Stopping Body-Shaming By Protecting Your Feelings

Double your gift today — All Gifts Matched — $25k Challenge — Now to Dec. 31!

“I learned to protect myself from hurtful remarks about my looks — and to teach my clients to do the same!” ~ Anna, Health Care Provider

Countless people struggle with feeling bad about their appearance — and endure cruel comments from others. Thanks to generous donations from people like you, we are able to teach emotional safety skills to help. This story from Anna shows how rehearsing a few skills can build confidence and prevent a lot of misery:

Everyone deserves to feel proud of who they are — no matter how we look.

“My patients often come to me angry, in tears, and upset, struggling with shame about how they look due to their weight, age, shape, color, disability, and/or health. I myself also constantly have to face dirty looks, ‘helpful’ comments, and outright insults about how I look – at home, at work, and in public. And I admit it hurt a lot – until I found Kidpower.

I learned from Kidpower’s free articles and webinars on how to say, ‘That’s not true!’ to the negative messages that I was hearing or telling myself, such as, ‘You’re fat, lazy, and ugly because you carry some extra weight.’ I replaced these hurtful words with the positive messages, ‘I am round and beautiful like the full moon. And I am proud of who I am.’ It was amazing how such a simple practice was able to help me to regain my sense of self-worth – and I have shared these emotional safety skills with my patients, and it really helps them as well.”

Here are 3 practical resources that Anna was able to use for herself and share with others:

I often say that when we look at Nature, it is not the rocks, trees, or mountains that all look the same that we consider the most beautiful — instead, it is the ones that are most different that inspire us with their beauty. We can learn to see people this way too. At Kidpower we believe that all of us should be able to feel proud of who we are — no matter how we look.

If you have already donated, we deeply appreciate your support. THANK YOU!

There is still time to have your donations DOUBLED!
Please know your gifts in any amount helps us bring skills for safety, healthy relationships, and freedom from the misery of bullying and abuse to people in need.

Help us fill a $25,000 Matching Gift Opportunity!

Remember: Every dollar does wonders!

** Your donation will be DOUBLED Now – Dec. 31st by a matching gift from a longtime supporter! **

Published: December 29, 2019 | Last Updated: December 29, 2019

Irene van der Zande, Kidpower Founder and Executive Director

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.