September is International Child Protection Month!
This month we at Kidpower, along with individuals, families, schools, organizations, businesses, and agencies, are taking action to honor, inspire, and support adult leadership worldwide to promote and protect the safety and well-being of young people.
I hope you will join in by taking action in your community. Together, we CAN transform the fear of bullying, violence, and abuse into a future of lifelong safety and success for today’s youth!
Each of us can:
1. Make the Kidpower Put Safety First Commitment™
Decide to put safety ahead of discomfort every day. Encourage older children and teens to make the Kidpower Put Safety First Commitment for themselves.
2. Make the Kidpower Protection Promise™ to the Young People in Your Life
Make SURE young people in your life KNOW you care. Make and discuss this Promise with your own children, grandchildren, cousins, nieces, nephews, and other relatives; your students; and the youth you support in sports, scouting, volunteer work, faith groups, etc.
3. Become a Child Protection Month Partner
Individuals and groups become Partners by promoting international Child Protection Month through their newsletters, social media, conferences, services, email lists, and other activities; by sharing educational resources; and by donating time, money, or other support.
Our current organizational partners include MyGym Children’s Fitness Centers, Council for Exceptional Children, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Hands and Voices, Positive Coaching Alliance, DC Self-Defense Association, Little Pickle Press, Doing Right by Our Kids, Together for a Safe Childhood, and The Lawrence Foundation, as well as Kidpower’s 30 centers, offices, and providers around the world and hundreds of families, schools, organizations, foundations, and agencies they work with in their communities.
4. Act as a Protector of Children and Teens
International Child Protection Month honors the importance of each adult as a Protector of Children who can:
- Advocate and intervene on behalf of all young people of all abilities;
- Empower young people to take charge of their own well-being in age-appropriate ways;
- Listen to and learn from young people;
- Encourage adult leadership to keep kids safe.
5. Spread the word and encourage others to participate in Child Protection Month
Every adult who makes the Kidpower Put Safety First Commitment makes life better for kids. Every individual or agency sharing International Child Protection Month information is taking a stand for the safety of young people.
- Forward this email to friends, family and organizations with young people in their care.
- Share the website links from above and the free 1-page posters in our Resources section.
- Send this update out on your Google+ and Facebook Status:
September is International Child Protection Month! Together we can transform the fear of bullying, violence, and abuse into a future of lifelong safety and success for today’s youth. Find out what You can Do to #Protect&Empower young people in your life. http://www.childprotecti
- Tweet one or more of these (Twitter will shorten the URL for you):
September is International Chid Protection Month! Make the @Kidpower_Intl Protection Promise today! #ChildProtection http://www.
Find out what you can do to #ProtectAndEmpower young people this September for International Chid Protection Month! @Kidpower_Intl http://www.
10 Actions for Adult Leaders – How to #ProtectAndEmpower young people. Join International Child Protection Month! @Kidpower_Intl http://www.
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By taking any or all of these five actions, you will be helping us reach our first-year goal of having 50,000 caring adults pledge this September to live and act in ways that protect the safety and well-being of young people.
For more information or to share more about how you are making a difference, please contact us at safety@kidpower.org.
With great appreciation for your commitment to keeping kids safe!
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.
