue to look on monday.
cheers
You could also try beliefnet. I think the actual address is www.beliefnet.com - if that's not right it's something similair.
So far as I can tell there are people on there from just about every religion imaginable and they're usually very willing to answer questions on their beliefs and the cultural implications.
I've used it a few times for advice when writing courses to ensure I don't mess up and even though I'm often very clear that I don't believe personally most people are happy to help because they understand the context that my personal views are less relevant than the needs of the people in my training courses. I'm sure they'd take the same position with your inquiries.
Me being me I've also had the odd argument in the forums but that's a different context altogether of course.
Cheers,
Stuart
Bridging the theory:practice gap
www.amjcaretraining.site50.net
Hi
New to the forum this is only my second post! Im a first year BA student and am a Muslim, not that automatically qualifies me as an expert.
I think that parenting styles and opinions of childrens position within the family is dependant on how practising the family is, and what there ethnic origin is presuming they are not English. For example and just to be clear this is (just my opinion and my knowledge is limited) afghani families tend to me more strict on children, especially girls, and the male role is quite dominant and macohistic, when compared to say second generation Pakistani families who can be quite liberal, the thing to point out is its usually peoples ethnic culture that plays the dominant role in parenting and not islam.
For example i am a practising muslim and my religion teaches me that children are to be valued and their opinion is to be considered, controlling childen is not appropriate without explanaition, and morally children should be taught what islam defines as 'right and wrong' and more importantly why it is right/wrong. However my culture teaches me children should be heard and not seen, and should be kept controlled for their own good, force may be used if neccecery.
Sorry if i have confused things further i guess what i am saying is that its a good idea to go to a local mosque or islamic community centre and ask for information on parentig in islam, however this may not be what is practiced by the family in question. This website may be helpful http://www.muslimparenting.com/?cat=14
speaking as someone who is not a Muslim
social alien makes a good point about the differences in practices - sometimes the differences might be quite subtle, sometimes they can be massive - here in the UK most people only know about Muslims what they read in the papers about people who are involved in the more extremist beliefs but not everyone shares their views (if you think about it the same is true for Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and others - people vary in the extent to which they believe and practice their faith and their ethnic origin can also play a part in that variation)
read anything that gives you an understanding of the basic beliefs of Islam and what the key festivals and practices are
then ask the family you are working with how they practice their faith and what it means to them - be honest that your knowledge about their faith is limited but try to show that you have at least tried to gain an understanding of the basics of their faith and ask sensible questions - and if necessary be prepared to explain why some things might be of a child protection concern under UK law