safety and protection for ages 0-7

Long before they can talk or move on their own, babies are learning from their adults about what it means to be safe and to be important.

Our job as adults is to provide nurturing, love, guidance, and protection – and, to remember that babies are also aware of how we speak and act. When we speak and act in safe and respectful ways, babies are learning lessons about safety and respect!

As young children start to develop more mobility, understanding, and language, our job is also to start teaching them how to be safe in their world and with other people – in addition to remembering that our own words and actions are also teaching lessons about safety and respect.

Because most young children tend to be very literal and think in concrete terms, Kidpower teaches about safety with people in simple, clear ways with specific examples from their daily lives. We keep in mind Kidpower’s Seven Keys to Teaching Safety:

  1. Stay calm – because it’s easier to teach and learn when everyone is calm
  2. Make it fun – because people learn better when they are having fun
  3. Make it simple – because simple things are easier to remember
  4. Be consistent – because consistent messages make more sense
  5. Practice – a lot! – because repeated, successful practice makes skills stronger and increases confidence
  6. Make it relevant – because people learn a skill faster when it seems useful
  7. Stay in charge – because leaders are responsible for the safety of those in their care

Kids learn better when they are having fun, so we are enthusiastic, vivid, and joyful when we teach skills. We use puppets, social stories, toys, and people to show what the safety rules and skills are. We avoid confusing or frightening language, attitudes, or ideas.

Children learn more from what they see adults do than from what we tell them to do, so we support adults in being excellent role models about making safe choices.

Use our resources and services to learn and use these strategies yourself – and Contact us with questions, requests, and workshop inquiries!

Earliest Teachable Moment available on Amazon!

Protecting & Empowering Young People from Birth

Boundaries and body autonomy & safety

Boundary skills – including consent and body autonomy – are powerful tools for building stronger, happier relationships at every age. By making boundary skills part of your daily life with kids from birth, you are giving them tools for a lifetime of stronger, happier relationships!

Boundary skills also happen to be the most powerful skills we know of to keep kids safe from abuse – including sexual abuse.

The good news is that when adults make boundary skills part of daily life with young children to support fun, connection, and communication, they are also helping kids build skills that can help them be safe from abuse – without giving them scary information about abuse.

If you take care of a young child, then your everyday life is full of great opportunities to teach and use boundary skills in order to make your time together more fun – for them as well as for you.

We are experts at helping adults see those opportunities and turn them into fun, positive, teachable moments. When adults use Kipower boundary skills and principles every day to…

  • resolve conflict
  • make agreements
  • address misunderstandings
  • improve sibling communication
  • address hurtful behavior calmly and confidently
  • make tickling, roughhousing, and other games safer and more fun

…then, kids get a lot of practice with the boundary, consent, and body autonomy skills that can help them have more fun and fewer problems with people throughout their lives.

Here are a few resources to get you started – and we have many more books and free resources you can use!

Consent Skills for All Ages
Kidpower 30-Skill Challenge Coaching eHandbook
Kidpower Skills to Persist in Protecting Personal Boundaries Through the 5 Levels of Intrusion™
BOUNDARY POSTERS
SAFETY SIGNALS

Choosing safe caregivers

Worrying about leaving babies and young children with other people is normal. And, worrying does not keep kids safe! Learning what to watch out for and how to step in when you have a concern will help you feel more confident and will help them be safe.

The good news is that dangers from caregivers can almost always be prevented. Letting someone else take care of the children we love means trusting this person with the most precious part of our lives. Parents and guardians are responsible for selecting and supervising the care of their children, whether the caregivers are individuals or the staff of programs like child care centers and schools.

At the same time, it is important to keep your balance. You do not want to overreact to an upsetting possibility in a way that damages your child’s trust in being left with other people.

Our article Choosing Safe People to Care for Your Children gives information you can use right away as you are considering leaving your child in someone else’s care.

