What can I do when physical play gets cut short because someone ‘needs’ to check a notification? 

Parenting Perspective 

When physical play is abruptly halted to check a device, it sends a quiet but powerful message: the notification is more important than the shared moment. If this happens repeatedly, play can start to feel secondary and less special. To protect the flow of your time together, you can establish clear ‘no-check zones’. This could be a twenty-minute window for a game where all devices are put away. Frame it as a shared family commitment to being present, rather than a rule aimed only at your child. 

Use Gentle Pauses 

When an interruption is unavoidable, treat it as a brief pause, not a full stop. You can say, ‘I just need to reply to this one message, and then we will continue right where we left off’. This approach reassures your child that the activity is still important and prevents the break from completely derailing your time together. 

Make It Visible 

During playtime, make your commitment visible. Place all devices face down and, if possible, out of immediate reach. By physically removing the temptation to glance at the screen, you send a clear, non-verbal signal that you value the person and the activity right in front of you above all else. 

Spiritual Insight 

The Islamic tradition guides us to turn away from meaningless distractions and to prioritise what is truly of consequence, especially the needs of our families. 

Allah Almighty states in the noble Quran at Surah Al Mu’minoon (23), Verse 3: 

‘And those people that abstain from frivolous gossip…’ 

This quality of the believers turning away from that which is vain or useless can be extended to how we guard our time. It encourages us to protect our precious moments of connection from the fleeting and often meaningless interruptions of digital notifications. 

It is recorded in Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 3976, that the holy Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: 

‘Part of the perfection of one’s Islam is leaving that which does not concern him.’ 

This profound Hadith teaches a key principle of focus. By choosing to ignore a non-urgent notification, we are practising this principle and teaching our children a vital lesson: not everything demands our immediate attention, and the people we are with deserve the honour of our full presence.