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Creating Circles of Safety by staying connected with the ones you love!
Many years ago, I was teaching a child protection workshop for about 100 parents after there had been a case of abuse in their community. One mother raised her hand and said plaintively, “I am so TIRED of being afraid! WHEN I can I stop being worried about the safety of my daughter?”
I smiled sympathetically and asked, ‘How old is your child?”
The mother sighed and said, “Three!”
“Oh, dear!” I replied, “Guess what? My kids are adults, and I still worry about them. And my mother is in her eighties, and she STILL worries about me!”
Everyone in the room nodded their heads with great empathy as the mother asked, “How do you BEAR it?”
It was my turn to sigh as I admitted, “Sometimes it is hard. But constantly worrying just makes us miserable and steals our joy in life without making anyone safer.”
And then I continued, “What has worked for me is to be at peace with accepting uncertainty because some things are out of our control. Doing this frees me to find joy in what is good in my life and in our world – and allows me to focus on what I CAN do to make a positive difference. The skills that we teach in Kidpower truly can protect our kids and ourselves most of the time.” The mother thanked me and then we went on with our class.
Building on this core Kidpower philosophy, our theme for International Child Protection Month this September is: Creating Circles of Safety in An Uncertain World. Here are this week’s resources to enable you to take actions that will help to reduce worry and increase confidence and skills:
1. We have just released a FREE new online edition for September of our Kidpower 30 Skills Challenge, which provides you with skills you can practice and share right away with the young people – and adults – in your life.
2. A key child protection skill is knowing what to do if a child comes to you for help. Our FREE article What to Do If A Child Reports Possible Abuse, Bullying, Harassment, or Anything Else That Bothers Them provides 7 practical steps that adults can take to support them.
In addition, in honor of International Child Protection Month, through September we are making our best-selling book about how to take action, Doing Right by Our Kids: Protecting Child Safety at All Levels, available on Kindle for just $4.99, a savings of $15.00.
Helping all caring adults develop a common ground and shared commitment to child protection is a major way we can work together to create Circles of Safety for our families, schools, and communities!
Please share this information with friends, family and colleagues as part of helping make our world a safer place.
Visit our International Child Protection Month page to discover more free resources to support you in creating circles of safety in your life.
Published: September 5, 2019 | Last Updated: September 5, 2019