A few hours at petrosains

My word of advice: Don't buy tickets for "evening session" i.e at 1600 @ 4pm. Not worth the buy because the queue is too long so you waste time there. My kids did so little today :( as shown in the pictures...

About the brain, human potential and struggle

Love this article:

https://www.khanacademy.org/about/blog/post/95208400815/the-learning-myth-why-ill-never-tell-my-son-hes

note: praising effort, struggle and failure (which is actually an attempt at success - because 50% success is at least trying because by not trying at all is 100% failure) and not praising what is already true (Allah made all people inherently good and capable of success) because failure does not mean someone is a total failure.

"People with growth mindsets correctly believe that capability and intelligence can be grown through effort, struggle and failure. Dweck found that those with a fixed mindset tended to focus their effort on tasks where they had a high likelihood of success and avoided tasks where they may have had to struggle, which limited their learning."

"The good news is that mindsets can be taught; they’re malleable. What’s really fascinating is that Dweck and others have developed techniques that they call “growth mindset interventions,” which have shown that even small changes in communication or seemingly innocuous comments can have fairly long­-lasting implications for a person’s mindset. For instance, praising someone’s process (“I really like how you struggled with that problem”) versus praising an innate trait or talent (“You’re so clever!”) is one way to reinforce a growth ­mindset with someone. Process­ praise acknowledges the effort; talent­ praise reinforces the notion that one only succeeds (or doesn’t) based on a fixed trait."

"...it applies to how you communicate with your children, how you manage your team at work, how you learn a new language or instrument. If society as a whole begins to embrace the struggle of learning, there is no end to what that could mean for global human potential."

Dear Hana' Al Haruni

Dear Ustadha
Ustadha,
I told you I want to re-write each vein with the miracle

but I have not succeeded

Ustadha
You are so pristine
I wish I could bring you here
or I could be where you are
I wish I was her
I wish she was mine
I wish
I wish
I wish

I wished and He saved me
and where am I now?

Years and years ago
I wished darkness for myself
and just as I was about to tumble into it
I said to myself,
"no...I wish for light"

and here I am, ustadha
still alive

I hope you remember me
and I hope we will see each other in Jannah

I hope

The war to win your mind

I watched the video posted at this link: http://themindunleashed.org/2014/06/brutally-honest-coca-cola-commercial-youll-never-see-television.html and penned these thoughts:

Besides all the physically bloody wars, there is another war - the war for your mind. The war over WHO you will choose to believe in. One party will say "believe me" and the other party will say "believe ME!". who do you choose to believe in? it's your choice, you're free to choose. this is one of the wars - over things like aspartame, whether or not it is harmful or not. this book will say yes, while that book will say no. it all depends on YOU. whatever you choose to believe in, at the end of the day, we cannot really impose our beliefs on others. we just share our beliefs, and respect other people.
EXCEPT -----when it comes to children directly born out of our wombs. Such children "hang" a rope over their parent's head the amanah Allah put in their parent's hands. children are pristine white sheets we can colour and design any colour and design we like, and every set of parent was and are entitled to mould their children's beliefs UNTIL the day these children are big enough to make their own.

Thus is the cycle. no blame-game and emotional abuse should be applied to any child or parent. we are all human. we are all imperfect. we all try our best. we all fail and try again. 

Iffah

Iffah

You could not be translated 

I knew you as iffah 

You were my goal 10 years ago

My goal 11 years ago

My goal 12 years ago

My goal years ago

Now after all these years 

I am here again

Mencari mu iffah

Di akhir rihlah ini

Akan adakah taman syurga? 

Atau penjara neraka? 

Thirty

I looked at her face

She looks young and pretty

She's thirty 

I look at my own

Through the glass of my soul

I feel old

And angry

I look at their faces

And I seem to think

I am young 

But footsteps behind me

Are reminders of my age

Remind me

I am old

Remind me

This life is a bridge 

To the next 

Remind me 

This life is temporary

Remind me 

To correct myself 

Remind me

To think 

Remind me

To be gentle 

Remind me

To be merciful 

Remind me

To remember Allah

Remind me

Of His wrath

Remind me

Of His forgiveness

Remind me

To slow down

Sigh

Playing at mudir's house

Lego "irons"

And the spray bottle too :)

Me at Jami' Kabir and Qorqat Qulais (in Bab al yaman)

this is abrahah's "kaa'bah"

Taugeh experiment and more slimy stuff

captured the moment our shoots were breaking free, but obviously we forgot about it and over-watered it as the other picture shows

Cloud dough and slimy stuff

Bottle caps and Balloons

Let them be, Umm

Musa reading, Zainab counting, they're all learning

Let them be, Umm

Allah's earth is our classroom and our book