Haikal completed one day of fasting

An attempt to get Haikal to fast when he was 5 years old :).

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About a month before Ramadhan, I asked Haikal whether he wanted to start fasting this year, explaining to him that he would have to refrain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk. He was agreeable.

A few days before the day actually came, once again I asked him whether he wanted to fast. He re-affirmed himself about the rules of fasting to me and said that he would like to try. I added that he shouldn’t be sucking his fingers when he fast also (yeah, he still sucks his fingers, of which I can’t refrain him from doing coz I sucked my fingers until I was like 8! So, don’t really wanna be a hypocrite here… hehehe…).

So, the first day of Ramadhan, I woke him for sahur and it was really difficult to get him to eat. Haikal is a pretty big eater and he usually requires rice for lunch and dinner. So, when he only had a slice of cheese for sahur that day, I knew he wouldn’t last the whole day.

After sahur, I told him to go back to sleep and upon entering the bedroom he told me pitifully, “Mama, Haikal tak boleh tahan…” I was a bit surprised until he continued, “…Haikal kene hisap jari…” I almost laughed but just told him to go to sleep. He went to sleep happily, sucking his fingers. That day, he woke up around 10 and by 11 he said he wanted to break his fast already. I told him to wait another hour before breaking his fast and he agreed.

The next day was a school day. He started fasting for the day. I told one of the teachers there that he was trying to fast but if he wanted to break his fast, to let him during lunch time. When I fetched him from school that day, I asked him how long he fasted that day. He said that he drank a glass of water in class. When I asked why, his response was, “Haikal telan air liur banyak-banyak pun masih haus lagi. Pastu Haikal minumlah air.” He added that he didn’t want to fast anymore at school. I was ok with it but I asked him whether he would try fasting during the weekends and he said he would.

So, yesterday, he tried fasting again and he succeeded in completing one whole day of fasting! He actually wanted to break his fast at around 4 but I managed to coax him to wait until the actual breaking fast time. I told him that we would be going to his Nyang’s house where a lot of people would be there and it would be fun to break fast together. He got pretty excited about it and agreed.

The last hour before the breaking fast time was the most difficult. Every five minutes during the hour he asked when he could break his fast. I stayed by him the whole time and every time he asked I told him, “Sikiiiiiiiiiitttt lagi” and told him that I was proud of him.

When the time actually came, we recited the doa together and I could see that he was happy and proud of himself for completing the day of fasting. Today, he’s trying again, InsyaAllah…