by Irene van der Zande, Kidpower Founder and Executive Director | Dec 23, 2012
Every time a school shooting occurs, parents, teachers, and other caring adults want to know what to say to their children. Our job is to provide reassuring, truthful information in an age-appropriate fashion without putting upsetting images in our children’s heads that don’t need to be there. Here how to protect children’s emotional safety right now as we are figuring out how to take action to prevent tragedies like this in the future.
by Irene van der Zande, Kidpower Founder and Executive Director | Dec 16, 2012
As news keeps unfolding about the Sandy Hook school tragedy, children might hear new scary details and their anxiety might grow. Check in with your kids today. As sad as we all are, here are four actions parents can take today to protect their kids from trauma and empower them in the face of violence.
by Irene van der Zande, Kidpower Founder and Executive Director | Dec 13, 2012
Kidpower’s vision of working together to create cultures of caring, respect, and safety for everyone, everywhere is a lofty goal that is often challenging to make real in our daily lives. Here some resources that can help.
by Irene van der Zande, Kidpower Founder and Executive Director | Jun 27, 2012
Disasters like the fires now raging in Colorado remind us that we are vulnerable, that the physical security of ourselves and those we care about is not guaranteed, and that our world can change in an instant. As adults, our challenge when a disaster threatens or strikes is to keep finding our balance. In this uncertain world, the truest safety we have is the safety we create within ourselves. If we express calm and determination as we take charge of safety in the midst of uncertainty, our children will follow our lead.
by Irene van der Zande, Kidpower Founder and Executive Director | May 25, 2010
Getting stuck in the details of what’s lacking and forever measuring ourselves against some impossible standard can diminish our joy and ability to keep the big picture of what we truly most want to accomplish in mind.
