WNEC helps make children's world safer

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

By KARL M. REXER

krexer@repub.com

SPRINGFIELD - The world has always been a perilous place for children, never more so than today.

For today's child, bullying, manipulation, abuse, neglect, and even sexual assault and abduction are frightful realities.

In 1998, a nonprofit educational organization called radKIDS was established to give children the tools they need to recognize, avoid, and, if necessary, escape violence and abuse, and to "resist aggression defensively." Since its inception, radKIDS, headquartered in West Harwich, has established programs in 41 states and Canada.

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In 2002, Western New England College partnered with radKIDS in a national pilot program designed to train college students to become certified radKIDS instructors through a three-credit course, and then to go on to teach child safety in the community.

Judy E. Curran, a staff assistant in WNEC's marketing and communications, said at least 60 students have taken the class and taught the radKIDS program to more than 250 children in Greater Springfield.

"Our goal is to develop a working model for colleges all across the country," Curran said. "RadKIDS can, and should be, in schools all across the country."

The 10-hour radKIDS program uses a comprehensive curriculum designed for children ages 5-11 that teaches realistic physical resistance options for escaping violence and to immediately recognize dangerous situations.

"Assault and abduction, bullying, child abuse, and sexual assault, we call them the ABCs of child abuse," Curran said. "We talk about 911; bullying; good, bad, and uncomfortable touch; stranger tricks, and we give them physical skills to defend against abduction. It's all from a defensive standpoint; there's no teaching them how to fight, that's not what we do."

Curran said that each class begins and ends with a recitation of the three radKIDS rules:

No one has the right to hurt me, because I am special.

I don't have the right to hurt anyone else unless they try to hurt me, and then I stop them.

If anyone tries to hurt me, trick me, or make me feel bad inside, it's not my fault. So I can tell on them.

"Those three rules are what can be the difference in stopping the cycle of violence in a kid's life," Curran said.

WNEC will conduct its second annual "one child at a time" dinner and silent auction April 14, 6-9 p.m., to benefit radKIDS. Tickets are $50; $35 at nonprofit rate.

For information or to make reservations, contact Judy Curran at (413) 782-1420 or e-mail jcurran@wnec.edu

"If we can give kids the skills to avoid being hurt and avoid dangerous situations, then we've done some really good work," Curran said.