Manufacturer: Kidini, LLC Recommended Age: 4 - 10 years Retail Price: $19.99 On the Web: www.kidini.com Buy It Here: www.kidini.com

Kidini’s Bully Prevention and Child safety product is intended to help parents empower their children with the knowledge to recognize, avoid and escape troublesome or dangerous situations. The packaged product includes two CDs (one with songs, the other with stories and songs), a parent and child activity book, a certificate and eight trading cards.

Through the CDs and activity book, kids are introduced to eight characters (members of the Kidini team) who each have unique skills to guide children through the steps each member must take in order to stay safe. Steps begin with Penney the Penguin introducing children to the skill “Don’t let a bully bother you” and end with Twister the Tornado providing guidance on “Know when to fight.” The CDs and stories are not encouraged to be completed all at once, rather building up over time in order to allow children to hear the individual tracks and allow him/her to retain the importance of all the lessons.

It appeared to our review team that the Bully Prevention and Child Safety was developed with the intention to be easy to use. There are numerous options as to how to use the program and, for the most part, the directions are self explanatory. In addition, for parents who are sensitive to the issues at hand, Kidini’s product are an easy way to help approach the subjects.

Our review team doesn’t always give top ratings to CDs or DVDs, however, due to the inclusion of the activity book and trading cards, the panel felt it fair to say that the package itself is quite durable. Also unique, the package includes two CDs – one with just the songs, the other with both the songs and stories (read directly from the activity book); this not only provides options for users, but should one CD get lost or scratched, the other will still serve the purpose.

Reviewers agreed the Visual Appeal category was a tough to rate for this product. Bullies and child abduction are not subjects that anyone associates positive visual appeal with; however, through creative character concepts and a well-made activity book, the issues become easier to discuss and less daunting for parents or teachers. With that in mind, our reviewers determined that the product was worth highest marks in this category.

Kidini’s Bully Prevention and Child Safety most definitely functions as a tool for parents to use to engage in discussion with their child about these difficult and sometimes unfortunately ignored topics. The parents on our panel admitted that this was a subject that was tough to introduce to their child and this program would certainly help them. As for the children, it took a couple sessions to get through the material – as noted in the directions provided – one chapter should be completed at a time, any more may be information overload. Our parents only problem with the program – bullying is not covered to the extent in which the title may lead you to believe. Overall, the first chapter featuring Penney the Penguin is dedicated to bullying, but the next seven are related to safety – all great lessons, just not what you might expect from the title.

Our panel felt this product is perfectly priced for two CDs and a well designed activity book at just under $20. For parents needing something to help spark conversation or teachers investigating new ways to discuss the important topics, Kidini’s Bully Prevention and Child Safety product is a great investment.

While not familiar with any other programs that incorporate friendly characters and songs, there are other safety and bully prevention programs available. So, even though our panel felt this program is unique, it is certainly not the only one in the field.

Keep our kids safe! In the end, that’s really all our panel could say. Everyone agreed that this is one of the toughest reviews to do as its not something we want to think or talk about, but there is really no choice. If you’re struggling to find a way to teach the important lessons Kidini’s Bully Prevention and Child Safety deals with, consider purchasing this program to help you start the conversations and take steps in the direction to help keep your child safe!