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Kidpower helped Ellen give her kids the skills she had lacked as a child…
Ellen and her kids when they were young.
“I used to think I didn’t have any power. A lot of unfortunate things happened to me all the way up through my early adulthood because I did not know how to set boundaries, to speak up, or to advocate for myself. When I became a parent, I did not know how to teach interpersonal safety skills to my children, and I really wanted them to have more positive experiences than I did!
When I attended a Kidpower workshop with my older child, I realized that we ALL have the POWER to stay safe. Learning and practicing Kidpower skills vastly improved my life and gave my children a foundation for taking charge of their safety. My son says, ‘I honestly don’t know what I would have done without Teenpower skills. Every single day when I rode the city bus on the way to school, I saw some kind of upsetting or frightening thing happening – and knew what to do. One day at the bus stop, someone started walking toward me to threaten me with a cigarette lighter, and I immediately ran into a nearby store for help.’”
– Ellen Frankel, Kidpower Board Member
EVERY young person deserves to have these skills! Please join me today in donating to Kidpower International. Your gift will be doubled by a match from our Leadership Circle. THANK YOU!
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Published: December 31, 2021 | Last Updated: December 31, 2021
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.