by Irene van der Zande, Kidpower Founder and Executive Director | Apr 15, 2012
Dateline NBC series about testing children’s abilities to follow their parents’ instructions to make safe and ethical choices has the potential to be emotionally damaging to kids without making anyone safer. I believe that it undermines trust for children to be tested in such a sneaky way. Children need to believe that their adults are allies who are helping them to be successful, not testing them, letting them fail publicly – and then agreeing to have them publicly humiliated by broadcasting the results on TV. Anyone who has seen one of our Kidpower workshops would agree that watching young people being coached to be successful in taking charge of their safety is educational, empowering, entertaining, and would make GREAT television!
by Irene van der Zande, Kidpower Founder and Executive Director | Apr 7, 2012
For Mother’s Day, The Kidpower Book to the mothers and mother figures in your life for their own use or in their honor to a school, library, or youth organization. Kidpower will e-mail a personalized note if you if you let us know.
by Irene van der Zande, Kidpower Founder and Executive Director | Mar 30, 2012
Download a free one-page Kidpower Safety For Kids On The Way To School Checklist about how to prepare kids and assess to ensure they are ready to make safe choices and get help while on their way to and from school, or anywhere else that they are allowed to go on their own. We don’t know what happened to Sierra LaMar, a 15-year-old, who disappeared March 16 and is still missing, but it’s hard not to fear the worst and to WISH that she had known these skills to stay safe.
by Irene van der Zande, Kidpower Founder and Executive Director | Mar 28, 2012
Like so many, we are deeply sad that 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, a Florida high school student, was shot by 28-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman. Sad for a young life cut short. Sad for his family and friends. We cannot help asking questions and seeking answers about what might have made a difference – and might help to prevent this from happening again.
by Irene van der Zande, Kidpower Founder and Executive Director | Mar 16, 2012
Before we teach fighting skills to children and teens in our self-defense workshops, we coach them until they are successful in practicing skills that will make fighting unnecessary most of the time.
