History: Five Fingers of Violence Prevention

Our violence prevention curriculum is rooted in five principals that can apply to all types of potentially violent situations: the Five Fingers of Violence Prevention. We have identified a common set of simple skills we feel everyone should have in different conflict situations. Practicing the skills in each of the Five Fingers helps students build effective coping skills to deal with conflict wisely. The Five Fingers is taught through games, exercises, role-plays and guided group discussion and is accented by either dance or martial arts movement.

Like so many safety skills children absorb in their early years--buckling up in the car, not touching the cleaning supplies under the sink, looking both ways before crossing the street--violence prevention skills are not only teachable, but can proceed to developmentally critical, over-arching qualities like self-confidence and resilience. The type of violence we fear happening to children—kidnapping, physical or sexual assault, harassment by adults, older youth or peers, bullying, gang-related violence—are all potentially preventable. Through sensitive and skillful introduction of The Five Fingers, participants can transform fear into power and curiosity about life inside and outside themselves.

The Five Fingers of Violence Prevention curriculum model is appropriate for all ages, but we recommend the Real Talk/Real Moves curriculum model for teenagers. It addresses issues specific to teens and gives them opportunities to explore the creation of collaborative community service projects.

The Five Fingers of Violence Prevention

• Use your head
• Use your mouth
• Use your feet
• Use your fighting skills BUT only is you have to
• Tell someone what happened

FINGER 1: USE YOUR HEAD

Use Your Head teaches children to understand and respect their body’s sensory system. The Five Fingers particularly focuses on vision, hearing and how the human brain translates experience into action. Learning how to be aware of self and the environment using eyes, ears and brains gives children the basic groundwork for their safety.

FINGER 2: Use your mouth

Use Your Mouth teaches children about speaking up and speaking out. The Second Finger of Violence Prevention combines children’s development of their physical voice for self-defense with the verbal self-expression involved in solving their own problems with friends and family.

FINGER 3: Use your feet

Use Your Feet teaches children what it means to be agile. Agility is defined as being able to move freely and reflexively as situations warrant.

For example, if a child finds him or herself using their first finger and noticing that they feel nervous about an adult or older youth who is asking for assistance and they use their second finger and tell the person, “No, I can’t help you” and the person continues towards them with an aggressive demeanor, it is time for the child to use their feet. The child needs to move with agility toward a safe place.

Use Your Feet is also about choices, about walking away from situations at school or in the neighborhood that do not feel safe or healthy. It is about children exploring ways they can be a part of the solution to challenges, obstacles or potentially threatening situations.

FINGER 4: Use your fighting skills, but only if you have to

There are some circumstances children face that require a physical fighting response to get them to safety. This is a complex and controversial idea to explain and discuss with children. It is important to help children learn that they have the power and can use their physical self-defense skills to get away from an ongoing assault or abuse situation.

There are six basic skill categories in self-defense;

• Blocking and Evasion
• Grab Releases
• Strikes with the hands, elbows and arms
• Strikes with the feet, legs and knees
• Fighting from the ground
• Combinations of all these techniques.

FINGER 5: Tell someone what happened

The fifth finger encourages children to take any experience in which they felt frightened, anxious, violated or confused and sort it out with an adult they trust. The fifth finger reinforces the role of adults in helping children understand the world around them and supporting children when bad things happen.