Copyright Notice
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Dear Readers,
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Santa Cruz City Mayor Emily Reilly proclaimed September 29, 2007 to be KIDPOWER Day, in recognition of the work that our organization has done locally and internationally to bring safety and confidence to thousands of local residents and over a million people around the world.
Each year at this time, I reflect on how KIDPOWER began. In October 1985, a man threatened to kidnap a group of young children, including my seven-year-old daughter and my four-year-old son. I stopped him by yelling and by yelling at a bystander for help.
At that time, I would never have imagined that, thanks to the help and support of hundreds of wonderful people, our having this frightening experience would have made such a big difference in so many lives. My story struck a chord in many others who wanted their own children to be safe - and then all children to be safe - and finally all people to be safe.
With my great appreciation to each of you for your interest in learning how to support the emotional and physical safety of the important people in your life,
Irene van der Zande
KIDPOWER Executive Director/Co-Founder
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Just Let Them Work it Out?
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Reader's Question: Other parents in my family say that I should not get involved when our children have problems, because they believe that kids should be left to just work it out on their own. What do you think?
KIDPOWER Answer: Until they have the skills to manage problems on their own, children need adult supervision. Most adults will not let children work things out for themselves with cars, fires, knives, or lakes because someone might get hurt. Most adults will not stand by if a child starts throwing blocks through the window or smashing food into the carpet, because this behavior is destructive even if no one is about to get hurt. So why would adults abandon children by expecting them to work things out for themselves when dealing with problems with people?
As adults, we are responsible for creating cultures of caring, respect, and safety for the young people in our lives. For younger children, positive simple interventions can be very effective in teaching children how to speak up for themselves and to listen to others. For older children, adults can model powerful positive leadership by stepping in to discuss what is going on, stating the values, asking questions to explore whether these values are being met, and exploring options so that everyone can have a good time.
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Look Both Ways
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The book Look Both Ways: help protect your family on the internet is a terrific resource full of practical guidance for parents, teachers, and other concerned adults about how to navigate internet use safety and successfully. Author Linda Criddle bases her recommendations on her years of expertise from working with the Microsoft Corporation as their Senior Product Manager for Child Safety, as well as being the mother of four children. Linda has agreed to be an advisor to KIDPOWER so that we can increase our own understanding of how to teach internet safety in a positive and practical way. There are also some excellent free suggestions including a checklist for what to do right now on her website at look-both-ways.com
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The KIDPOWER Book for Caring Adults
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The KIDPOWER Book for Caring Adults: Personal Safety, Self-Protection, Confidence, and Advocacy for Young People was created in response to the requests of thousands of people who wanted a comprehensive description of our program that they could use in their daily lives. As the mother of the mother of a five-year-old son and a ten-year old daughter wrote to us, "For years I have struggled with how to approach the subject of safety with my kids, but haven't known how to do it without scaring them. Your new book is great because it makes it so easy. I just read the background information and then do the activities with my kids. They find these exercises interesting rather than upsetting - and I feel SO much better!"
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2008 Instructor Training
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The biggest benefit of becoming a KIDPOWER instructor is in seeing how a few hours of time can make such a big difference in bringing safety and confidence to our students - giving them skills that they can use right away and that can make their lives better for years. We are now accepting applications for our 2008 Instructor Training Programs.
The KIDPOWER Training will be held from the afternoon of January 10th through January 15th. The TEENPOWER/FULLPOWER Training will be held from April 25th through April 29th. Please note: Fees posted on our website are for people are getting started in new communities. These are different for people who are from our current Centers or who are part of our California Regional Center that hosts the training programs. Contact your local center or the central office for more information.
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California Workshop Schedule
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Our current public schedule is updated monthly and includes a variety of workshops for children, teens and adults in Berkeley,Palo Alto, Petaluma, the Santa Cruz area,
and Santa Rosa.
Most of our services are not on the public schedule because they are organized privately by individuals, schools and organizations. We are happy to provide support to help you to organize programs for the important people in your life.
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WE APPRECIATE YOUR SUPPORT!
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 MANY THANKS to our hundreds of donors and volunteers. Your generosity is making a big difference in our ability to help others.
MANY
THANKS to the Corporate, Foundation, Service Club, and Government
Partners of our Central Office: Albany Lions, Allstate Foundation,
Applied Materials, Atkinson Foundation, Bank of the West, Bayer
Foundation, Big Sky Creative, Blue Shield of California Foundation,
California Endowment, Canadian International Development Agency, Castro
Valley Rotary, Citigroup Foundation, Cisco Systems Foundation, Coast
Commercial Bank, Santa Cruz Commission for the Prevention of Violence
Against Women, Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County, Community
Foundation Silicon Valley, Community Printers of Santa Cruz, David and
Lucile Packard Foundation, The Dean and Margaret Lesher Foundation, DeAnza Lions, Deluxe Corporation Foundation,
Driscoll's Charitable Fund, East Bay Community Foundation, Ecolab,
Ephraim Foundation, Finish Line Youth Foundation, Freedom Rotary, Fremont Bank, Gayle's Bakery and
Rosticerria, Giant Steps Foundation, Google, Greater Bay Bancorp,
Guidant Foundation, the Health Trust, Hitachi America, Ltd., Hitachi
Data Systems, Hitachi High Technologies America, Inc., Hitachi
Foundation, Hyperion Solutions, Insurance Industry Charitable
Foundation, In N Out Burger, JM Long Foundation, Kaiser Permanente,
Jean and Ed Kelly Foundation, Lowell Berry Foundation, Lucile Packard
Foundation for Children's Health, CTB/McGraw-Hill, Mechanics Bank,
Mervyn's, Omega Nu, Peninsula Community Foundation, Plantronics, Porter
Sesnon Foundation, Arnie Kamrin of PPi Technologies Global, Radio
Shack, Rite Aid Foundation, Ruddie Memorial Youth Foundation, Russell
Investment Group, San Lorenzo Valley Rotary, San Francisco Foundation,
Santa Cruz Medical Clinic, Scotts Valley Lions, Scotts Valley Rotary,
Seagate, sharpdots.com, SmithMicro, Sonora Area Foundation, Staples
Foundation for Learning, Target Stores, Tides Foundation, Tuolumne
County First 5 Commission, TRIO Foundation, Union Bank of California, Union City Lions,
Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation, Verizon, Vodaphone, Waste
Management, Wells Fargo Foundation, West Marine, and the Y. & H.
Soda Foundation.
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