Actually, this Ramadan, we (my wife and I) will be having the most difficult part of our first year together as Ex-Muslims. We still can not tell our little children that we don't fast, as they are meeting with their cousins and relatives of their own age frequently at the play ground and we are so afraid that this will confuse them.
What makes me starting this thread is that the other kids asks them questions like: whether or not they were fasting? And they are like only 6 and 11 years of age. We could just make them stop going to the play ground, but that would not stop the kids from coming over to play with them as they live next door.
Yesterday one of the parents caught me saying to his 6 years old (in a pre-Ramadan picknick!) that he should not be fasting as that is bad for his health, I told him not until he was old enough to fast (18+), and the parent was furious. He said he wanted them to get used to fasting as early as possible. He said that he (the parent) started fasting when he was only 5 (1 Show-off credit here). I was like: what? Are you crazy? Then he quoted me a hadeath about Muslims should order kids to pray at 7 years of age and beat them if they don't at 10 years of age...
Anyways, we can not tell our children that we are not fasting and not praying until they are old enough to understand what this is all about. I will make sure, however, that they will understand later the bullshitness of the whole religion bullshit and that they have to decide for themselves later if they wanted to follow a religion or not.
My 6 years old son asked me once.... why I was not praying like our cousin Fred (obviously not his real name!), and I told him that I was, but in my own way and in the privacy of my room and that it is not good to pray in front of other people, maybe in Mosques you can... I said. I told him that cousin Fred is not doing it right, because a good Muslim does not show off and pray in front of other people, he should pray or fast in privacy. I know I might be exaggerating but we live in a Muslim country and I am puzzled on how to make them survive the next few years as they grow up, without them thinking that they are different from their peers.
Topic: Religions: show-off events?