A report written by Unicef has slammed UK for failing its children due to parent’s obsession with materialism, who are paying more attention on buying their children products rather than spending quality time with them . The report comes in the same week the massive new Westfield Stratford City shopping centre opened at the 2012 Olympics site and Christmas products started appearing in stores up and down the country.

Westfield which cost in the region of £1.4 billion to build, saw 100,000 people attend its opening day spending £4 million in the first few hours of business; despite the recession consumerism is alive and kicking. It exactly this kind of love of the material products that Unicef says has come to symbolise British parenting, with parents making up for not being at home with the latest toys and designer clothing.

In a society where the reason most parents work long hours is for either personal career benefit or to be able to keep up with the Jones’, the findings of the report is no surprise. All parents are doing is trying to give the child the same feeling of elation they get from material products, the sad fact is children would rather have love than ‘things’.

There is an apparent contradiction in values the society pushes, the horror at the findings of the report contradicts the push by government to get more mothers back to work. From a very young age children are taught the true worth of a person is the career they pursue, and the material objects they acquire. This is not just coming from the parents but from the education system and society as a whole.

It is therefore little surprise that when these young people become parents they would rather pursue the career they have been told gives them worth than spend time with their own children. Add to this the selfish attitude of needing ‘me’ time that some parents have, children can quickly get put to the back of the list.

Even Unicef as an organisation in a bid to gain publicity for their organisation use celebrities who epitomise the materialistic lifestyle to promote their organisation.  These are people who have only made it in life by being rich, granted they are trying to give something back but it sadly shows that in a Capitalist society even the idea charity has to be sold to the masses.

As Muslims it can be easy to fall into the same trap that non-Muslim parents find themselves in. With work and the pursuit of a career impinging on family life. We can sometimes convince ourselves that if children are doing well at school and attending madrasa that all is well.

A good Islamic education is the foundation of any child’s upbringing and giving the concepts about life is the job of the parents and not someone else. It is easy to feel that putting them through an education at the local Mosque absolves the parents of doing anything else. Islam encourages parents to give their children a good Islamic education:

Amr bin Sa’id or Sa’id bin Al-‘As t narrated that Allah’s Messenger (saw) said,

“A father gives his child nothing better than a good education.”

(Tirmidhi 4977 and Baihaqi)

However if children see their own parents engulfed by the material things of this life then this too will shape their minds as they grow older. If the quest for the new car, the new watch and the latest gadget obsesses you then it will shape the mind of your children in the same way.

It is the unfortunate nature of living in a non-Islamic society that one of the greatest dangers to the mind of children is materialism. Whereby their actions and life goals are shaped by personal benefit and tangible pleasure.

Narrated by Ibn ‘Abbas, Mohammad (saw) said :

“If the son of Adam (the human being) had two valley of money, he would wish for a third, for nothing can fill the belly of Adam’s son except dust, and Allah forgives him who repents to Him”

Bukhari, Volume 8, Book 76, Number 444

Man can never be satisfied with what the dunya provides for him, it is a lesson we should all learn and one we should teach our children. We should yearn for the day our children correct us and encourage us to become more Islamic and not for the day their good education brings them and us material benefit.