Engaging Teachers, Empowering Children, Educating Parents
Child abuse occurs at all socioeconomic levels, across all ethnic and cultural lines, within all religions, and at all levels of education. However, by making sure that we are educated and informed on this issue, we can prevent children from enduring this unnecessary and unthinkable abuse.
Knowing that 95 percent of sexual abuse is preventable through education and awareness, Lauren’s Kids developed the Safer, Smarter Kids curriculum. Lauren Book, M.S. Ed., career educators, and a developmental psychologist created the curriculum to not only educate children, but also teachers and parents.
About Safer, Smarter Kids
Safer, Smarter Kids is an abuse prevention education curriculum designed for Pre-K and elementary-aged children, created by the Lauren’s Kids foundation. Lauren’s Kids is an organization founded and led by Lauren Book, M.S. Ed. She is a child sexual abuse survivor, child advocate and educator who works to prevent child abuse and help survivors heal.
The curriculum focuses on teaching children that they have the ability to protect themselves. The activities of this curriculum are designed to help you meet existing educational requirements in the areas of social studies, theatre, visual art, health education, and reading/language arts, while imparting critical safety information.
Safer, Smarter Kids includes five to eight, 30-minute age-appropriate lessons regarding personal safety and how to ask for help when a situation makes you uncomfortable. The children then have the opportunity to practice these concepts through in-class activities.
The curriculum is available for pre-K/kindergarten, first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, and fifth grade classrooms. Safer, Smarter Teens is available for middle school and high school students. Lauren’s Kids also offers a curriculum for children with special needs. The Safer, Smarter Kids curriculum fulfills Erin’s Law child sexual abuse prevention program requirements.
Why should I teach Safer, Smarter Kids in my classroom?
By empowering children, educating parents, and engaging with teachers, we all work together to help prevent children from going through tragic situations. The education program uses developmentally appropriate information to arm children with the tools and language they need to better protect themselves from abuse. Each grade level’s theme focuses on developing skills for staying safe as it relates to the expansion of a child’s world and aligns to social studies frameworks.
After distributing more than 16,000 curriculum kits, we found that completion of the Safer, Smarter Kids curriculum resulted in a 77 percent learning gain in students’ personal safety information. (Florida Council Against Sexual Violence, 2012)
About Lauren’s Kids
Through in-school curriculum, legislative advocacy, and speaking engagements, Lauren’s Kids works to educate and raise awareness about the growing issue of child sexual abuse. The organization also provides millions of educational and awareness materials through direct mail every year. The overarching goal of the foundation is to prevent sexual abuse through awareness and education, and to help survivors heal with guidance and support.