Even when someone has provided care for your child for a long time, is someone you trust, or is a member of your family, it is still important to respond to ‘red flag’ behaviors in order to keep your child safe. Here are 5 examples:

  1. Anyone who disregards your safety rules or tries to make you feel wrong for having concerns.
  2. Any adult who wants to be your child’s friend but not your friend.
  3. A situation that seems too good to be true – because it often is.
  4. Someone who continually asks that you trust them.
  5. Someone who makes unsolicited promises.

This list is also in our bestselling book Doing Right By Our Kids: Protecting Child Safety at All Levels – which includes many more strategies for protecting children from harm. The articles below are from our free Resource library – use them now to learn strategies you can use right away.

In addition, communicating with caregivers is almost always adult-to-adult communication. Building your own adult-level boundary and advocacy skills will prepare you to approach difficult conversations – including with family members, teachers, day care providers, others caring for your child – with confidence. See our Relationship Skills and Fullpower Adult Safety resources for strategies you can learn and use to communicate effectively with people who might care for your child.

Choosing Safe People to Care for Your Children
Being Worthy of Trust to Keep Kids Safe from Abuse, Bullying, and Other Harm
Choosing a Therapist for Your Child or Yourself
Kidpower Safety Tips for Babysitters, Nannies, and Caregivers

Protection from abuse & abduction

At Kidpower, we believe that most people are good. Unfortunately, a few people do very destructive things, which can have a huge impact on everyone’s safety.

The reality is that anyone can be a potential danger to a child. Statistically, children are far more likely to be harmed by someone they know than by a stranger, which is why teaching about boundaries is so important. However, in even the safest of places, there is always a risk that children might be traumatized by getting lost or by having an adult do something dangerous, which is why children need safety plans to follow.

There is no substitute for supervising the people who are caring for your children. No matter where your children are, it is important to make sure that the people responsible for their well-being are ensuring a safe, respectful, caring environment where the adults are paying close attention and fully in charge.

What you can do to prepare your children to learn to protect their own well-being is to give them a strong foundation of the “People Safety” skills that Kidpower teaches. Most problems can be prevented if children and their adults have practiced how to

  • ask for help
  • set boundaries
  • protect their feelings
  • stay in charge of their bodies
  • know the Safety Plan if they get lost
  • follow your Stranger Safety rules
  • check first with their grownups before they change their plan about where they are going, what they are doing, and who they are with.

It’s not enough just to tell children what to do; they also need to practice. Until children have the skill, the life experience, and the confidence to take charge of their safety on their own – whether that means on their own for a playdate, on their own in a room, on their own in the front yard, or any other example – it’s the job of adults to stay aware, together, and in charge of the child’s safety.

On a day-to-day level, children are most likely to deal with social problems such as getting their feelings hurt because they are being left out or someone says something unkind; reacting either too passively or too aggressively when they get frustrated; getting caught up in doing something potentially dangerous together; and not knowing how to persist in getting help from busy adults.

Not Even For A Second! A story about Kidpower’s underlying principle
Kidpower Answers for Parents of Small Children
People Safety for Toddlers
Resisting the Illusion of Safety
The ‘Uh Oh’ Feeling
How “Stranger Danger” Hurts Kids
Kidpower Stranger Safety Tips: Protecting Children from Stranger Abduction/Kidnapping
7 Kidpower Strategies for Keeping Your Child Safe

Skills for safe, strong relationships

The truth is, no matter how old we are, most of the time the people who do things that bother us, irritate us, or make us feel upset are actually people we know and love!

Boundary skills are powerful tools for safe, strong relationships. Adult can use and model boundary skills from the moment a child is born to keep them safe and ensure that others are following your boundaries about what is and is not okay around your child.

To protect your child and support safe, strong relationships, you might choose to set boundaries with friends and family about specific behaviors around your child including:

  • physical behaviors – like roughhousing, tickling, or hugging
  • verbal behaviors – like joking, teasing, or talking about scary things
  • habits – like substance use, speeding, or playing upsetting news stories kids can overhear

Of course, your friends and family get to set their boundaries, too. Sometimes, you may need to use your power to create physical and emotional distance in order to keep your young child safe if others are behaving in ways that put your child’s health, safety, or well-being at risk.

