Happy Birthday Little Princess

You're 8 today. Eight years of memories, and hopefully many more years to come...

Sometimes you're mature beyond your age. You're polite, considerate and generous. You share your stuff with friends and lend them money. You seldom make demands of us. When we dine out, your table manners constantly astound us.

But at times you're like a baby. You whine and whimper. You like to watch horror TV shows. And then, you refuse to go anywhere in the house without company. You even insist that I keep the bathroom door open.

You know you're special. You insist to be in the middle, always. When we talk, you ask "What? What?", because you don't want to feel left out.

You can ride your bicycle confidently now. You love your bicycle so much, you blow dust off the handles. You want to ride your bike everyday, but the weather has been playing tricks on you these days. Yesterday you had a little accident, a little boy on a four-wheeler bumped into you. You fell and bled your arm and knee. You cried, but Daddy said it's part of the learning process.

You gave us a scare recently. You've been sick so many times this year, we feared something could be amiss. The doctor assured us that you're alright. So far you've missed more than 10 days of school this year.

But you continue to do well academically, although it's a constant battle trying to get you to study. You always have something far more interesting and important... TV shows, computer games, art & craft, play.. the list is endless. It's a good thing that you don't know yet how to navigate the Facebook.

You're reciting juz 8 of al-Qur'an now. You completed Muqaddam a few days before your birthday last year. Your progress was slow last year, but you have picked up speed since then and I'm happy with your pace now. Over time, I've come to realise that it doesn't matter whether you complete Qur'an recital at the age of 10 or 12. The journey can just be as important as the destination.

Sometimes when I see your friends acting childish, I wonder if we've been too strict with you. We just want you to be independent, especially because you're an only child and we're not going to be around forever. I hope we're doing right by you. I certainly don't want to rob you of childhood. I want you to experience the joy of being young, the carefree world of childhood and keep that as a treasure in your memories.

Yet at the same time I want you to be ready for adulthood, to face its trials and tribulations head-on and to have courage in times of adversity.

I don't know how much of your childhood will stay with you in your adult life. I just wish that you'll remember that we're trying our best to be good parents to you.

Happy Birthday My Little Princess. I pray to Allah that you'll get the best that life has to offer, in this world and the hereafter, and you'll give the world your best in return.