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Do you feel anxious about your daughter’s safety? Are you fed up with feeling uneasy every time you use an underground parking lot? Have you stopped walking your dog after dark? Do you feel afraid when you hear an unusual noise? Have you ever felt intimidated, belittled or manipulated? Have you ever been sexually harassed and not known how to deal with it? Have you ever been attacked, mugged or sexually assaulted and felt victimized?How would you feel if you were more confident about your ability to keep yourself emotionally and physically safe? What would your life be like?
Learning how to protect your emotional and physical safety can change your life, because the inner courage, self-respect and power that you need to awaken to really keep yourself and your family safe isn’t confined to some kind of special “self-defense” compartment – when you really bring those qualities out, they can be there for every part of your life.
“The most powerful force on earth is the human soul on fire.” (Anthony Robbins)
“When I learned, in my body, that I could protect myself and anyone I loved from violence, I took my first step to living the life I had always dreamed of. When I finally walked through my fear of attack, I transcended my fear of life itself.” (Christine Schlattner)
Learning to keep yourself safe isn’t only to have the skills to protect yourself in case of an emergency someday – it’s to give you a new sense of empowerment and freedom right now and for every day of your life. Who knows what magic can happen when you have that feeling about your life?
Published: March 20, 2012 | Last Updated: July 27, 2016
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.