Kidpower’s Founding Principle is that the safety and well-being of a child are more important than anyone’s embarrassment, inconvenience, or offense. Keeping this in mind can help you make difficult decisions – and keep meaningful relationships safe and strong.

As your child grows, you will continue to give this protection and also guide them to set and respect boundaries. This will help them have stronger relationships with friends, family members, teachers, and others. Teaching children how to express and withdraw consent is part of boundary setting for all kinds of touch and attention about play, fun and affection – consent is NOT just about sexual behavior.

When adults use and teach boundary and consent rules throughout a child’s early years, teaching about consent and sexual behavior when they are older can be much easier because you have already developed a common language and set of skills about setting and respecting boundaries about touch and attention for play, fun, and affection for lots of other types of everyday situations.

So, making boundaries part of daily life as early as possible is one way to empower them with skills for a lifetime of safer, stronger relationships of all kinds!

Advocating for Your Kids with Adult Family Members and Friends
Keeping Playdates Fun and Safe
Why Affection and Teaching Should Be a Child’s Choice
Grandparenting: Supporting Strong Family Relationships
How to Make Family Gatherings Great Instead of Awful
Boundary and Consent Posters

Using positive safety skills to address unsafe behavior

Babies are born full of power! They have the power to move, to think, to make noise, to be aware, to grab, to bring things to their mouths…. These are a few examples of their inborn “kidpower”.

And, they have no life experience – they don’t understand how their power could help or harm – themselves or others.

It’s the job of young children to experiment with their power – and the job of adults to guide them and to keep everyone safe while they are learning.

Examples of young children experimenting with their power include wandering away, biting, screaming, throwing things, excluding, and using hurtful words.

Kidpower strategies equip adults to respond confidently with kindness, caring, compassion, and skill – to stop hurtful behaviors, to help kids make amends, and to help everyone practice safer ways to use their power.

Here are resources you can use now to turn these challenging situations into positive teachable moments:

Practice as a Management Tool for Unsafe, Disrespectful Behavior
Seven Positive Strategies for Managing Aggressive Behavior in Young Children
Kidpower Trash Can for Throwing Away Hurting Words
Taking the Power Out of the Word ‘Crybaby’
How Do I Stop MY Child From Bullying?
Little Books for Literal People
Managing Wandering for People with Autism

Supporting independence

Until children have the skills and the life experience they need to take charge of their safety independently, they need caring adults aware of what they are doing, where they are going, and who they are with in order to help them be safe from harm – in person and, when they are older, online.

At the same time, adults are the ones responsible for helping children build those skills for independence by gradually giving them more opportunities to make choices. This is true even for very young children as they begin to express their preferences for things foods foods, clothes, toys, activities, and personal space.

The job of staying close while also giving space can be challenging. Many adults say that the moment they find a balance, their child grows and changes again – and so they have to find a new balance!

We are experts at equipping adults with tools to navigate this journey so they feel more prepared and more confident to protect children while also helping them develop age-appropriate skills for growing independence.

Here are resources to give you strategies for protecting young children while also helping them build confidence in their own skills for independence:

But WHY is this the Safety Rule?
Making a Safety Plan for Bathroom Accidents
“I want to go to the public bathroom by myself”
My child keeps talking to strangers! Help!”
Helicopters or Protectors?
Safety With Animals
Think and Check First

How we help adults help kids 0-7 be safe

We are experts at preparing adults with the tools and information they need to use Kidpower skills, strategies, and methodology in their personal and professional lives with kids to:

  • protect children from abuse, kidnapping, and other harm
  • introduce and talk about safety without being scary
  • teach ‘people safety’ as confidently as they teach manners, hygiene, and car safety

To protect children from birth, we offer adults-only workshops, online resources, and books for:

  • parents, guardians, and other caregivers
  • early childhood educators and childcare providers
  • Health care, social service, and recreation program professionals serving young kids and families

To protect and empower children ages 3-7, we also offer:

  • Familypower workshops for kids together with their parents/guardians
  • Starting Strong workshops for groups of kids together with their teachers, care providers, coaches, or other youth group leaders

Use our resources now to keep your kids safe – and contact us with questions, requests, and workshop inquiries!

