Kidpower NC news coverage and update for 2011

Welcome to Kidpower North Carolina and our update for January 2011. We've had a lot of interest in our programs following the recent news coverage on WRAL.com:

Beyond stranger danger: How to talk to your kids by Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

We are thrilled to see this increased interest in child safety training. The challenge we face right now is that we have a very small staff and we are not able to offer public workshops at this time. We are focusing on events organized for private groups: for example, a school, church community, or Scout troop. Private workshops work best because the group requesting the training is responsible for fundraising, getting the group together, and providing space. If you can do that work, then we can come in to actually teach Kidpower.

At this time we are focusing on offering parent training because we can educate the whole adult community at once. In two hours I can teach skills to 50+ parents and teachers, and then the adults in the community can start using those skills and modeling them for the kids.

When we provide direct training to children, we work with typically 10-25 kids at a time; 10 kids for a parent-child workshop or up to 25 kids for an Everyday Safety Classroom presentation.

The Kidpower headquarters in California are helping us work with groups who are requesting training. If you are interested in developing a private group training from Kidpower North Carolina, please direct your request to the Kidpower Central Office by emailing safety@kidpower.org and the Kidpower administrator will guide you through the process.

Winter series of Kidpower/Teenpower classes in the Triangle

Here is our current schedule of classes open for public registration. All training will be at a location that is near the intersection of routes 40 and 54 in Chapel Hill. Directions will be sent with registration confirmation. You can find program descriptions on our Kidpower NC website. To request a registration form, email us at kidpowernc@gmail.com or call us at 919-265-4539.

Everyday Safety Parent-Child Workshop for kids grades 1-3 and their parents or caregivers: Saturday, January 31 from 1:00 to 4:30 pm. Fee is $50 per participating child. No extra charge for accompanying adults. One adult must attend and participate with each child.

Everyday Safety Parent-Child Workshop for kids grades 4-6 and their parents or caregivers: Saturday, February 7 from 1:00 to 4:30 pm. Fee is $50 per participating child. No extra charge for accompanying adults. One adult must attend and participate with each child.

Teenpower Introductory Full-Force Workshop with kickpad practice
For adolescents, grades 7-9 (Parents invited to observe final 45 minutes)
Saturday February 21 from 1:00 to 5:00 pm. Fee is $75 per participating adolescent.

Parent Education Seminar for parents and caregivers, teaching safety skills and strategies for all ages.
Wednesday, March 11 from  7 to 9 pm. Fee is $40 for all adults from one family.

[This post was updated on 1/29 to include the finalized date for Parent Education seminar.]

A week of Kidpower training in Santa Cruz

I am just back from a week of Kidpower instructor training in Santa Cruz, California. I really enjoyed this opportunity to keep working directly with Kidpower co-founders Irene van der Zande and Timothy Dunphy, as well as their talented team of people from around the world.

[photo caption: Kidpower founder Irene van der Zande and Kidpower NC Center director Amy Tiemann]

We worked with senior instructor trainers from the Bay Area, Sweden, and Canada, and instructor trainees from all over the U. S. and Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Germany and Lebanon. Irene and Timothy's vision of sending Kidpower out into the world has really come true.

2009 is going to be a great year for Kidpower North Carolina. After six intense days taking and teaching classes with the Kidpower team (my fourth time attending a training) I am ready to get teaching back here at home in North Carolina! We have an upcoming Winter Series of classes at at a training location in Durham/Chapel Hill that is accessible for the whole Triangle. I am going to put up the schedule as a separate blog post. These classes are available for public signup and we'd love to see you there. For more information about our programs, please visit our Kidpower NC website, and to request a registration form, please email us at kidpowernc@gmail.com

About Us

Kidpower North Carolina is a non-profit training center affiliated with KIDPOWER TEENPOWER FULLPOWER International. 

Kidpower NC Center Director Amy Tiemann, Ph. D., has over a decade of experience as an educator and mentor, working with kids of all ages as well as adults. As the founder of SPARK Seminars, she wrote her own curriculum to teach parents the information and skills they need to become their child’s most powerful safety advocates.

In her role as “Mojo Mom,” Amy’s advice and cultural analysis of motherhood has reached a national audience through numerous print and broadcast interviews, including an appearance on The Today Show in May 2007.

In addition to her award-winning book, Mojo Mom: Nurturing Your Self While Raising a Family Amy is the author of a young adult novel, High Water, which features an anti-bullying theme.

Amy Tiemann is pleased to join forces with Kidpower Teenpower Fullpower International to bring Kidpower training to North Carolina.

Kipower Teenpower Fullpower International was co-founded by Irene van der Zande and Timothy Dunphy. In 1985, after Irene encountered a man who threatened the children in her care, she became determined to develop a program to teach personal safety skills to people of all ages. Since then, Kidpower's grassroots effort has grown into an international movement that has taught self-protection skills to over a million people worldwide.