Kidpower Starting Strong - Safety Skills for Young Children
What's included
4 live meetings
3 in-class hoursClass Experience
We are excited to offer a Kidpower safety skills workshop for families with young children through Outschool. This class will be appropriate for any verbal child who can, for example, enjoy story hour at the library. Because having a common understanding about safety is essential for the well being of everyone in a family, we strongly encourage that parents stay for the whole lesson, on the screen if possible, and practice the skills along with their children. Kidpower is recommended by experts and parents worldwide for being FUN, hands-on, experiential, effective, age-appropriate, emotionally safe, relevant for different cultures, and adapted for individual needs. Using age-appropriate and entertaining social stories, demonstrations with puppets, and games, children and their adults will learn and practice Kidpower skills including how to: 1. Use your Awareness Power and Move Away Power to notice and move away from trouble 2. Use your Calm Down Power, Mouth Safe Power, and Hands Down Power, so you can act safely with your body and words. 3. Protect your feelings by using your Trash Can Power to throw away hurting words and take in kindness 4. Check First with your adults before you change your plan about what you are doing, who is with you, and where you are going. 5. Understand when to wait and when to interrupt and keep asking to Get Help. 6. Understand what is and is not your choice. 7. Learn and follow the Kidpower Safety Rules about touch, games, and attention for fun, play, or affection. 8. Use your Speak Up Power to set respectful and powerful boundaries 9. Use your Listening Power to respect the boundaries of others We will meet for 4 weeks for 45 minutes a week and cover 3 skills each session, along with an activity. The lessons will be adapted depending on questions or concerns that we hear from kids or their adults.
Learning Goals
Our positive belief in ourselves as being powerful, competent, valuable people is the most important self-protection tool we have. Kidpower provides skills to help protect people from experiences that harm these positive beliefs and increase experiences that help to grow these beliefs. Our learning goals are that children and their adults will learn 'People Safety' Skills in ways that are fun, useful, and age-appropriate - and will practice using skills to deal with common problems with other kids and adults in ways that are both respectful and powerful - and will start using these skills in daily life.
Other Details
Parental Guidance
The class is fun and age-appropriate for young children. And, because we are teaching skills for preventing and stopping bullying, abuse, and other unsafe behavior, we encourage parents to join us to have a common understanding about these issues with their children.
Kidpower skills help a child learn how to recognize safe and unsafe behavior and situations; how to set boundaries; and how to get help. Boundaries include protecting yourself from hurtful words or unsafe play. Boundaries also include learning the safety rules about touch, games and, play, including private areas (with very careful language that we share with parents before the class). Using a non-upsetting example, we encourage children to tell "an adult you trust" if they have a safety problem. A child who has been or is being abused or bullied might start talking about this problem with their adults after the class. If that happens, we will provide guidance to the parents.
Supply List
No supplies are needed to participate in the class. We will provide recommended links to free resources that parents and caregivers can download and use if they wish both with their children and for themselves. We will also make information available about affordable and useful publications that they can buy if they wish.
External Resources
Teacher expertise and credentials
Through Kidpower, we have been developing and teaching interpersonal safety skills classes in person to people of all ages - including very young children and their adults - for over 30 years. MANY educators in day care centers and preschools; mental health counselors; and parents of young children use our program and our educational resources. Personally, in addition to leading the development of our Kidpower programs, I am the author of, "1,2,3... The Toddler Years", which has a forward by early childhood development pioneer Magda Gerber and is used as a textbook in many ECE classes.
Reviews
Live Group Class
$12
weekly or $48 for 4 classes1x per week, 4 weeks
45 min
Completed by 14 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 3-7
5-12 learners per class