About our core skills

Kidpower’s core social emotional skills for being safe with people – like the core skills of hygiene and car safety – are the same at all ages. They include how to:

  • Act aware, calm, and confident
  • Protect yourself emotionally from hurtful words or behavior
  • Manage emotional triggers to stay in charge of what you say and do
  • Recognize what is and is not safe
  • Move away from trouble physically, emotionally, and digitally
  • Assess – and think first or check first before acting
  • Set powerful and respectful boundaries
  • Apply safety principles about touch and attention in healthy relationships
  • Advocate assertively and persistently for help with safety problems
  • Use your voice and body to stop an attack and get to safety

We teach adults how to introduce these skills from birth – just like they start introducing hygiene, car safety, and manners from birth!

And – just like the hygiene and car safety skills adults model with babies are the same skills those babies will use their whole lives to be safe – the Kidpower core social-emotional skills adults can begin modeling for babies are the same skills that will help them be safe with people, in person and online, as teens and adults.

In infancy, children begin learning these skills entirely through adult modeling – in the same way they start learning from adult modeling of hygiene and car safety habits like handwashing and looking both ways before crossing.

As children develop language, adults can teach Kidpower core skills with stories, puppets, songs, art, and games – in addition to modeling the core skills by using them all the time.

Use our resources and services to learn and apply these strategies yourself. Contact us with questions, requests, and workshop inquiries!

Resources

CoursesArticles Books

Below is a selection of our resources specifically relating to personal safety, body safety, and body autonomy for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers.

Courses

Kidpower Starting Strong Classroom Lessons

Kidpower’s Starting Strong curriculum is designed to make it fun and easy for educators to teach ‘People Safety’ lessons to groups of young children from about 3 to 7 years old. Starting Strong Online Classroom Lessons includes clear explanations, relevant social stories, and directions for practicing each set of skills along with adaptations for learning differences.

Learn more about the course>>

Mini Safety Lessons for Young Children

6 English pilot mini-lessons – Watch and tell us what you think! Short, entertaining and educational videos on safety for young children ages 3-7 and their adults. This course is free!

Learn more about the course>>

Face Bullying with Confidence

8 skills from Kidpower to practice proven strategies to prevent and stop bullying. Practice for your own safety – or coach a child, student or group. Adults and youths use these skills to avoid or end bullying at school, at work, in their communities, online.

Learn more about the course>>

Books

Earliest Teachable Moment Book Front Cover

Earliest Teachable Moment

In a simple and entertaining format, this book helps parents and caregivers use Kidpower knowledge and skills to protect the young children in their lives from harm and to start to teach them how to prevent and solve problems with people.
Learn More | Buy on Amazon
Your Amazon purchases help Kidpower!

Kidpower Book Front Cover

Doing Right by Our Kids

The #1 best-selling guide to Child Safety. Practical tools for adults to take charge of the safety and well being of the young people in their care, and to address the obstacles that often get in the way.
Learn More | Buy on Amazon
Your Amazon purchases help Kidpower!

Kidpower Book Front Cover

Starting Strong Safety Lessons

These 12 cartoon-illustrated social safety stories are tools for parents, teachers, and other caring adults to empower younger children with skills that can help prevent and solve problems with people. Skills include boundary setting, stranger safety, getting help from busy adults, strategies for stopping bullying, and more!
Learn More | Buy on Amazon
Your Amazon purchases help Kidpower!

Kidpower Book Front Cover

Starting Strong Safety Teacher's Guide

This Teacher’s Guide for the Kidpower Starting Strong Safety Lessons book provides recommendations for coaching the skills in daily life; using crafts and activities to revisit the skills; at-home lessons for families; and adaptations for learning differences.
Learn More | Buy on Amazon
Your Amazon purchases help Kidpower!

