Fasting Season: How to Safeguard and Preserve the Religious Rights of Our Precious Children

Fasting, age-appropriateness, consent, and the line between faith formation and abuse

Children (for this discussion) means anyone below 18 years.

I grew up in Ado-Ekiti. My mum was Muslim, and she observed Ramadan faithfully. From as early as I could tell my right from my left, she encouraged us to wake up and eat the early meal with her, but she never imposed fasting on us.

We often gave the impression that we were joining her, yet, like many children, we quietly found our way around it at school. Even though I attended a Muslim primary school (Ansar-ud-deen Nursery & Primary School, Ado-Ekiti), food vendors were still allowed to bring food to school throughout the 30-day period. Later, when I attended Catholic secondary schools in Ado-Ekiti, we had Lenten talks, but caterers still came to serve food during the 40 days of Lent. We were taught the meaning, but we were not forced.

Looking back, that is significant. In all my childhood, “being forced to fast” was not part of the abuse I suffered. It reinforces a point that matters today: faith formation does not require coercion, and coercion is where religion can become a cover for harm.

1) The issue

Christian and Muslim communities have entered fasting seasons (Lent and Ramadan). A safeguarding question arises: should children fast, and if so, at what age and under what conditions without harming them or violating their rights?

2) The safeguarding principle

Religious formation must never compromise a child’s health, development, dignity, education, or emotional safety. Where fasting (or any observance) is imposed in ways that create harm or serious risk, malnutrition, dehydration, sleep deprivation, fear, intimidation, humiliation, or punishment it becomes a safeguarding concern.

A child’s “obedience” is not evidence of wellbeing. Many children comply outwardly but cope through secrecy, avoidance, or fear. That is not faith formation; it is pressure.

3) Legal protection in schools (Nigeria): Section 38(2), full quote

“(2) No person attending any place of education shall be required to receive religious instruction or to take part in or attend any religious ceremony or observance if such instruction, ceremony or observance relates to a religion other than his own, or religion not approved by his parent or guardian.”

This provision is directly relevant to schools: schools cannot compel religious observance (including fasting-related participation) in a way that conflicts with the child’s religion or the parent/guardian’s approval.

Separately, even where a practice is within a family’s faith, safeguarding standards still apply: the child’s health and welfare must remain protected.

4) Should children fast? A practical, child-rights answer

Children should not be forced to fast. If a child participates at all, it must be:

• Voluntary and age-appropriate
• Health-informed (no risk to growth, hydration, medication schedules, or existing conditions)
• Flexible (partial fasts, shorter hours, supervised practice)
• Non-punitive (no threats, beatings, shaming, or spiritual intimidation)
• Not linked to sleep deprivation (e.g., compulsory all-night vigils; prolonged early-morning devotions that impair schooling)

If fasting is framed as a test of loyalty, a proof of holiness, or enforced with punishment, it is no longer spiritual discipline, it becomes coercion, and may constitute abuse or create conditions for abuse.

5) What faith traditions generally teach (without pretending one rule fits all)

Islam (Ramadan): fasting is commonly understood as obligatory at puberty, with earlier gradual “training” only where the child is able and not harmed. Safeguarding translation: training must never mean coercion; health overrides zeal.

Christianity (example: Catholic Lent): fasting obligations apply from age 18 (with abstinence norms often beginning earlier). Safeguarding translation: the aim is conscience formation, not harm; children can learn the values through age-appropriate sacrifices.

6) What “age-appropriate fasting” can look like

• Partial fasts (shorter hours; weekends; one supervised day)
• Non-food fasts for younger children (screen limits, kinder speech, chores, charity)
• A health-first rule: the child eats/drinks when hungry, dizzy, unwell, or during exams/sports
• No fasting for very young children; focus on meaning, prayer, charity, and empathy

7) Abuse risks that can hide behind “religion”

Forced fasting leading to dehydration, fainting, or malnutrition; sleep deprivation through compulsory devotions/vigils; punishment for “breaking” the fast; public shaming; fear-based threats. These are predictable pathways into physical harm, emotional harm, and neglect.

8) Why faith cannot be forced

• Doing so may constitute abuse or produce abusive conditions.
• Children are reasoning beings; coercion breeds concealment and resentment.
• Faith is a heart-and-conscience matter; it requires voluntariness to endure.

9) Bottom line for parents and schools

Parents: model the faith; invite children; never compel; protect health and sleep; never punish “failure.”

Schools: keep learning and welfare primary; do not compel observance; ensure children can eat/drink where needed; treat fasting as a personal/family matter within safeguarding limits. Section 38(2) supports the “no compulsion” principle in education.

Conclusion

Fasting season should never become a season of harm.

Religious devotion and child safeguarding are not in competition. Authentic faith protects the our precious children; it does not burden them beyond their capacity. The measure of our spirituality is not how strictly a child complies, but how carefully we protect their wellbeing while introducing them to meaning, discipline, and moral responsibility.

If a religious exercise compromises health, dignity, rest, education, or emotional security, it has crossed the line. Preserving childhood is not a concession to modernity; it is a commitment to raising functional, responsible adults. Damaged childhood cannot reliably produce stable adulthood.

Faith that is imposed may produce outward conformity. Faith that is modelled, explained, and freely embraced produces conviction.

As parents, educators, and faith leaders, the standard must remain clear: safeguard the child first. Protect their health. Protect their conscience. Protect their dignity. Then teach, model, and persuade.

Because in the end, preserved childhood is the strongest foundation for enduring faith.

Do have an INSPIRED rest of the week with the family.