Friday 13 November 2009

A week in Pictures

Random pictures from this week
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Craft Shopping

What a treat, i have been itching to get to this ALL the fun of the fair ever since i saw it advertised in one of my crochet magazines, they have a website. I like to look at wool/yarn and work in person; i like to feel the yarn to feel inspired. Visiting such places is an inspiration.
I saw so many lovely handmade pieces for sale, from the simple stuff to the more complicated skilled. I saw simple flower brooches for sale at £6.95, not nearly as lovely as mine. Granny Squares put together and made into a pin cushion costing £4.50. The collection of yarn on sale was very nice and luxurious. With knitted samples, the sales assistant was very helpful as someone who crafts she knew her stuff and help me make choices of yarn. The shop was small and a little crowded , i wished there had been more selection of yarn as its nice to be able to feel and see it before you buy, i am not expert but this little trendy shop had some very nice makes such as Rico and Fortissima Mexico really lovely soft yarns with not so nice price tags to match. I took some pictures, see for yourself.
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The shop is located in the carnaby St area of London off Kingly St, i have not been here for some years and it was all change.
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Little cute tags with ''hand made with love'' written on them.
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I picked up some super soft yarns .couldn't resit i was busting with ideas after strolling around the tiny shop.they were fairly pricey but good yarn!
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I was busting to get a hook to the yarn the whole way home
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i started with the glittery red with a 3.5mm hook a lap top sock for my daughter inshaAllah.
The black Rico pom pom is for a knitting project i want to try for my younger daughter. The smaller 50g Rico cotton is for some luxury rose brooches coming to some bloggers soon!

A Child’s Innocence, lost?

Who decides? This week the school informed me it will be hosting meetings for parents who wish to know what will be taught during the Sexual Relations Education (SRE) classes at the school, for form classes 2, 5 and 6. My son is in year 6, having started state school for the first time last December, I am still learning. When my children started last year it was on the day the SRE classes were being taught as the permission slips and meetings had already taken place, I had missed out. So on their first day of school when the year 2 comes home. I asked, ‘’what did you learn today?’’

She replies:- ‘’ It was haram?! They showed us pictures of women’s private parts and men ones too!’’

‘’Authobillah! What do you mean?’’ (my worries manifesting before my very eyes on day one)

Son joins conversation ‘’yeah umi they did it for us too, they told us we have wet dreams and then he whispered... but girls are worse !?! :O they have blood coming out of their private parts.’’

My shock horror of their first day of school, all those years of home schooling and their innocence snatched in 6 hours! Robbed I tell you!?!
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Yesterday was the SRE meeting for this year, I was shown the content of all 3 lessons and all I can say I was.. I was shocked, disgusted and angry. I cannot believe that ten year old children are ready for this revelation of this information that will scar their innocence at the tender age of ten. I feel it should be the parent’s choice to decide what age all she be revealed, there is no way my 10 year old son is ready for this amount of info, it also gives a incorrect impression on how sexual relationships can be formed, there was a video showing the actual acts and steps... first comes love. Then they actually make love! It showed sexual positions and promoted sexual relations before marriage. This here is what angered me severely, seeing as this contradicts our beliefs and way of life which is clearly Islam. The school my children attend is majority ethnic minorities namely Asian and African with the predominant religion being Islam. With this in mind i challenge the headmistress, enquiring why arrange marriages’ had not been mentioned. They have their own hidden agenda that they instil into our children Allah Al Must’aan. I felt it was a total saturation of Western values in relation to sex being in drenched on the minds of innocent children. Teaching them this is the way, in the video one of the characters was the aunt of the 10yr old, she was in relationship with a guy and she was expecting his baby. This aunt was very open to the 10yr olds telling them she enjoyed being touched by her lover and he enjoyed her touching him. She kept rubbing her breast whilst doing so , i think it was meant to look like she was rubbing her impregnated stomach but i clearly saw her touching her breast.

Some may think it’s an overreaction on my part but NO, my children are a trust, entrusted to me by Allah and i have a duty to ensure they are raised in accordance to Islam and good citizens to the society they inhabit. I noted not only Muslim parents at the meeting; there were English and Africans, Christian, Sikh, and atheist too. In fact the Sikh parent got up and left half way through the video. I myself wanted to leave during the video, I was disgusted. I feel this kind of exposure too early could lead to experimentation and unnecessary curiosity. I am not saying they should not know about their body parts and the functions. Reproduction and the like, it should be taught and can be taught minus the sexual content. It’s the amount to sexual promotion and sexual promotion outside marriage what ruined it. I have a 15yr old that i taught SRE to at the age of 10 as i feel in my experience girls mature much faster than boys. At ten she was ready for this input but i can see my son is not, in a year or so yes but not quite yet. It can be taught on a scientific level without so much emphasis on sexual relationship and positions. As one parent pointed out, ’’ you are showing them stage by stage the correct way to reproduce!’’

I decided to not have the school teach these lesions to my son and opted out alhamduilah we still have that right. I told him I will teach him 3 lesions covering this so he does not feel left out but I will use a scientific approach in addition will also use ayat from the Quran to explain relationships in this content and ayat related to reproduction.

Bearing in mind the UK is a country where teenage pregnancy is at its youngest in all of Europe, the headmistress argued that children knowing this information at 10 years old is deterrent to this. This is left open to debate...................what’s your opinion on this?

Prayers for Peace

Prayers for Peace