Meet Victorine Mbong Shu (The Author)
I am a businesswoman, researcher, workshops facilitator, conference speaker, chairlady, motivational speaker, wife, author and involved mother to four
bubbly children. I am the founder and current chief executive officer of
Profounder Intelligence Management Services www.profounder.co.za.
I facilitate workshops and seminars for executives and managers. Most
of my trainings are focused at employee and organisation wellness. These
trainings are aimed to build and manage effective and friendly work
environments. I coordinate, chair and speak in conferences on a wide
variety of topics. Through my company, I have accumulated a wide variety of
clients that cut across sectors and nations. My love for creating
relationships that benefit children are eminent in these books. My desire to
expand the discourse beyond bounds has prompted me to initiate a
non-governmental organisation named The
Involved Corner; www.theinvolvedcorner.org.za
As a mother of 4, employer and motivational speaker my journey
and experience could also help to boost workplace morale. I am ready to
facilitate in-house interactions at your invitation.
Introducing
the Concept of Involved Parenting: The Books
Children these days seem to grow up very
successful but appear to be emotionally lacking. Parents are faced with
challenges in parenting that go beyond physically and consciously being there
for their children. Employers and workplaces are faced with distracted parents
who amongst other things, worry about the challenges of bringing up stable and
fulfilled children. Governments are criticised for drafting and implementing
policies that do not favour parents and children. Where and when did all this
begin? Who can do what about all this?
‘Stop
Complaining! and Bring Back Involved Parenting’ and ‘Start
Investing! to Bring Back Involved Parenting’, written by myself; Victorine Mbong
Shu is a series of two books published in 2016 by Profounder Publishing and Self-Publishing.
Why Partner with Involved Parenting?
The discourse in these books are
set aside by the fact that they reflect real life situations of our times. The
content of the books are aimed to recreate bonding in parenting from all
facets. It is purposed to revive the workforce and recreate discussions between
individuals and their bosses/employers but also with policy makers about the
creation and preservation of legacies across sectors and at different levels
all aimed at molding better children for the world. These books could just be
the creator of your legacy.
DESCRIPTION OF THE BOOKS
It is worth remembering that:
‘Only adults can make children what they become and hope to be.
Most adults know this, few do not. But all
children
will not know this unless they are taught’.
Stop Complaining! and Bring Back Involved Parenting’
and ‘Start Investing! to Bring Back
Involved Parenting’ is a series of two books written to provoke not only
parents, caregivers and guardians, but adults, institutions and governments in
general to come together and raise children in such a way that they grow up
valuing life. These books create an opportunity for adults to look back and try
to find what went wrong in parenting that has caused so much pain as a result
of many breakdown in value systems and cultures across the world. Without
necessarily going into the details of ideals, the narratives in these books
create laid back reading companions. Both books consider, with a sense of
humour, the many distractions encountered by parents and adults in their daily
parenting. They make enjoyable reads because both books recount real life
experiences of the author in her capacity as a spouse, a mother of four, a Chief
Executive Officer an employer of parents and young adults, a multidisciplinary
researcher, a motivational skills development facilitator and an author.
In
these books, Victorine describes how mothering with joy, trials and
tribulations has kept her going as a motivated and involved parent. She brings
a lot of diversity into the books by sharing cases of grandparents, married
parents, separated or single parents, estranged parents, same-sex parents,
biological parents, parents of adopted children, relatives who parent, friends
who parent, neighbours who parent, and also institutional caregivers. However,
she is adamant that we all chose how we define our parenting style, how we
choose to live with our children and our spouses and how we need to navigate
our daily activities. Even though
Victorine provokes all spheres by questioning the capability of parents,
institutions and governments in current times, she encourages you to read these
books to help with coping strategies in times where more effort is being put
into parenting than in the benefits reaped from being a parent.
To Stop Complaining! and Bring Back Involved Parent, we
need to sacrifice a lot in time, money and effort. We need to investment. Like
every investment, we cannot do so without sacrifices and challenges. However,
what we forgo and the difficulties we encounter can easily be combated by the
type of mind-set we develop regarding children and their upbringing and then
how we teach them.
For a better insight,
of the discourse, it is important to note that the first book titled ‘Stop Complaining! and Bring Back Involved
Parenting’ calls on parents and adults to see what children have become as
what they have taught them. It calls on grown-ups to stop blaming children for
societal ills but rather to take responsibility in making children better
adults. The book breaks down parenting such that the roles and responsibilities of mothers and
fathers are defined. Thereafter, both parents have to be positioned, but
continuously repositioned such that their roles and responsibilities are in
line with their changing values, cultures and statuses both at home and out of
home. When positioned, parents also have to normalise attitudes in their houses
and in society on involved parenting as a suitable means of grooming their
children. Normalised attitudes will lead individuals, communities, institutions
and governments to accept that family patterns today are very flexible, that
there is a variety of difference in how different genders perceive and execute
parenting and that single parents definitely parent differently from every
other type of parents.
Involved parents like
every other adult battles with themselves, their employers, societies,
children, finances, socio-cultural and other
trials. The second book titled ‘Start
Investing! to Bring Back Involved
Parenting’ emphasises that children need both our time and our money to flourish. This book expresses the fact that
most working parents are at war with their consciences on what to do and what not to do as they build
relationships with their children. However, because life is real, the burden of life is heavy. This
burden can be eliminated if parenting is treated like a collective investment even though the
benefits vary. This book concludes that in enjoying the package of parenting, we must be cognisant of
the fact that we
are the world but our children are the future. This
book concludes with salutation to South Africans, and involved Parents.
Basically, my cry is a reminder that when
ground rules are laid as shown in book one, parents, children, institutions and
governments have to start focusing on consistency and continuity with certain
degrees of monitoring and evaluation techniques aimed at the betterment of all.
Parents benefit when children are well mannered and taught how to look after
themselves and their communities. So too do institutions and work places that
in a long run are left to deal with the outcome of the parenting culture today.
Work places have to make it their responsibility to make parents conscious of
the fact that they need to teach children that as they grow, that adults are
watching their moves, and that every action they take provokes a reaction. As
we look after our children, it is important that we make these books our
companions and enjoy the wisdom shared by all participants. Let us enjoy being involved
parents, involved adults and involved institutions. Let us enjoy investing in
our children so that they too might enjoy investing in theirs.
STOP COMPLAINING! and BRING BACK INVOLVED
PARENTING
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Introduction:
Chapter 1: Parenting:
the role of MOTHERS and FATHERS.
Chapter 2: Involved
parenting: What is this?
Chapter 3: Positioning
and repositioning parents.
Chapter 4: Putting Career before children and…
Chapter 5: Normalising attitudes.
Chapter 6: Changing family patterns: Clarion call for
action.
Chapter
7: The gender trap.
Chapter
8: Single (gender) parents.
My Salutation to children.
Chapter Funny.
Final
words.
Victorine Mbong Shu.
Author and Conversationist on Involved Parenting
Availability of book
Copies can be bought from the following avenues;
Victorine on +27 82 548 6385
My works on www.mbongshu.co.za
Xarra Books: www.Xarrabooks.co.za
Online in South Africa: www.sabooksearch.co.za
Hard Copies: +27 11 440 7501 - Johannesburg or
www.profoundcentre.co.za
