CHILDREN’S PERSONAL SAFETY SERVICES

KIDPOWER Introduction to Programs for Children and their Parents, Educators and Caregivers

KIDPOWER workshops focus on the power children have to think, move, and use their voices in order to stay safe.  Children along with their adults have the opportunity to practice using this power in role-play situations that allow them to rehearse dealing with challenges immediately relevant to their every day lives.

Our workshops are designed to be hands-on, short, upbeat, effective, and emotionally and physically safe.

Workshops are tailored to the ages and life situations of the children, but all KIDPOWER programs have the following elements:

We focus on the positive.  This means we use workshop time to explore and practice skills that can prevent, avoid, de-escalate, or stop a problem as soon as possible.  We do not use scare tactics or stories that focus on children being victimized.

We create opportunities for “learning by doing.” Instead of spending much time discussing problems, we have children practice what to do to prevent or stop those problems. This means our students actually practice – with their bodies and with their voices – the skills they are learning, and they are coached so that they experience success.

We use matter-of-fact language that is not fear-based. This means, for example, that students practice skills for stranger safety, not “stranger danger.”  We coach students to be aware, not “wary.”  We practice skills to stop unwanted touch and attention rather than talking about “bad touch.”

Our programs:

DO give parents, caregivers, and educators a practical method for building lifelong emotional and physical safety skills.

DO give parents, caregivers, and educators a vocabulary for talking positively and productively with children about boundaries, unwanted touch and attention, emergencies, stranger -- and other important safety topics.

DO provide children with an opportunity to have fun while practicing ways of being powerful.

DO NOT focus on or describe in detail the bad things that might happen.

For more information, please go to Common Questions About KIDPOWER Services.

The Skills We Teach: 

KIDPOWER Everyday Safety Programs focus on how to use your mind, voice, words, and body to build positive relationships and to stop most trouble with people. Our Emergency-Only Self-Defense programs prepare students six and older to use physical resistance skills to escape from dangerous situations. Self-defense for children six and older can be practiced with kick pads or, in our full-force programs, with a head-to-toe padded instructor.

In workshops tailored to their ages and life situations, KIDPOWER participants learn the following skills.

To Be and Act Aware, Calm, and Confident. Children practice sitting, standing, and moving with awareness, calm, and confidence. They practice how to look and speak so that people will bother them less and listen to them more. They practice noticing what is happening around them so that they can prevent most trouble before it starts.

To Take Charge. In our Everyday Safety workshops, children practice: assessing a situation to know what their safest choices are; moving their bodies in order to create more space between themselves and people who might cause problems for them; making safe choices about talking to or taking things from strangers; checking in with adults in charge before they change the plan about where they are going, what they are doing or who they are going with.

In our self-defense workshops, children also practice “emergency only” skills of using physical techniques to escape from danger, as a last resort.

To Get Help. Children practice: making and following a safety plan for how to get help in public including if they get lost if they are with a trusted adult or bothered if they are out on their own; being clear in telling trusted adults when they have a safety problem; persisting until they get the help they need; using their voices loudly to attract attention if a situation becomes threatening; and getting help in emergencies.

Set Clear and Appropriate Boundaries. Children learn and practice boundary-setting skills, which are powerful skills for preventing most bullying and child sexual abuse.  At the same time, appropriate clear boundary-setting skills can build confidence and improve relationships of all kinds. Students rehearse how to:

Stop unwanted touch and teasing. Children practice the skills in role-plays involving everyday, familiar forms of unwanted touch and attention such as stopping tickling, poking, and cheek-pinching or inappropriate touch, with NO discussion of explicit details about sexual molestation or assault. Children also are given clear guidelines about what is their choice and what is not their choice.

Protect themselves from teasing and name-calling. Children practice how to deal with hurtful words and stop teasing and bullying from peers. Children also learn techniques to increase their self-esteem by protecting themselves from the hurtful or damaging things they might say to themselves.

Different Workshops to Address Your Needs

Our most common children’s services are summarized below.  For more information about signing up for or arranging workshops, please click here.

KIDPOWER Parent-Child Workshops for Children ages 4-8 and Their Adults

KIDPOWER Parent-Child Workshops provide a framework for children to learn and practice People Safety skills with parents and caregivers in a way that is effective without being scary. These People Safety skills are the foundation of personal safety habits that children can use for the rest of their lives.

