As I was heading out to the mosque for the evening prayer, I heard a soft voice from the kitchen—”Abbu, wait! I’ll join you.”
It was my 7-year-old son, always ready for an adventure.
“Sure, come along, but hurry, we need to look for the new crescent moon tonight,” I told him.
It was the evening before Ramadan, and based on the Moon sighting, the Imam would announce its official start.
“Yes! I’m very excited.” He quickly grabbed his kufi (cap) and jacket and ran toward the car.
“Abbu, how was your day today?” he asked. Before I could answer, he continued, “My day was very busy! We went swimming in the morning and had a field trip in the afternoon. It was a packed day.”
As he chattered away, I listened, smiling. After a long workday filled with meetings and deadlines, my son’s excited storytelling was a refreshing change.
But as a data nerd, I couldn’t help but start visualizing his day as a timeline in my head.
“Abbu, you didn’t tell me—how was your day?” he interrupted my thoughts.
“Oh, well! I was just working from home most of the day.”
“So you went to the mosque in the morning, and now you’re out again?” he asked.
“Barkhurdar,” I said, “You know what? We could actually create a visualization of how much time we spent outside today!”
“Yes! I love it. It’s been a while since we created some graphs together.”
By the time we reached the mosque, he was already thinking about how to chart his day. After the prayer, the Imam announced the arrival of Ramadan—30 days of fasting and reflection.
Later that night, my son reminded me about our timeline idea, and together, we created a visual representation of his day.
More importantly, it reignited his curiosity about using data to understand his world.
Inspired by this moment, I created a Ramadan Data Journal—a way to track and visualize how we spend our time during Ramadan, making each day more intentional. Hope more families can use and benefit from it.
Your turn to play
Many parents encourage their kids to journal their day, but adding visuals can make it even more meaningful. A simple timeline of the day can tell a story, spark reflective conversations about time management, and build critical thinking skills. If you’re looking for fun and engaging ways to boost your child’s data literacy, check out Drawing Data with Kids—a book filled with creative ideas to help them explore the world of data!
Hi there, I’m Gulrez Khan—father of 3 beautiful kids and award-winning author of Drawing Data with Kids. By day, I work as a Data Science leader, and by night, I read bedtime stories to my kids. Sometimes, the roles overlap—I’ll find myself storytelling in conference rooms or teaching data concepts to my kids. It’s funny, but it works!
If you’re interested in a workshop for your team or school, feel free to message me.
