Neglecting the Children

O father...you started your life with your wife, you had children...days passed you got busy with work...you no longer gave your home its due...your excuse to your wife: "I work for you, to provide for you, the cost of living is high, our days are hard" And you may be interested in "calling to Islam", but you have not succeeded in involving your family in your calling and keeping them busy with it, but you are preoccupied with them through it...and if your wife objects, your excuses are: "the wounds of the nation...the importance of calling to Islam...bearing responsibility".. True, but the reality is that in both cases: work and calling to Islam, you have also come to seek "self-fulfillment" and "draw your success story" through work/calling to Islam/social relations..not through your home and your children! And you spend time in the work environment and with acquaintances more than the minimum necessary.. You seek what your soul desires and enjoys more than fulfilling your family duties! And you convince yourself and those around you that you are forced to do so..and you assume that your wife will carry out her family duties in raising the children. But what happens over time is that the neglect of the children will spread to your wife... Your children will leave the focus of their mother... And she will also seek "self-fulfillment" and "draw her success story" away from her children...she will look into social media/social relations...etc. The lost children between two parents who do not find "joy" in raising them will start causing problems, and their relationship with you will become strained, O parents, and they will become a source of tension in your relationship, as each of you blames the other for being the cause, and each of you places the heavy burden of upbringing on the other! And your children will dry up when they see that you treat them as a bothersome burden, instead of enjoying their closeness to you! Then, you will declare a state of emergency, and you will start reducing your preoccupations and dedicating more time and effort to your children, but you will be surprised that the children, after leaving the focus of their mother, returning them to this focus will be difficult, and perhaps very difficult! And indeed, not every mistake is fully reparable in this world! Your shortcomings may be forgiven, but you will still pay the price for your negligence of the Prophet's (peace be upon him) command, who will never be busier than him, nor more eager for calling to Islam than him, and yet he said: (Your Lord has a right upon you, and your soul has a right upon you, and your family has a right upon you, so give everyone who has a right their due) (Bukhari)...so give everyone who has a right their due! You are the man of the house, and part of being the protector is to be a role model for your wife in giving everyone who has a right their due, instead of blaming her. What has happened, has happened, so do not say if I had done this, it would have been like this and like that, but say as Allah has decreed and as He willed, and seek Allah's help in rebuilding your home anew on the basis of (give everyone who has a right their due).