Ramadhan for Busy Moms

I found that since having Layth in my life, my Ramadhan performance has not been something to be proud of. Now that this is my first Ramadhan after starting work, I find it is worse. With night shifts it's lucky I can perform even 2 raka'ah of tarawikh or drink a glass of water for sahoor.

But then I realised that kecik kecik lama-lama jadi bukit. So I created some strategies for myself to maximise time for ibadah. Let me share them with you.

1. I try and keep the iftar menu simple. No need for fancy or extravagant meals that will waste your time in the kitchen. Everything tastes better when fasting. Better yet, cook lots in advance and freeze them. If I can't be bothered to cook, I will just buy take away. Nothing wrong with that. It's my money, I'm still feeding the fasting. I do wish I had friends with whom I can rotate lauks with.

2. Concentrate on the quality of the prayer rather than quantity. Even if you get 2 raka'ah of tarawih with full nafl acts from beginning (from wudhu') to end and maximum concentration is better than trying to hurry through 8 or 20 raka'ah.

3. Reap rewards from simple ibadah like answering the adzan and reading the du'a after adzan. (It has to be from a real muadzzin not a recorded voice). Or reciting the prescribed dzikr after salah (ayatul Kursi, the tasbih, tahmid and takbir).

4. Even if you can't find time to sit down and face the mushaf, you can still recite the surahs that you memorised. Remember you are rewarded for every letter you read from the Quran. There is no rule saying you have to read from Juz 1 to 30.

5. If your child is clingy, wants to be held etc, you can hold him/her and pray tarawih sitting down. You can pray nafl prayers sitting down for no reason (vs must be sick/ill/unable for fardh prayers). Albeit the reward is halved..but better half than none right?

These are some of my ideas. If you have any of your own, please share so we can all maximise our time.

To the young people; use your free time wisely. When you are young and have little responsibilities, that's the golden time to reap the most rewards that Ramadhan can offer.