Workshops

Learn Kidpower from the experts! Options include:

  • Online, self-paced courses with captioned videos and more in the Kidpower Online Learning Center
  • Online, live ‘community’ workshops open for public enrollment – see Workshops
  • Online, live ‘organized’ workshops arranged by and for your own group, gathered virtually or physically – presented by a virtual instructor (in-person instruction is paused)

Every workshop is unique! In the planning stage, we listen and ask questions about your needs and priorities. Then, we provide a service tailored just for you. Read more about our most popular workshops for early childhood safety – and contact us to explore options for yours!

For professionals

Youth-serving organizations of all kinds arrange Kidpower Professional Development Programs for:

  • full staff teams- to build a common language for safety among everyone in your agency
  • groups of staff – for people doing similar work with youth, i.e. all the counselors at a camp, all the coaches in a league, or all aftercare providers working at a single site, etc.
  • volunteers, aides, office staff, and other support staff

Each is tailored to the needs of the group. Common priorities include bullying prevention; abuse prevention; safe and inclusive climate; skills for safe, strong relationships; and safety for youth with special needs. US$1900-up.

Contact us to discuss Kidpower Professional Development options for your agency!

For parents & guardians

Give parents and caregivers in your community an opportunity to learn strategies to protect and empower their kids.

Workshops for parents and caregivers are tailored based on your priorities – such as bullying prevention, abuse prevention, online safety, stranger safety/abduction prevention, safety for youth with special needs, etc.

Your adults-only Parentpower Program can be:

  • taught in English, Spanish, or French by an instructor skilled at working with interpreters
  • open to all adults your online platform will allow – up to 95 if using Kidpower’s Zoom
  • presented in 1 or 2 parts of 1-2 hours each, US$950-up

Contact us to explore options!

For families

Familypower Programs give youth side-by-side with their adults an opportunity to have fun learning age-appropriate safety skills together. Each Familypower Program is tailored to the families’ life situations and the ages of the participating youth – as well as your priorities. Familypower Programs serve 10-50 families/screens (max varies based on youth ages) and can be:

  • taught in English, Spanish, or French by an instructor skilled at working with interpreters
  • tailored for youth in the age range you choose (3-18) side-by-side with their parents/guardians
  • adapted to meet the needs of learners of diverse abilities
  • presented in 1 or 2 parts of 1-2 hours each, US$950-up

Contact us to explore Familypower options for the families served by your agency!

For teams, troops, classes, & other groups of youth

We teach youth side-by-side together with their regular group leaders – such as their coaches, counselors, troop leaders, aftercare providers, teachers, etc. – in Kidpower Group Workshops. Your workshop can be:

  • taught in English, Spanish, or French
  • tailored based on your priorities and kids’ ages and life situations
  • adapted to meet the needs of learners of diverse abilities
  • arranged with Kidpower Professional Development to offer fieldwork training for staff
  • presented in 1-12 parts of 20-120 minutes each, US$950-up

Contact us to explore Kidpower Group Workshop options for your agency!

Costs

Self-paced courses in the Kidpower Online Learning Center are priced by course – and some are free! See current self-paced course offerings and costs.

Depending on your group and your priorities, live workshops online or in-person (if available in your area) can be:

  • 1-6 hours in length, total
  • One-time, single-session
  • Multi-part, 2-12 sessions

Minimum costs for workshops and programs taught live:

  • US$950-up for parent/caregiver and family workshops
  • US$950-up for workshops serving a teacher with their class
  • US$1900-up for professional development programs

Please do not let lack of money stop you from reaching out! Since 1989, we have remained committed to doing all in our power to ensure that money is not the sole factor preventing people from getting access to Kidpower. Costs listed are the costs incurred by Kidpower, and we have an outstanding track record of working with groups to address costs, including by using grant funding secured by Kidpower.

Contact us now to talk about your situation! We will tell you the exact cost of the services you are considering.

