One Million Safer Kids…begins with ONE
Last updated on March 3rd, 2018 at 11:28 am
What if any of us saw a child about to be harmed? We’d want to do something to help that child! None of us has the power to make others stop doing dangerous things, but we each have the power to take action today that will make kids safer.
Kidpower, a global leader in personal safety education, including bullying prevention, child abuse prevention, and stranger awareness, is inviting all caring adults to join our “One Million Safer Kids” campaign. Our goal is simple: to make one million young people safer in five years or less as a result of greater awareness, knowledge, and skills.
After providing twenty-two years of safety education through Kidpower to over two million people around the world, we’ve seen again and again how a few simple actions can protect young people from most attempts of bullying, violence, and abuse. No matter how long I do this work, my heart still breaks each time I hear of a child who has experienced misery and trauma that was preventable!
The One Million Safer Kids Campaign is happening in classrooms, parks, playgrounds, and living rooms around the world. Our Kidpower staff, board members, and volunteers are coming together with parents, educators, and community leaders to take simple steps to create access to age-appropriate personal safety skills and information that can help prevent children and teens from being abducted, abused, threatened, attacked, or bullied.
A world with One Million Safer Kids is a better world for all of us. It is a world with more joyful playgrounds, classrooms, and neighborhoods. It is a world with more relationships strengthened by strong boundary setting skills. It’s a world with less trauma and injury. It is a world where children feel safer because they are empowered. The potential ripple effect of One Million Safer Kids is both staggering and achievable.
By teaching one child one skill, sharing one article with one parent, arranging one workshop for one scout troop, or giving one donation to bring skills to a child in need, one adult makes a lifetime of difference to the young people made safer as a result.
What Can YOU Do to Help Create a World with One Million Safer Kids?
- Teach a child a safety skill. It only takes a few minutes and knowing what to do could spare a child misery or even save a child’s life!
- Share information with someone who can use it to keep a child safer. The Kidpower Safety Tips can be posted on school and youth group websites The Kidpower Virtual Library has 100+ free articles. Share them with a parent, a teacher, an educator, a coach, etc. These are easy to access from: http://www.kidpower.org/millionsafer/resources
- Learn more, then show others what you learned. Subscribe to the Kidpower e-newsletter, read an article or one of Kidpower’s books, or take a personal safety workshop for yourself. Through all our efforts, we will educate One Million Safer Kids.
- Like our “One Million Safer Kids” with Kidpower page on Facebook.
To join the One Million Safer Kids campaign, visit http://www.kidpower.org/millionsafer/and sign up in the “Count me in” box. When you sign on to Kidpower’s One Million Safer Kids campaign, you will receive a Tools to Live By mini-poster featuring Kidpower core principles, available for immediate download. And, you will receive ideas about ways to teach safety skills, success stories, and new resources.
Love Is Not Abuse – Please Talk to Your Teens!!
Last updated on October 6th, 2015 at 12:33 am
Do you know what an abusive dating relationship looks like? Would you recognize the signs if your child was involved in one? Are you sure?
Two years ago a very close friend of mine discovered that his son (yes folks this happens to boys too) -his brilliant, talented, confident son – had spent his last semester at college involved in an abusive relationship. The girl he was dating sent him an unbelievable number of emails alternating between” I love you”, “I hate you”, “you’re everything to me”, “you’re nothing…none of your friends like you – I’m all you have”…etc. The stream of emails was almost constant…and in between there were phone calls and voice mails, all intended to build him up and then break him down until his self image became nothing more than a reflection of whatever mood she was in.
My friend found out about this – not by talking to his son – but when campus police called to notify him that they had received a tip that his son had left campus, taken a train to a nearby city, checked himself into a hotel and was talking about suicide. Ironically, it was his girlfriend who had called this in. Even sadder – despite the abuse (and warnings from his school) he could not stay away from her which resulted in his forced withdrawal from college. Although he was eventually allowed to return, the damage was done.
How could my friend not have seen that his son was in trouble?? Why didn’t he talk to him? Unfortunately his experience is not uncommon. Studies have shown that more than half of all parents do not recognize the warning signs. According to Cindy Southworth, founder of the National Network to End Domestic Violence’s Safety Net Technology Project, “one of the foremost challenges in dating abuse is understanding that using power and control over a dating partner often goes beyond physical violence”. Jane Randel of Liz Claiborne Inc. adds: “Despite the fact that one in four teens are victimized through technology, our research shows that parents are dangerously out of touch with the high levels of dating violence and abuse taking place in their children’s lives”. In truth, we can’t afford to be.
