I have a daughter of 13 years of age. She has been attracted to worldly affairs more than normal. I was wondering how to guide her?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

The education of the children is one of the most important and difficult tasks. Parents may encounter great obstacles when dealing with nurturing children. The reason is that there are many factors which affect this education, like the media, school curricula, friends and so forth. This requires great attention and great effort from the parents. It also requires them to spare a considerable time for this education.

Generally the children are easily and quickly affected by the environment that surrounds them, the matter which incites them to respond to it in a particular way. So you have to find out the factors that make your daughter pay a great attention to worldly matters and preoccupy her from thinking about the important and decisive matters. Once you discover those factors, you endeavour indirectly to prevent your daughter from being affected by them because in general children this age tend to be more interested and devoted to things denied to them, and try to find a substitute for her.

Besides, you have to endeavour to properly guide your daughter and provide her with beneficial books about righteous women like the female companions and the like.

In general a daughter imitates the behaviour of her mother, especially if she is kind to her. So remind her mother to set a good example for her daughter, to guide her, and to advice her about what is beneficial in religion and worldly matters.

Finally, it should be noted that loving this world and loving to play is a natural instinct, especially in children, and thus children must not be overly restricted from their instincts, rather it should be guided in accordance to Islamic principles.  For more Fataawa related to this matter, please refer to Fatwa: 89685

Allaah knows best.