Care for the Family event in Chester

‘A Mind of Their Own’, which focuses on helping children to build strong emotional resilience and healthy mental well-being, is coming to Audacious Church in Chester.

This event will be hosted by UK director of Care for the Family, Katharine Hill, and draws on Katharine’s new book, ‘A Mind of Their Own: Building Our Children’s Emotional Resilience in a Post-Pandemic World’, which published last autumn. In this book, Katharine explores how we can parent confidently in a society where the boundaries between ‘real life’ and the digital world are increasingly blurred, and in which children and young people are spending an increasing amount of time online.

ABOUT ‘LEFT TO THEIR OWN DEVICES’:

‘It’s our job to sow into our children’s lives the values that will equip them to make good choices in the digital world,’ writes Katharine Hill. ‘In a world of unlimited choices, our role is to equip them to make good ones.’

In ‘Left To Their Own Devices’, Katharine offers a balanced, down to earth guide to the risks and opportunities associated with our children’s online behaviour – drawing on her experience as a parent and the experiences and worries of thousands of parents she has met through her work as UK Director of charity Care for the Family. Each chapter features real life stories and offers practical tips for navigating an area which can often seem overwhelming, including a handy ‘Action’ section at the end of each chapter and an appendix of useful websites and organisations.

Many parents are concerned about content (what children see online), contact (who they talk to online) and conduct (how they behave online). Providing advice and reassurance, Katharine explores a number of key issues, including the impact of screen time on sleep, physical health and emotional well-being, gaming, addiction, gambling, social media and identity, digital footprints, pornography, sexting, online bullying and grooming. She explains the importance of parents using boundaries and discipline where needed, as well as being good role models in our own use of screens and avoiding technoference (a psychologists’ term for being emotionally absent from our children because of our phones getting in the way of engaging with them).

Whether you are cradling a newborn or riding the rollercoaster of the teenage years, ‘Left To Their Own Devices’ is an essential read for mums and dads who not only want to ‘cope’ with bringing up children in the digital age, but to be on the front door - confidently parenting in a post-pandemic world of screens.

The book draws on many statistics from recent research and surveys, including the following:

• 91% of 12-15 year olds have their own smartphone and more than two-thirds of teenagers would rather communicate with friends online than in person

• 48% of 3-4 year olds own their own tablet, and 4% have a smartphone

• Before lockdown, 5-16 year olds were averaging over 6 hours of screen time a day and this increased dramatically during lockdown; website and app visits by 4-15 year olds increased by more than 100% between January 2000 and January 2001

• More than half of 12-15 year olds said they had some form of negative online experience; 30% of these had been contacted by a stranger online who wanted to be their friend

• 90% of 12-15 year olds said that social media helped them to feel closer to their friends in lockdown

• 90% of 13-18 year olds in the UK play games online – the average young person will have spent 10,000 hours gaming by the age of 21

• 51% of 11-13 year olds have seen online porn at some point

• 13% of secondary school students have sent a naked or semi-naked picture or video of themselves to another person

• 1 in 5 10-15 year olds have experienced some form of online bullying – a quarter did not report it to anyone

• 81% of children have an online presence before the age of 2 due to ‘sharenting; the average parent posts nearly 1500 images of their child by their 5^th birthday

‘Full of practical wisdom and helpful tips… A much-needed guide for navigating the unchartered waters of parenting in a digital age.’

Sarah Abell, former agony aunt for the Daily Telegraph

‘Skilfully and sensitively tackles a terribly thorny subject with razor-sharp insight and unremitting authenticity.’

Dr Samantha Callan, family policy expert and parliamentary advisor.

More details and booking information are available at:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-mind-of-their-own-chester-tickets-227550829657.