It is beautiful to see a child waiting for his father to return home to share with him his food and play with him. Such a child longs to hear nice stories that would remain with him throughout his life. The father should never neglect this issue regardless of his numerous tasks.

　　Imaam Muslim narrated,

　　A man sat late at night with the Messenger of Allah and then came to his family and found that his children had already slept. His wife brought food to him, but he swore that he would not eat because of his children (having gone to sleep without food). He then ate and when he went to the Messenger of Allah and mentioned that to him, the Prophet said: “Whoever swears and then finds it better not to fulfill it, must make expiation for his oath and do the thing that is better.”

　　This was one of the honorable Companions who was sitting with the Prophet, , until late at night to discuss the affairs of the state during a very serious phase; however, this did not prevent him from taking care of his children when he returned home. So, he would eat and sit with them just as he would sit with his peers outside the house.

　　On that night, he returned home late and the whole family missed the usual session, so he was upset and swore that he would not eat to punish himself for missing this daily duty.

　　Dear father, it is a beautiful thing to meet your children and wife around the dinner table to ask about each other and exchange love and cordiality. In this way, smiles will be on all faces and happiness will fill the hearts.

　　Keenness on holding such a warm meeting when eating together is not an instructive luxury, but it is rather a lucrative, important and balanced educational method. Meeting at meal times and exchanging kind words and dialogue between parents and their children give them emotional satisfaction, psychological stability and a feeling that they are accepted and respected by their parents. Consequently, the children develop strong self-confidence and will be ready to accept the parent’s directions.

　　Hence, we suggest a series of practical ideas and thoughts that have educational dimensions that can be discussed and applied during meal times:

　　1- How can we organize the process of buying the household needs?

　　- Moral characteristic of the month:

　　You can also select a good moral characteristic for each month and then participate with your children in collecting the stories about it. After that, you can agree with them to adopt practical methods to apply it.

　　4-