For three Saturdays beginning September 18 through October 2nd, Raphael House is hosting a series of KidPower Workshops for parents and children.  KidPower is a program designed to help children and parents with the challenges they face in their daily lives. 

"Children face challenging situations every day at home, at school, online, and in their communities. Sometimes, adults are aware of these issues. Often, they are not. Kidpower teaches children positive, practical, and effective ways to think, move, and speak to stay safe in challenging personal safety situations. Working with children and trying to see the world through their eyes informs everything we do." -KidPower

In our first meeting parents were able to see hands-on how to handle areas of concern such as setting boundaries, bullying, fighting, and personal safety.  It was a great opportunity for parents to set aside time to focus on better preparing themselves and their children for many of life's most challenging moments and everyone appreciated the chance to talk about their feelings, and get positive feedback on how to address them. 

We are very much looking forward to this weekend's workshop where children will be invited to join their parents in learning these important safety and awareness skills. 

Our upcoming workshop schedule is as follows:  (Please call Stephanie or Preeti to register)
Saturday, September 25th 10:30-12:30pm at Raphael House
Saturday, October 2nd 2:00-4:00pm at Raphael House - This workshop will also be offered in Spanish

Tumbling Toddlers

This weekend ChildReach spent an afternoon at Acrosports, a children's gym in San Francisco.  The gym is filled with trampolines, balance beams, spongy mats and padded walls, for children to bounce, run, and play to their hearts' content. Even parents joined in the fun!

Coach Jerrell helped us flip on beams, played jumbo basketball, and then tried to teach us a few break-dancing moves. I'm afraid it might take a few more visits to Acrosports to master those.

This trip was a great way for the kids and parents to have some quality time together and work on developing those ever important motor  and muscle skills.  Getting the opportunity to use their bodies and test their physical boundaries, and perhaps even their fears, was a wonderful challenge for both kids and parent to have the chance to overcome.  By getting kids involved in physical activities at such a young age, we are hoping that the kids will grow up healthy and strong with a greater passion for physical health and fitness.

Over all, it was a nice, relaxing Saturday afternoon for parents and children alike, and we're definitely looking forward to our next visit!

This Weekend, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away...

... The ChildReach gang jetted to Zeum, a children's museum in the heart of San Francisco, for their annual Clone Wars Weekend. We wasted no time in stepping into our new roles as Jedi, Stormtroopers, and Galactic princesses. Within minutes of being in the museum, we had donned Clone Wars outfits, had written scripts for our first movies, and before an hour was up had starred in movie about space invaders, Darths and Siths. I'm certain that if the movies had been longer than two minutes, they would have been blockbusters!

After our stab at being the next George Lucas, we moved on to design claymation puppets. Unfortunately, with only 5 minutes until our Lightsaber training course, we had little time to make a movie with them and left our characters for other people to use. We had no intention of being late and feeling the wrath of Obi-Wab Kanobi!

Yes, that's right, the one and only Obi-Wan taught our ChildReach crew how to wield a lightsaber, and use the Force for good.

We worked up quite an appetite while swinging, slicing, and slashing our lightsabers,so we decided to head back to Earth for a picnic on the roof of Raphael House. We were all glad end our day safe from the troubles of the Galaxy!

Labor Day at the Bay... Aquarium

The ChildReach crew spent this Labor Day learning about the San Francisco Bay Area's aquatic life at the Aquarium of the Bay at San Francisco's Fisherman's Warf.  We saw Jelly Fish, schools of local fish, and of course... SHARKS. 

The Sharks were the kid's favorite by far.  But,the sharks did get a lot of competititon from the stingrays whose slippery, slimy backs we got to touch as they swam by.


There were also tide pools with Star Fish and Sea Cucumbers all of which both kids and parents got to touch and explore.  There were also many displays teaching the children, and the adults about the importance of conservation and the impact of trash.  Yep, trash.  Did you know that a plastic bottle in the ocean takes 406 years to decompose?

After everyone had had their fill of the exhibits, we headed outside to enjoy the sunshine and a nice picnic lunch.  The parents enjoyed being able to eat sandwiches they didn't have to make, and to watch their kids climb and play out on the beautiful SF Embarcadero. 

This trip was a great day for the families to get out together and for the kids to see the local sea life that surrounds them in the Bay Area.  We enjoyed watching how educational and theraputic it was for the entire family and we're looking forward to our next environmental education adventure!