By Joseph Hammond | Religion News Service
(WASHINGTON POST) (RNS) — Talking to kids about sex is just one of the traditional taboos addressed in a new podcast focused on modern Muslim parenting. One clue to how the podcast approaches such thorny topics comes in its title, with apologies to the DC Comics universe: “ Muslim Superdad & Wondermom.”
The podcast’s host, Amin Aaser, regards Muslim parenting as a journey that requires a balance of traditional and modern values while also juggling parenting with work and other modern issues — “saving the world by day and being a cook, comedian and coach by night,” as Aaser puts it in the show’s introduction.
“Muslim parents living in the West are met with a litany of challenges on top of the built-in challenges of just being a parent,” said Noon Salih, a co-founder of Noor Kids, a series of children’s books that teach Islamic values and morals, who developed the podcast with Aaser, Noor Kids’ CEO. “Navigating dual identities, building faith-based principles in an environment where their way of life can be vilified.”
Muslim parenting podcasts that have cropped up in recent years tend to focus on the experience of mothers, but “Muslim Superdad & Wondermom,” if anything, speaks more to dads.
The podcast’s founders believe that in many Muslim communities cultural and societal barriers have placed fathers in a too passive role, when they are there at all.
