Originally Posted by BGM:
Hello!
So I recently enrolled a Muslim family. During interviews, I specifically ask- "Do you have any special needs/requests? (ie religious/personal dietary restrictions, etc)" and the mom just mentioned they don't eat pork.
Well, the little girl (3 yo) had her first day yesterday and her mom came in this morning saying she can't sleep with the boys. She was very insistent and seemed a bit flustered that she did yesterday. I asked her if it was a personal or religious choice, but her English isn't completely fluent and my Arabic is garbage (as in it doesn't exist
) so I'm still not sure. She said we're Muslim, so maybe it's religious.
My question is- have any of you had experience with Muslim families? What kind of stuff did you have to alternate to accommodate that? I don't mind making changes here and there, but I like to know in advance. Besides no pork and no sleeping with the other kids, is there anything else across the board that I should expect to do? I don't want to offend her, so I'm trying to get ahead of other problems that might arise. Like, our Christmas party will probably be a holiday party this year instead...anything else??
Do you live in a large community?
Maybe there are other care programs you can network with?
You could create a questionnaire for the parents to ask them about the things they do observe or don't observe due to their faith? I think finding out directly from them is ideal and then deciding what you are able to (and required to) do or not do in your program.
I think it's very important to be respectful of all religions but I certainly am not about to change my entire daily routine or operating system for one family.