Protecting kids with everyone, everywhere they go!

I’ve got some amazing news to share with you! I am proud to announce that I have co-authored a new book.

My co-author Amy and I enjoyed signing our new book – HERE at last!

Now, as some of you may know, writing a new book is a lot like being pregnant and giving birth, only it usually takes longer. A LOT LONGER! Although it is less physically intense, it can often be very emotionally intense.

And then, the thrilling moment when your baby – I mean book – arrives and is HERE at last and you can share it with the world!

So, drum roll, I am delighted to tell you a bit about our newest book, Doing Right by Our Kids: Protecting Child Safety at All Levels, which applies Kidpower strategies, skills and values to keeping young people safe with everyone, everywhere they go.

According to New York Times best-selling author Dan Heath, who wrote the book’s foreword,“Doing Right by Our Kids is a field guide for practicing courage. It will arm you with the knowledge and skills you need to know when, why, and how to act to protect your kids.”

Our goal in writing this book is to provide practical tools for parents, educators, and other adult leaders 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 of doing this.

This book is the result of an inspiring collaboration with my co-author Dr. Amy Tiemann, who is a Stanford-trained neuroscientist, the author of Mojo Mom, the executive producer of several socially-relevant films, and a Kidpower International Senior Program Leader.

To celebrate International Child Protection Month this September, we will be providing many important lessons, stories, and safety checklists from the book for free that you can share with your networks.

I’m delighted to share a short excerpt from the chapter on Spiritual Safety, which is again so relevant in today’s news, about what kids need to know about faith and safety:

Once, in a Kidpower workshop, Irene was teaching a group of young children the difference in their safety rules when they were together with their adults and when they were on their own. She asked, “Who is the only person who is with you all the time?”

Most of the children answered, “My mom. My dad. My grandpa. My teacher.”

One little boy raised his hand and said, “God. Or Jesus.”

“I mean really here with you in person right now,” Irene tried to explain.

With utter conviction, this child said, “God or Jesus are really here with me in person right now and all the time.”

“You are right!” Irene replied. “And we have talked with a lot of ministers and priests and they have told us that when it is just you and God or Jesus, you should follow the safety rules as if you are on your own…”

Helping young people understand how the safety rules apply at all times and how to get help when they are on their own is vital in preventing confusion that can lead them into danger – and in protecting them from abuses of power. This chapter also describes what to look for in a faith community.

Learn how to keep young people safe with everyone, everywhere they go.

Finally, please help us make Doing Right by Our Kids a best-seller on Amazon! If you are interested in purchasing the book in print or Kindle versions, our Amazon best-seller day is on September 26. Special BONUS! Email us your receipt for a book purchase on that day, and we will send you a FREE bonus package that will include:
• A cartoon-illustrated Boundaries toolkit.
• A chapter on Internet Safety by expert Linda Criddle from Courageous Parents/Confident Kids.
• Our Kidpower Tools to Live By graphic to remind you of the skills we teach.
• An opportunity for FREE email consultation on a safety concern with Amy or myself (a $300 value!).

Again, we will be sending you important child protection lessons from the book that you can use right away and share with others –and a reminder about the September 26th best-seller day as we get closer.

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.