Fortunately parents, there is something that can help. Liz Claiborne Inc. recently launched Love Is Not Abuse (LINA), an iPhone app that provides parents with a rare insight into what it feels like for their teen to be a victim of digital dating abuse. The app simulates the abuse that many teens endure in their dating relationships. For just a few minutes, application users will receive text messages, emails and phone calls from a ‘boyfriend’ or ‘girlfriend’ that mimic the actual communications abused teens receive – in many cases, all day and night.
Love Is Not Abuse provides parents with facts on teen dating abuse, helps them recognize abusive behaviors, directs them too immediate help if they suspect their child is in an abusive relationship and offers tips on how to talk to their teen about dating abuse. “When parents know concrete examples of what can constitute dating abuse, they are better-equipped to support their children.
So now we know…and now it’s up to you and me to do something! Remember, teen dating abuse comes in many forms, making it difficult to recognize. It does not always leaves scratches or bruises, so parents need also to be aware of subtle signs that their teen may be under attack through technology. And we need to acknowledge that this doesn’t make it any less serious.
Dating abuse can result in injury, death and mental health problems including suicidal thoughts, substance use, disordered eating and depression. My friend was lucky – he got the call before his son took his life… but it could just as easily have gone another way. Please talk to your kids and establish a support system before the abuse happens. Remind them that LOVE SHOULDN’T HURT – ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR is NEVER OK.
CONNECT WITH “LOVE IS NOT ABUSE” ON THESE SOCIAL MEDIAS
- Love is Not Abuse on Facebook
- Love_IsNotAbuse on Twitter
The Love is Not Abuse app is available FOR FREE at the iTunes App store
Many thanks to Leslie Loves Veggies and Mom Central Consulting for sharing this information so we could share it with our readers.
Bullying: 10 Things We Can Do to Keep Them Safer at School
Last updated on October 6th, 2015 at 12:18 am
We know our kids will have the new school supplies they need to start school, but have we given them the tools they need to deal with more than the reading, writing and arithmetic?
With the new school year quickly 
approaching, now is the perfect time to sit down with our children and talk about bullying.
Studies estimate that 1 out of 3 children are bullied, and over 150,000 children a day, skip school because they fear being bullied by another student.
As parents, there is much we can do to help our children avoid, prepare for, and deal with bullying. This will ease our children’s minds, and ours.
What do we do…
1. We realize, that no matter what we do, OUR KIDS WILL FACE CONFRONTATION in their lives. In school, in college, in the work place, in their neighborhoods, in marriage, as parents. Confrontation is part of life. We have to prepare them for it.
2. We need to help our children understand that it is never okay to fight. For the most part, nothing good comes of fighting. Fighting is not the answer. When our children are 40 and they have a disagreement with a coworker, they can’t use their fists to solve the problem then. Why would we teach them that that is how to deal with conflict now. It is not a skill that will serve them through their lives. That said, we need to teach our children to stand up for themselves in self-defense. They should know that if they need to defend themselves because they are being, or going to be physically attacked, then they defend themselves. And, that if they do have to fight in self-defense, that we will not be angry, but understand. They need to know that they always defend themselves if/when things turn physical.
Then, we need to…
3. Talk to our children when they are young. Waiting until our kids are bullied is not a good time to start addressing the issue. Use situations and find ways to bring up the subject and discuss it when they are young. Children who feel embarrassed or humiliated about being bullied are very unlikely to come home and share how they feel. Make it clear to your children that you are always there to listen, and that you can relate. If it is hard to talk to them, round up some children’s books on the subject, or ask your spouse to help. Don’t scare your children, but inform them.
4. Role-Play: Give your children different scenarios and teach them how to handle them. “What do you do if…?” (someone calls you a name, makes fun of you, someone takes your lunch, someone hits you). Go through each situation and teach them what to say and do. It will empower them, and when they are faced with the bully they wont be as intimidated because they will have had experience and practiced ways to handle the situation.
Role play simple words and actions…
- Stand up straight and tall – Shoulders back
- Don’t show emotion
- Use a firm voice
5. Teach Conflict Resolution. We have to teach our children how to deal with conflict and confrontation. Teach them to manage their anger, communicate, and listen. Teach them how to compromise and be patient. This is done through everyday life situations and role-play. As conflict happens in your home, between siblings, use it to teach. We also must be good examples of conflict resolution in our own adult lives.
