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.
