Author | Permission to Use Info
I have to tell you about four-year-old Olivia – and how Kidpower helped her take charge of her safety.
She found her mother’s tablet on the coffee table. Already skilled at searching for cartoons, she started hunting for her favorites.
She clicked on what she thought was a new cartoon and suddenly arrived at an adult website. Instead of freezing or looking further, Olivia recognized trouble and knew EXACTLY what to do!
She remembered the fun she had with her parents in their Kidpower online workshop – where they had learned and practiced the Safety Rules About Private Areas.
Quickly and confidently, she did all the things they had practiced: she turned her face away, immediately set the tablet on the table, and walked confidently across the room to her father, who was working very hard at his laptop.
“Excuse me,” she said in a calm, assertive voice. “There’s a problem.”
Still looking at his screen, her father kept typing. ‘Not, now, honey. I need to get this done.”
Olivia persisted. She KNEW her parents wanted her to interrupt about safety, because they practiced that in Kidpower, too!
“Please look at me Daddy.” She kept her voice calm – and remembered how much fun the Powerful Voice part of the Kidpower class had been! “I need help.”
“I TOLD you I was busy,” he impatiently answered.
Undaunted and confident she knew what her father really wanted her to do, Olivia declared, “Daddy, look at me. This is about SAFETY!”
He looked, saw his daughter standing tall, staring right back at him – and pointing to the coffee table.
Crossing the room, he picked up the tablet. Instead of scolding, he said lovingly, “Thank you for interrupting me! I’m sorry I was grumpy. Your safety is more important than my work. Good job persisting.”
Later, they enjoyed practicing a new Kidpower skill to add to all the ones Olivia already had learned: now she knows about Checking First before looking for something on a device. She likes that practice as much as all the others!
Olivia’s father wrote to thank us. “I realize that none of us are born knowing these skills. You have given our family a common understanding about safety. It’s already worked to protect our child.”
Our donors, volunteers, and supporters are all Kidpower Champions. Thanks to you, Olivia and countless others knew just what to do at the moment it mattered.
Our goal at Kidpower is that every child, every family, every PERSON knows how to recognize trouble, move away, and be persistent in getting help. Kidpower will dramatically expand access to essential skills and knowledge in 2021. And we need your help to do so.
We are thrilled with the surge of generosity we’ve seen in response to an amazing $100,000 Challenge Grant for all new gifts received between December 22nd-31st. Miraculously, in just 8 days, we have raised $70,000 ― and we still have today and tomorrow to have all gifts doubled! Please give as generously as you can. This exciting challenge will enable Kidpower to help millions more children and people around the world.
Published: December 30, 2020 | Last Updated:
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.