6. Let children work things out themselves. As parents we can be very quick to step in and stop the arguing and disagreements between our children. We decide who we think is the winner, and then go about our business. We feel good because the conflict and contention has stopped. We need to let our children work out their own disagreements. If we will sit back and watch, they will almost always be able to solve their own problems. Family situations are the perfect place for them to practice working through conflict when dealing with others. There is no better schoolroom than our home.
7. Keep our Ears Open. When our kids try and talk to us, we have to listen. They will drop little hints when there are bullying problems. It is easy to miss the cues when we are not really listening to what is being said. When our kids’ talk to us, we need to put everything else aside and really be in the moment to listen. Kids will tell us there is a problem long before bullying turns physical, listen to them.
8. Acknowledge Verbal Abuse. Just because it isn’t physical, doesn’t mean it is okay. Verbal bullying causes children to feel the same things as physical bullying: fear, loneliness, depression, anxiety, emotional distress, and lower self-esteem. Don’t blow off your child’s concerns.
9. Give them a hobby, interest, sport, talent, where they can excel. Build their self-confidence. We should involve our children in healthy activities where they find success. Something they like, that challenges them and where they can excel. Whether it is sports, a hobby or an interest. These activities will boost their self-confidence and belief in themselves, teach them how to deal with success and failure, solve problems, deal with others and speak their minds. A strong self-esteem is our child’s best defense against bullying.
10. Model/Teach Empathy As parents, we need to model kind, gentle behavior for our children. They learn by watching us. Be sure that the other adults and kids that are around our children demonstrate empathy as well. We need to teach our kids to try to understand other’s points of view and to feel compassion towards others. If we are always raising our voices, showing impatience, and arguing, they will do the same. Empathetic children are also less likely to become bullies themselves.
As parents, we can do a lot to help our children deal with bullying. Send your children to school with more than just new pencils. Send them with confidence and strength to deal with conflict and stand up for themselves.
WERE YOU EVER BULLIED AS A CHILD? AS AN ADULT? HAS YOUR CHILD BEEN BULLIED?
Thank You Painter Mommy!
Last updated on March 3rd, 2018 at 02:55 pm
Several weeks ago we read a terrific post that a mom had written on her site about how to keep your kids safe from abduction. We liked it so much we asked her to become a guest blogger and publish it on our site as well. This past week we were honored to find she had also published an in-depth review of Pediatric Safety. We are so proud to be featured on Painter Mommy…we couldn’t let the week go by without sharing the news with our readers…and saying THANK YOU to Dawn. We were thrilled by your post.
By the way, for those of you who didn’t catch her article, it was called Stop Missing Kids Part II: Protect Your Child from Abduction …and can be found here. Thanks again Painter Mommy!
Stop Missing Kids Part II: Protect Your Child from Abduction
Last updated on March 3rd, 2018 at 03:05 pm
This past week, I was watching America’s Most Wanted on TV. I have always loved John Walsh, the host of the show because through his television program he has helped take down over 1,050 dangerous fugitives and bring home more than 50 missing children in the past 22 years. In 1981 John and his wife Eve’s 6 year old son Adam was abducted and murdered. And since that day, John has dedicated his life to fighting on behalf of both children and adult victims of violent crimes.
On yesterday’s show, they were talking about a particular young girl named Michaela Joy Garecht who was abducted back in 1988. They told the story about her mother’s struggle through the pain of losing her only child. But through the horrible situation, she wound up turning it into something good by becoming a speaker and advocate for child safety. Her name is Sharon Nemeth Murch and she wrote a book called “Listen to Your Smart 
Voice” which is available on Amazon for $9.95.
This 40 page book is a child safety program that empowers children by teaching them to use the very best weapon of all — their own intelligence. In this book, children learn what a Stranger is, and how to react to one. In In life, a child will encounter many situations which will help train their Smart Voice, and gain real-world skills. But the truth is, every new child that goes missing shows us yet another new way predators have found to entrap our children. We need to do what we can to protect them! And in order to do that, it is our responsibility as parents to protect them by teaching them to be aware, and to be smart in all circumstances.
