How Can I Approach My Child’s Aversion to Water?

Answered by Ustadha Shazia Ahmad

Question

My child is nine years old and attends madrasa and school. He really struggles with wudu due to issues with water. He takes baths but gets angry and screams when I give him a shower.

I think the sensation of the water on his body is very uncomfortable for him. He is not a lazy child and doesn’t shrug off wudu, but it’s the water on his skin that he feels very uncomfortable with.

Do you have any advice on how to combat this, as wudu will be compulsory for him? Any dua or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Answer

I empathize with this situation, having children with issues like this makes it very difficult to live daily life. I pray that this improves.

Having four children myself, one of them being nine years old, I highly advise the use of homeopathy. Homeopathy is a system of alternative medicine created in 1796 by Samuel Hahnemann, based on his doctrine of “like cures like”. I have seen positive results with many children I know in resolving fears, discomforts, and anxiety.

Also, talk to your son and be kind to him. Explain to him that you will always try to help him and make him comfortable. Getting angry with him about water may worsen his fear. Children can develop anxiety if these problems are not dealt with in the correct way.

One of my teachers always says, “Nothing gets rid of a problem better than giving charity (sadaqa).” I highly recommend that you do so and give a little consistently. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “[…] and that the most beloved deed to Allah is the most regular and consistent even if it were little.” [Bukhari]

Try incorporating more water into your son’s chores. Try asking him to wash dishes and allow him to do it in a sink of warm, soapy, and bubbly water. Ask him to turn on the hose and water the flowers or rinse off your car. Introduce him to fun activities with water and I am sure that, combined with homeopathy and dua, Allah, Most High, will alleviate this problem.

The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “If anyone constantly asks for forgiveness, Allah will appoint for him a way out of every distress and a relief from every anxiety, and will provide sustenance for him from where he expects it not.” [Abu Dawud]

May Allah give you the best in this world and the next.

[Ustadha] Shazia Ahmad
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadha Shazia Ahmad lived in Damascus, Syria for two years where she studied aqida, fiqh, tajweed, tafsir, and Arabic. She then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed her Masters in Arabic. Afterward, she moved to Amman, Jordan where she studied fiqh, Arabic, and other sciences. She later moved back to Mississauga, Canada, where she lives with her family.