Glitter & Razz Blog

Whew.  30 girls.  Ages 6-10.  7 hours.  And, it’s still going.  The few girls who are left in Aftercare right now are keeping themselves busy by playing Party Quirks.  And, with the help of the teenage youth interns and the popularity of Glee, they are singing songs from my youth at the top of their lungs.  The laughter and energy is totally infectious.

This is how the whole day has been.  Full of laughter and joy.  At the same time, it was the first day of camp so we also did a lot of sitting and talking.  It’s just how the first day is.  We have to set the structure and the tone of the camp.  “Here’s what we do here at Go Girls! Camp and here’s why we do it.”  You know, that kind of thing.

We started the day with our Community Circle and Expressive Arts class led by Allison.  “What does Expressive Arts mean?”  “It means that we can express our feelings.”  Bingo.  And that’s what the girls will do each day to set the tone of the day…express their thoughts and feelings surrounding the strengths and challenges of living as a girl in the world.  It began with our Way of Joy Chi Gung warm up.  Then, they crafted, through the art of collage, the journals that they will use throughout the camp.

Our Drama (taught by me, Lynn) and Art (taught by Martin) classes also introduced the idea that we are all unique individuals contributing our ideas and gifts to the group.  In Drama, we talked about the fact that we are a “collaborative ensemble” and how hard it can be to create one piece of art together.  Through games and some discussion, we practiced sharing one at a time, being noticed, and noticing what others are doing so that we can connect our ideas with theirs.  In Art,  the girls again shared their individuality through name paintings where they drew their names with white crayon and then painted around them with watercolors while they watched their names appear amidst the colors.  Like magic.  On Day One, we must always do activities where we give the girls a chance to show up and say, “This is me.  This is who I am and what I like, ” so that on Day Two, we can really dig into the process of sharing that individuality with the greater community.

The other major highlight of today was our Kidpower Workshop.  Erika Leonard from Kidpower has been so generous to share a mini-Kidpower with us 2 years in a row.  Today, like last year, she packed that hour with tons of useful skills for the girls about using strong and aware body language and words to set boundaries and stand up for themselves.  She taught the girls ways to honor their feelings while also being powerful in their interactions with others.

Kidpower Teenpower Fullpower International’s exceptional “People Safety” curriculum in an essential part of our Go Girls! Curriculum and we are very thankful for their permission to incorporate their language into our shows and videos. For over twenty years, Kidpower has been a nonprofit leader in empowering people of all ages and abilities to learn personal safety skills and build self-confidence. Visit www.kidpower.org or call 1-800-467-6997 Ext. 1# for information on their positive and practical workshops and educational resources.

Kidpower’s gift of their copyrighted curriculum, like all of Kidpower’s services, is a gift from those who came before. We at Glitter and Razz are proud to have joined Kidpower’s 1,000 Donors Campaign, and we encourage you to do the same. Whether you can give a few dollars or a lot, your gift counts! Donate by going to:https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=2854 or call the Kidpower office.

Finally, the girls learned their first song with our music director, Brendan.  It’s Martha and the Vandella’s Dancing in the Streets.  Brendan told them it was a song that was made in the 60’s and someone asked, “So, is it a hippy song?”  We all busted out laughing.  But, it wasn’t as funny as when we got to the lyric, “they’ll be swingin’, swayin’, records playin’” someone said, “oh yeah, a record is a black round thingy with a hole in the middle” and someone else yelled out, very enthusiastically, “My dad has one of those!!!”

Let’s pay a little tribute to Martha and the Vandellas:

I am pleased to introduce our new weekly blog post, “Glitter & Razz presents…”  Every Friday, we will share our favorite books, movies, plays, people, ideas, and organizations that inspire creativity and learning for the modern family.

This week, we present Kidpower, a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching people to use their power to stay safe, act wisely, and believe in themselves.  Kidpower was founded in the late 80’s by Irene van der Zande here in Northern California when a she, her daughter, and a group of her daughter’s friends were threatened by a strange man. No one knew exactly what to do.  She wanted to make sure that her daughter, as well as all children, know what to do to take care to keep themselves safe.

I was put in touch with Erika Leonard, the Program Manager for the California programs through a colleague of mine.  I wasn’t sure what a self-defense program had to do with providing theater programs for children.  But, when Erika invited me to come to visit one of their public workshops as a guest, I was just blown away and knew that I had to partner with this group somehow.

Similar to Glitter & Razz in how we teach social/emotional skills through theater, this is more than a simple self-defense class.  Kidpower is really all about supporting kids ages 4-17 (they even have programs for adults), “to think, move, and use their voices in order to stay safe.”  I love what they do.  As a guest in that workshop, I saw kids both boys and girls practicing saying things like “Please, stop”, “I need help” and “Mom, I have to talk to you.  This is about my safety” in calm, strong, and confident voices.  And yes, the parents are in the room and they are supported to continue to practice the lessons learned in the workshop back at home with their kids.

But, what I love the most about Kidpower is  that they truly empower the kids themselves to be their own advocates and insist on peace being the norm in their lives.

So, I now I believe that Kidpower has everything do with what we are doing at Glitter & Razz.  My goal is to make the Glitter & Razz Dramatic Play Space a place where you can come to take one of the public workshops.  I also plan to offer a workshop especially for the participants of our Go Girls! Camp.

We’ll keep you posted, for sure.  And, in the meantime, talk to your kids about their safety.  Would they know what to do/say to protect themselves from harm?  Do you know?  It’s okay if you don’t.  But, now is maybe the time to do something about it.