The most important thing we overlook in Ramzan: helping our moms in the kitchen

Helping is human, not masculine or feminine

Abiya Manzoor

Abiya Manzoor

Fashion and Features Editor

Entering Ramzan with pure intentions is a pre-requisite to celebrate and derive the most benefits from the month. While everyone is busy with improving their spiritual activities in the month, our mother’s continue to serve the entire families either by directly getting involved in the kitchen and preparing Sehri and Iftar or indirectly by delegating tasks to the kitchen staff.

Being on our best behavior is a given but overlooking the effort of our mothers in ensuring that we stay consistent with our behavior is something we easily skip. We’ve said it before and we say it again, helping in the kitchen is not a certain gender’s job. Helping is human not feminine or masculine. Helping mothers in the kitchen during Ramzan can be a great way to show your love and support for them, while also contributing to the spirit of the month.

We’ve listed a few things that can make it easy for our Mamas!

During Ramadan, many households prepare special meals at Iftar, which means there may be more grocery shopping to do than usual. Offer to help with the grocery shopping or even do it for your mother.

Cooking can be a time-consuming task, especially during Ramzan when meals need to be prepared before Maghrib. Offer to assist your mother with meal preparation, such as chopping fruits for the fruit chaat, marinating the pakoras, or setting the table. I personally never let my Mother make the drink  for Iftaar, it’s my job and let’s her have something off her to-do-list.

After preparing meals, there is often a lot of clean-up to do in the kitchen. Offer to help with dishes, wiping counters, and cleaning up spills. Remember this goes for both Sehri and Iftaar.

Furthermore, keep a stack of her favorite sweets in the house, the blood-sugar levels can be daunting. Also keep the faithful vitamin C on her bedside. It’s the small things.

Finally, the most important step: showing appreciation.
A simple “thank you” can go a long way in making her feel valued and appreciated. It’s easy, try it!

There’s also a certain guilt that creeps into their hearts when they’re unable to dedicate a lot of time to prayers because of their commitments in the Kitchen keep them occupied. Ensure that you reiterate to them that what they’re doing is also a form of worship and they need to feel content with their efforts. Emphasize on the importance of rest as well. Resting better leads to better energy throughout the day.

Hope everyone’s geared up for the month of blessings, happy fasting!