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Motivating Introduction to the eBook; Effective Parenting of Children in Their Formative Years, by C. N. C. Ejiofor.

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Parenting is a very serious responsibility! In a sense, a very serious business. Proper parenting is godly parenting. Parenting is God’s way of ensuring that children are trained to be useful members of society. God is the creator and owner of everyone and he has the right of ownership hence authority to decide man’s lifestyle. We have character issues on earth today and since ages as a result of man’s rebellion against God and his rule over man. Hence, there can be no way to regain or obtain good character except through the ways of God the creator. This background information is crucial as most of our hue and cry today with respect to moral decadence amount to chasing shadow, in the final analysis, as we actually want to reap what we have not sown or not prepared to sow! In fact, to obtain the good character we crave for in society we must be ready to investigate God’s road map for child upbringing and willing to adhere to it for our own good. This is the motive behind the straightforward book. Contemporary society is replete with child delinquency issues stemming from improper parenting procedures. Yet most people appear unaware that they are responsible, in part, for the character formation of their children. People make excuses and trade blames with passing time when results of child training failures stare them at their faces. Society, especially in the Developing countries of our global village, is plagued with delinquency and other vices at all levels of life from teen age to adulthood traceable to childhood experiences and parental upbringing challenges. Fundamental to the basic upbringing of children is the kind of parents the children have, as well as the kind of relationship the couples have with themselves and the child. Bad marriages have affected the training and upbringing of children over time and worse marriage issues culminate in divorce among couples compounding the already grave situation regarding the influence of family atmosphere on children’s development and character formation. Divorce has become rampant among societies and divorce rates have become more alarming in contemporary societies. A visit to the popular Statista website (https://statista.com) on the internet, will reveal an alarming amount of information on divorce, divorce rates by countries of the world, statistics of childbirths out of marriages as well as other moral issues that have gained acceptance among many. It cannot be over emphasized that character issues originate from families and are the responsibilities of parents. It is as serious as attracting God’s attention when he singled out one Abraham expressing his confidence in him that  he would "direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just," and hence, become a blessing to all nations (Genesis 18:18-19). People of good character are actually a blessing to their generation. Conversely, those of delinquent behavior are otherwise. This writer was also confounded, like the rest, at the time the reality of becoming a parent stared him in his face. However, he faced the challenge squarely by engaging in serious study of every kind of family life education books at his disposal available in reputable bookshops and published by reputable companies that sold powerful authors of all sorts. The writer obtained resources for this book from reputable bookshops. Notable among the bookshops included the then famous SIM Bookshops that translated to Challenge Bookshops in the seventies and eighties as well as Crossway Publishers Bookshops, CMS Bookshops and others. Publishers included Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois; Zondervan Publishing House of the Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Challenge Publications, Jos, Plateau State; Crossway Publishers ltd, Enugu, Enugu State; Victor Books, a Division of SP Publications, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois, and others. As a childhood believer in the Gospel of Jesus Christ at the time his studies provided him with proper personal guidance and opportunities to confirm the concepts and precepts canvassed by the famous authors or otherwise prove them not working. Again, as he grew in his spiritual experience, his spiritual gift of teaching gave expression in his work as a Sunday School Teacher in one of the oldest Pentecostals/Evangelical churches that spread like wild fire during the Nigeria/Biafra war and beyond in Nigeria. From his experience in this teaching work and the field of practice provided by the Sunday school he was privileged to get involved in church seminars with respect to family life, especially as it pertains to child upbringing. From here, he began to test the concepts he learned from the wide range of books and later built up the experience through his married life. Like he promised his skeptical and defensive audience then to try out the simple but radical concepts that he himself would have no choice other than trying them out on his own children anytime he got married, assuring them that he believed the concepts would definitely work out, he was thoroughly vindicated. These time-tested concepts are working beyond expectation. After more than thirty years of marriage blessed with four children, two boys and two girls, he cannot thank God enough for the confirmation of the wisdom of those famous authors. It is worthy of note also that the same people that comprised his audience at the time prior to his marriage are darlings of his children thereafter, testifying that they are well brought up. But the praise is to God and the people who made his wisdom available to us. In order to give back to society and actually obey God's command to serve people along with him he chose to compile these wonderful, though simple, concepts and precepts into a sizable book that can both be browsed quickly and referred to from time to time to refresh our minds with the proper application of relevant concepts canvassed in the book.


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