Oops...

I think I've actually put my foot in my mouth. I challenged the twins to finish their Quran (khatam) before their trip to France at the end of June (this month), and I think they may actually be able to do it!

In actual fact, the target was supposed to be last year. The children started reading the Quran when they were around 7 or 8 but every time they changed tutors, I made them start from the beginning. To me, it is more important for someone to read the Quran well than to proceed further with the chapters. An ex-colleague once confessed to me he never did complete the quran in his life because as a child he used to cheat by skipping a few pages in a week.

Ergo, after finally admitting that I was not doing a good job at supervising their readings daily, at the beginning of 2008 I sent them for Quran reading classes in the neighbourhood here. There were too many things to do around the house that making the children sit down to read at least a page a day was definitely not easy - especially with four children! Furthermore, I had my own readings to catch up with, especially during the month of Ramadhan.


So we set a target last year that they were to finish the Quran by the end of the year 2008. Unfortunately, we didn't meet the target because of our unexpected trip back home - which meant a lot of social hours!


Although it should be as simple as adding another 3 months to 2009, we realised that with some time allocated for memorising surahs and other sessions, we were a little unrealistic and had to therefore adjust it to make it more feasible. Therefore, the next target was to complete it by May.


It's June now. The boys are approaching the end of their Qurans and the excitement is in the air. Still, there are days they try to dodge out of reading it or completing the targeted amount of pages a day (for a spin on their bikes). They have set themselves to read 4 pages of the quran with me everyday. I must say that practice has indeed improved their readings. It also helps that they read from the colour-coded tajweed Qurans their late dad presented them. The essence of it all is to read frequently and also more in quantity. Some days, we get visitors or go out on trips that the body is just too tired to do any readings. Excuses.


Hence, last week I challenged them when they were on the computer. You've got 6 more juzuks to go and your trip to France is just around the corner. Aah... I don't think you're going to be able to make it!


Oh no, Mama! I'm sure we can! What are you going to give us if we can make it?


I've heard them say that many times already but they are just often hangat-hangat tahi ayam!

If you can complete before 20th June, then I'll give you whatever you want!

Really? Including a laptop?

Yes! Gulp. But you know what they say about hanging the carrot in front of the donkey, right?

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Yesterday, the boys each read 10 pages (in two different sessions). Double gulp.
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Last night, Abang H cheekily leaned over to me and whispered, Mama, do you have enough money to buy me the laptop?

With that, I am left a little bit nervous. What do I do now??? (Panic! Panic! Panic!)