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I hope that this message finds each and every one of you healthy and safe in mind, body, and spirit.

In this intense time with all of our lives disrupted, I am asking everyone in our Kidpower International community and everyone connected in any way with our organization the following:

  1. How are you doing? – I want to know the truth, not just what people think I want to hear
  2. How can I help? – I might not be able to do what you most need, but maybe I can help you to figure out solutions.

This is a chaotic time, and our first job is to take care of ourselves and our families. Our second job is to connect with the people who are important to us, even if it is just by checking in and letting them know that we care and want to help. And YOU are important to me.

The skills we teach in Kidpower are even more essential during hard times. For this reason, starting next week, we will be launching a series of free live Kidpower webinars for adults and workshops on Zoom for children and youth with their parents or guardians.

Webinar topics for adults will include Emotional Safety Skills for staying safe with our feelings, Boundary-Setting Skills for staying safe with each other, Advocacy Skills for taking charge of our well being, and Conflict Resolution Skills for working out problems when we are stuck at home together. Classes with children and their adults will be limited in size and will provide fun, useful, age-appropriate Kidpower safety lessons.

Even though we can’t teach Kidpower classes in person or travel right now, we CAN and WILL connect with people to let them know we care and to offer help. We CAN and WILL provide expert guidance about how to use Kidpower skills and strategies to solve specific problems. We CAN and WILL increase our own knowledge and skills in this work.We CAN and WILL keep expanding, sharing, and translating our educational resources.

And we CAN and WILL come together as humans to face this huge social and health challenge!

As Lynn from the UK wrote to me, “I hope that we can look back on this time next year and feel pleased with how well we all handled it.”

Stay safe. Stay well. Stay in touch! 

Copyright © 2020 - present. All rights reserved.

Published: March 17, 2020   |   Last Updated: March 17, 2020

Kidpower Founder and Executive Irene van der Zande is a master at teaching safety through stories and practices and at inspiring others to do the same. Her child protection and personal safety expertise has been featured by USA Today, CNN, Today Moms, the LA Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Publications include: cartoon-illustrated Kidpower Safety Comics and Kidpower Teaching Books curriculum; Bullying: What Adults Need to Know and Do to Keep Kids Safe; the Relationship Safety Skills Handbook for Teens and Adults; Earliest Teachable Moment: Personal Safety for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers; The Kidpower Book for Caring Adults: Personal Safety, Self-Protection, Confidence, and Advocacy for Young People, and the Amazon Best Seller Doing Right by Our Kids: Protecting Child Safety at All Levels.