Studies prove the importance of taking advantage of the golden years of childhood from the age of five to twenty three on average. Mankind during these years especially have a distinctive ability to memorize.
It is by the tawfeeq of Allah that a man would take advantage of these golden years and not waste them by procrastinating and delaying, thinking that they have their whole lives ahead of them. These golden years are an opportunity that is rarely restored in old age.
The benefits of memorizing during this stage in life are the lack of familial or monetary concerns and responsibilities for the young person. Without the aforementioned worries, they have plenty of free time and clear minds because of their young age and lack of commitment toward family or other responsibilities, and this contributes significantly to their ability to complete the memorization of the noble Qur'aan, by the Will of Allah.
This is an advice especially to parents of young children. We should not look at them as babies until they reach the age where they ask you to stop embarrassing them in front of their peers. Children that are born during these days of technology and smart gadgets are quickly exposed to a lot more than the older generation were at the same ages. These gadgets whether we agree or not, makes them think differently than the older generation did as young children. They get absorbed into the cycle of being fed information without any effort on their part. This unlimited flow of information and distractions unfortunately occupies their minds from a young age. They end up being robbed of their most prized asset, a clear and carefree mind which is pertinent to the memorization of Qur'aan.
As a Qur'aan teacher myself, I have witnessed dozens of times, students being mentally engaged in other activities while sitting in my presence (when they are supposed to be memorizing the Qur'aan). When you call their attention, sometimes they are startled from the sudden interruption in their train of thoughts. At other times, for the slightly older students (tweens and teens), asking them to memorize the Qur'aan is like asking them to hold on to red hot coal. They have developed an aversion for anything that will keep them occupied and away from their smart gadgets.
We should only use these tools in a beneficial manner and not as a means of keeping the children occupied. We should not be the ones to fill their minds with distractions and otherwise non-beneficial information. We should not work against ourselves by robbing our own children of the most important asset they possess, a clear mind. We should fear Allah in the way raise our children, and get them to memorize the Qur'aan before they too grow up and wish you (the parent) had made them do it when they were young.
We ask Allah to make our deeds sincerely for His sake alone, and to enable us to raise children that will remain for us after our death as a source of continuing good deeds, aameen.
The source and main material used in preparing the content of this blog is the book, Ways of teaching the noble Qur'aan and memorizing it by Abu Abdrahman, Jamal ibn Ibrahim AlQirsh (طرائق تدريس القرآن الكريم وحفظه).