Being a mother of almost 4 little ones, this subject touches my heart tremendously. I decided to look into it a bit more and I came up with a few sites that you might want to check out.
http://www.kindervision.org/– “Created in 1991 as a result of the kidnapping and murder of seven year old Leticia Hernandez in Southern California, KinderVision® is a national child safety education program dedicated to the protection of children from abduction and sexual exploitation. Developed with the assistance of law enforcement and research including an interview with a convicted child killer, the KinderVision educational materials are designed to be an ongoing resource for families, for schools, for law enforcement, and for all youth-serving organizations to teach children and youth how to be safe from sexual predators – because The Greatest Save is the one we never have to make. The program is available in English and Spanish and is funded solely through corporate sponsorships and contributions with the materials provided FREE to families whenever possible on site, on air, and on line.” Be sure to check out their Free Downoadable Lesson Kits for Preschool & Kindergarten Age Children. It is important to teaching our children early about how to keep themselves safe.
http://www.radkids.org/ – radKIDS® is the national leader in children’s safety, with headquarters based in South Dennis, Massachussetts. radKIDS® is brought to children and parents by the training and development of nationally certified instructors drawn from their own communities. By empowering a community with certified local instructors, the radKIDS® Personal Empowerment Safety Education package is not just a program but a true gift to the community. Community-based organizations receive training and support from national headquarters to provide the radKIDS® program as a part of their own youth work. These groups, which have safety goals compatible with those of radKIDS®, include police departments, educational organizations, civic groups, fraternal organizations, citizens’ groups and concerned parents.
http://www.mypreciouskid.com/ – My Precious Kid Child Safety Products Manufacturer of Oregon is founded on Christian values of truth, honesty, integrity, human worth, and the value of all children. My Precious Kid is dedicated to family success and family safety. My Precious Kid Child Safety Products and Baby Gear protect your children and give you peace of mind. They have products for your baby, children, adults, pets, the elderly, and children with special needs. I have actually done a review on this awesome company several months ago. Check it out here.
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I just cannot imagine the horrific pain of losing a child to kidnapping, abduction, or murder. My eyes have been truly opened to the need for us as parents to teach our children the importance of staying safe early on. I am so grateful for the many parents who have been through this type of tragedy who have dedicated themselves to helping other parents.
So, if you are a blogger, I would ask you to join me and write a post so we can all join forces and get the word out about the dangers of child abduction. And take the time to check out the many resources that are available to help us in this child safety education process.
Thanks so much, DAWN
110 Child Deaths Were ‘Preventable’ – More Than Just a Headline
Last updated on June 7th, 2014 at 09:37 pm
A headline in the July 18th UK & World News section of the Sunday Sun read “110 child deaths were ‘preventable’.” The article continued on to provide a bit more detail: “of 2,000 deaths recorded between April 1, 2008 and March 31, 2009, 110 were deemed to have been preventable. The South West of England had the highest proportion of deaths which could have been stopped (15%) and the North West had the lowest (2%), according to the figures released on Thursday. ” What terribly cold statistics for such a heartbreaking scenario as a child death. And what an outrage – 110 preventable deaths! How is that possible today…and in the UK? But there is more to consider here than just these numbers …there is another message here that we can’t afford to overlook.
According to UK Children’s Minister Baroness Morgan, “Every death of a child is a tragedy and the Government is focusing relentlessly on children’s safety to drive improvements in practice and continue to learn lessons. That is why we introduced a new duty on local authorities to review ALL child deaths, enabling lessons to be learnt and actions taken to prevent deaths in the future. ” Lessons are being learned that target all potential danger areas, from threats of abuse and neglect, to accidents, bullying and suicidal behaviour. (Sunday Sun July 18, 2009)
The message we can’t and shouldn’t miss – is that the numbers are actually being counted. Someone is paying attention! Minister Morgan said that “England is the first country in the world to have implemented a multi-agency reviewing system on a national basis and this first year has included a wide range of causes, from deaths due to illness and road traffic accidents to suicides and murders…It is all our responsibilities to make sure we are doing all we can to keep our children safe.” Some may grumble and say it was a response to tragic circumstances that caused the British Government to create the current policies. And perhaps that’s true…however I think it’s worth remembering that tragedies occur in all our societies… What matters is what happens next when the dust settles; we need to be able to ask ourselves have we put anything in place that demonstrates that when we say “never again” we mean it? …and we need to answer YES and believe it.
So once again I read the headline “110 child deaths were preventable” and although I am incredibly angry that there is even 1 child death that could have been prevented I am also incredibly grateful that somewhere, someone is keeping watch over the children.
And I pray that the lessons learned from that aren’t just in the UK.