This entertaining two-hour program gives parents, or other adult guardians, the opportunity to learn Everyday Safety Skills along with their 4 to 8 year-old children. Trained KIDPOWER instructors introduce the Everyday Skills of being and acting aware, taking charge, and getting help.  Each step of the way, adults are coached in how to practice these skills with their children.

KIDPOWER Parent-Child Full Force Workshop for Children Ages 6-12 and Their Adults

LEVEL 1: In this one-day workshop students learn all of the Everyday Safety Skills (awareness, calm and confidence, moving out of reach, checking first, using your voice to help you stay safe, getting help effectively, dealing with hurtful words, setting boundaries, dealing with bullying, etc) with their parents (like in a Parent Child Workshop).  For the second half of the class, students learn physical self-defense skills to use as a last resort and the adults support them.  Adults can learn some skills in the air, but the focus will be on the children learning physical skills.  Adults will watch and support their children when they are practicing the skills on a padded instructor.

LEVEL 2: The prerequisite required for registering in this class includes participation in a Parent-Child Full Force Level 1 Workshop or participation in a Weekend Family Workshop within two years of the class date. This workshop builds on the personal safety and self-defense skills that have already been introduced in the Level 1 Workshop. This program provides an opportunity for students to do individualized boundary-setting role-plays with instructors and to learn how to use their full-force self-defense skills in more difficult situations.

KIDPOWER Weekend Family Workshops for Young People Ages 6-14

The KIDPOWER Weekend Family Workshop combines parent education with two sessions for their children in a very concentrated format. Through which young people learn how to prevent and protect themselves from violence and abuse from strangers, bullies, and people they know.

In the separate ADULTS ONLY evening session, parents and other support adults learn how to integrate the skills taught into their children’s day-to-day lives. During the weekend children's sessions, the children practice awareness, boundary-setting, and target denial skills through role plays tailored to fit their individual situations. The head-to-toe padded instructor gives the children the opportunity for full force practice of physical self-defense techniques.

Parent/Caregiver Workshops help parents and other caregivers learn how to help their children develop skills for staying safe with strangers, peers, and other people they know.

Training for Professionals prepares teachers, childcare providers, health care professionals and others to incorporate KIDPOWER's approach into their curriculum or standard practices.

School programs provide children with the opportunity to learn KIDPOWER in classrooms and assemblies.

Publications Available

through our ONLINE STORE

The KIDPOWER Book for Caring Adults provides a comprehensive description of the KIDPOWER approach with stories, clear examples and step-by-step explanations.

The KIDPOWER Safety Plan Comic Book is a cartoon-illustrated explanation for adults on how to introduce safety skills to younger children. This edition is available in English and Spanish.

The KIDPOWER Teaching Kit is a set of six cartoon-illustrated manuals with social stories and practice steps for introducing personal skills in classrooms and other group settings. The focus is on children ages 3 to 8, but is relevant for any children who are not old enough to be out on their own or to be left home alone. This edition is available in English and Spanish.

For publications, please go to the Store.

Comments From Participants

"I thought my six-year old would be scared.  Instead, my child kept saying, 'This is so FUN!'"

"My ten-year-old son is very quiet.  I was worried that if he had a problem, he wouldn't make noise or ask for help.  KIDPOWER gave him lots of chances to practice, and just last week he got help in a store when someone was bothering him.  He stands up for himself more now."

"Every day, my nine-year-old daughter came home upset about the mean things other girls were saying.  After KIDPOWER, she felt less upset and more prepared to get help in a way that made things better, not worse."

"When my four-year-old was at Grandma's, he saw a stranger pull up in front of the house.  He got up and went to check in with Grandma, just like he practiced at KIDPOWER!  Grandma was impressed, and he was proud of himself because he knew what to do."

“When my seven-year-old daughter was on an overnight camping trip at school, a friend in her tent took off her clothes and tried to initiate inappropriate games. My daughter told her friend to stop and then went to get a teacher to help.”

"After someone broke into a house in our neighborhood, my son was scared to be alone in any room of our home.  After taking KIDPOWER, he feels happy and relaxed at home again."

"My daughter was so terrified after a child at her school was abducted that she ran home from school every afternoon. Since taking KIDPOWER she has felt safe enough to walk home."

"My seven-year-old son came into the house telling me that some strange people were hanging around in a car outside. He said that he was ready to use his KIDPOWER if need be, but knew he should come and tell me instead."

"I had to drag my thirteen-year-old daughter to the workshop. To both our surprise, we had a good time. I have much more peace of mind about letting her go out into the world now that I am more confident that she knows how to take care of herself."