THRIVE: How to Cultivate Character So Your Children Can Flourish Online

Description

Winner of the International Federation for Family Development Award. When Dr Tom Harrison, a leading expert in the field of character education and the Internet, bought his daughter her first smartphone, a major milestone had been reached: she had entered the 'cyber-world'. Harrison no longer needed to know what to think; he needed to know what to do. This is the first practical book of its kind to show parents and teachers how to develop character as the foundation for helping young people to thrive in their online interactions. It answers the question: How do we prepare our children to do the right thing when no one is watching? Based on his own experience as a parent, more than a decade of research and thousands of conversations with parents, teachers, children and policymakers, the REACT and THRIVE models have been developed to engage with character, wellbeing, social and emotional learning, ethics and digital citizenship - all the ingredients for flourishing online. The world is waking up to the importance of character for individual and wider societal flourishing. Harrison is at the forefront of this movement and is regularly invited to advise policymakers and thousand of teachers and parents around the world. This book is a must-read for parents and educators who want to help children not just survive but thrive online in their cyber-worlds.

Dr Tom Harrison is a Reader in Character Education Pedagogy and Practice and Director of Education for the Jubilee Centre. His specialist interests are character education and virtue ethics, character, wisdom and the Internet, youth social action and citizenship education. He has published extensively in these areas as well as developing resources and training programmes for schools, voluntary sector and other organisations. Tom is regularly invited to speak on the topic to audiences around the world. Tom is also the Programme Director for the MA in Character Education, a senior HEA fellow and has recently been awarded a National Teaching Fellowship. He is also Trustee and Secretary for the Society for Educational Studies (SES) and Secretary and Trustee for the Association for Character Education (ACE). Tom lives in Derbyshire with his wife and their two children.

Every parent is nervous about how their child will cope with the online world. Based on his work on building character and a desire for every child to flourish, Tom Harrison is just the right person to show us how the next generation can navigate cyberspace and thrive in doing so -- The Rt Hon Baroness Nicky Morgan In the fourth industrial revolution it is vital our children develop the character and human strengths that will enable them to flourish online. This book makes a compelling case for why character matters, as well as clearly showing how parents and teachers can help their children to use digital technologies wisely -- Sir Anthony Seldon As a parent, I know how important it is to help young people flourish in the increasingly digital world in which they're growing up. In his new book, Tom Harrison shows us how the theory of character development - which can be traced back to the ancients - is more relevant to this task than ever. The book provides a practical guide for parents and young people on how to develop the wisdom and skills needed to navigate the internet, with all the opportunities and risks it provides. I highly recommend this book to all parents and teachers -- Lord O'Shaughnessy While guides to keeping children safe on the internet abound, children deserve more - they deserve to flourish in the online spaces that form part of everyday life in the twenty-first century. Tom Harrison's THRIVE is a much-needed guide for parents, teachers and others seeking to help children cultivate the habits, virtues and practical judgment needed to live wisely and well in digital environments -- Professor Shannon Vallor, Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence THRIVE seamlessly weaves together timely insights from research on digital life, timeless ethical principles and actionable advice to help parents guide their children on the path to cyber-wisdom and, ultimately, to thrive. Tom Harrison draws from his own experiences raising children in a connected world and his deep expertise in virtue ethics and character education to create a compelling "how to" guide for parents -- Dr Carrie James, Principal Investigator at Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education THRIVE demonstrates the need for parents and teachers to take an active part in helping children to develop into good "cyber-citizens." The Internet offers temptations to a new generation that their parents and teachers may not have encountered. This sentence stayed with me: "Many children I interviewed said they had been involved with saying nasty things to others online because their friends encouraged them to." That's how easy it can be. Fortunately, Dr Harrison's work offers us strong and positive ways to "reclaim the language of virtue" -- Naomi Stadlen, author of What Mothers Learn THRIVE is practical, realistic and sound. Tom Harrison's ideas resonate with my own experiences as a mother and educator of adolescents and his parenting tools will be as effective in everyday life as in the digital world. Your child will thank you for reading this -- Kim McCabe, founder of Rites for Girls and author of From Daughter to Woman Finally, a practical guide that not only tells us why our kids need to learn to become good cyber-citizens, but actually gives us the tools for how to do it! In two easy-to-remember acronyms, REACT and THRIVE, Tom empowers parents to enter our children's cyber worlds with pro-activity and positivity rather than fear and negativity. He shows us how we can practically foster the wisdom in our kids that is so necessary in making good decisions in the cyber world on their own. This book is extremely relevant and I highly recommend it for parents and teachers -- Jessica Joelle Alexander, bestselling author of The Danish Way of Parenting