Learn Kidpower from the experts! Options include:

  • Online, self-paced courses with captioned videos and more in the Kidpower Online Learning Center
  • Online, live ‘community’ workshops open for public enrollment – see Workshops
  • Online, live ‘organized’ workshops arranged by and for your own group, gathered virtually or physically – presented by a virtual instructor (in-person instruction is paused)

Every workshop is unique! In the planning stage, we listen and ask questions about your needs and priorities. Then, we provide a service tailored just for you. Read more about our most popular workshops for children – and contact us to explore options for yours!

For professionals

Youth-serving organizations of all kinds arrange Kidpower Professional Development Programs for:

  • full staff teams- to build a common language for safety among everyone in your agency
  • groups of staff – for people doing similar work with youth, i.e. all the counselors at a camp, all the coaches in a league, or all aftercare providers working at a single site, etc.
  • volunteers, aides, office staff, and other support staff

Each is tailored to the needs of the group. Common priorities include bullying prevention; abuse prevention; safe and inclusive climate; skills for safe, strong relationships; and safety for youth with special needs. US$1900-up.

Contact us to discuss Kidpower Professional Development options for your agency!

For parents & guardians

Give parents and caregivers in your community an opportunity to learn strategies to protect and empower their kids.

Workshops for parents and caregivers are tailored based on your priorities – such as bullying prevention, abuse prevention, online safety, stranger safety/abduction prevention, safety for youth with special needs, etc.

Your adults-only Parentpower Program can be:

  • taught in English, Spanish, or French by an instructor skilled at working with interpreters
  • open to all adults your online platform will allow – up to 95 if using Kidpower’s Zoom
  • presented in 1 or 2 parts of 1-2 hours each, US$950-up

Contact us to explore options!

For families

Familypower Programs give youth side-by-side with their adults an opportunity to have fun learning age-appropriate safety skills together.

Each Familypower Program is tailored to the families’ life situations and the ages of the participating youth – as well as your priorities. Familypower Programs serve 10-50 families/screens (max varies based on youth ages) and can be:

  • taught in English, Spanish, or French by an instructor skilled at working with interpreters
  • tailored for youth in the age range you choose (3-18) side-by-side with their parents/guardians
  • adapted to meet the needs of learners of diverse abilities
  • presented in 1 or 2 parts of 1-2 hours each, US$950-up

Contact us to explore Familypower options for the families served by your agency!

For teams, troops, classes, & other groups of youth

We teach youth side-by-side together with their regular group leaders – such as their coaches, counselors, troop leaders, aftercare providers, teachers, etc. – in Kidpower Group Workshops. Your workshop can be:

  • taught in English, Spanish, or French
  • tailored based on your priorities and kids’ ages and life situations
  • adapted to meet the needs of learners of diverse abilities
  • arranged with Kidpower Professional Development to offer fieldwork training for staff
  • presented in 1-12 parts of 20-120 minutes each, US$950-up

Contact us to explore Kidpower Group Workshop options for your agency!

Costs

Self-paced courses in the Kidpower Online Learning Center are priced by course – and some are free! See current self-paced course offerings and costs.

Depending on your group and your priorities, live workshops online or in-person (if available in your area) can be:

  • 1-6 hours in length, total
  • One-time, single-session
  • Multi-part, 2-12 sessions

Minimum costs for workshops and programs taught live:

  • US$950-up for parent/caregiver and family workshops
  • US$950-up for workshops serving a teacher with their class
  • US$1900-up for professional development programs

Please do not let lack of money stop you from reaching out! Since 1989, we have remained committed to doing all in our power to ensure that money is not the sole factor preventing people from getting access to Kidpower. Costs listed are the costs incurred by Kidpower, and we have an outstanding track record of working with groups to address costs, including by using grant funding secured by Kidpower.

Contact us now to talk about your situation! We will tell you the exact cost of the services you are considering.

To inquire about workshops for young children or other services, use the contact us form below.

Contact us!