My Son's Struggles Led to Writing This Book - Zanib Mian

Zanib Mian speaks about how her book came to be, because of her son’s struggles.

Transitioning from Primary to secondary school caused my young son more grief and hardship than I had ever seen him face. My heart broke, every night, to see his pain. Bedtime was when his emotions would overcome him, which is often the case with adults too. In the quiet of the night, when other duties and tasks cease to distract us, our minds kick in with worrisome thoughts and sad feelings.

As a student who was well-loved by his teachers in primary school, and never once faced even a stern look, let alone a telling off, my child found the cold and strict environment of high school, hard to digest. I had to help him cope with his emotions. To teach him to be OK on the inside, even when he felt everything was going wrong on the outside. To be OK when he felt an injustice against him, when he felt worried, scared, or alone. I had to help him to reach out to Allah. To CONNECT with Him, even whilst listening to his teacher, or walking through the dreary corridors. I had to teach him to take a leap, even if it was petrifying, because he could trust in Allah. I had to teach him that even if it didn’t go the way he wanted, it went the way that Allah had planned for him, which was way smarter. I had to teach him, that he COULD find his way through any problem he faced. Alhamdulilah, by the grace of Allah, everything I said made sense to him. Everything I said, worked. He understood it, and he understood how to ACT on it.

My heart began to swell with pride as I watched him be brave and take a deep breath and leave my side to go and face another day, equipped with what I conveyed to him. And it swelled more, as I watched him come running up to me on his return from the school day, Masha'Allah with the widest of smiles, telling me, ‘it worked.’ Alhamdulilah.

That’s when I wrote The Young Muslim’s Mindful Book of Wellbeing (it’s all there. Everything I taught him and more) - to share what helped my child and me, with your child and you.

Zanib Mian, author and founder of Muslim Children’s Books