Knives for kids success- and a hospital visit!

Ernie1980

Ernie1980

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So I took advantage of KSF's knives for kids program last week because my daughter wanted to carry a knife like her daddy. Here she is posing with her new blade (a Buck Bantam):

She proudly carried it everywhere all weekend and used any excuse to put it to work! This afternoon, she wanted to "take the bark off of a stick" she picked up in the yard and was using her new Buck to whittle it. I was in the driveway blowing off the leaves, and my daughter very calmly comes over to me and tells me she cut herself. I was expecting a nick, and had to maintain my composure when she showed me her darn nearly cut off finger...
I stayed calm and went in and got my wife, and off we went to the nearby urgent care clinic. She nicked her tendon but luckily avoided any other real damage save for the 6 stitches it took to close the wound!! I was very proud of her- she stayed very calm and reflected that she should not have cut towards her:rolleyes:

In all the excitement I forgot to take before pictures, but it was a wicked looking cut! There is not much to see now, it has to be covered for the next 24 hours. She is looking forward to being able to uncover it and show all her friends the stitches:)
 
I'm sorry that your daughter got cut. Sounds like it was a nasty one.

While unfortunate, it likely won't happen again. Cutting ourselves with knives is how we learn not to cut ourselves with knives.

Wishing her a speedy recovery.
 
Good deal all around:

- She's alright, and has learned a valuable (and inevitable) lesson
- She has the perspective to know that she injured herself and hasn't sworn off cutlery (I'm assuming as much, as nothing was said about her blaming the tool)
- You've raised a child who doesn't throw a fit over injuries

Some people might assume that this is the reason that kids shouldn't have knives, but, adults (including myself) have and often do accidentally injure themselves with knives under their own control - sometimes quite severely! I split my thumb open about a 1/3", to the point where I could see the "meat" and the marbling of the fat under the skin. That was less than a year ago, after handling and using hundreds of knives for years!

I'm a little jealous of your daughter. My parents rarely allowed me to learn things the hard and fast way by giving me true responsibility. Sheltering kids sucks! Glad you aren't doing that! :thumbup:
 
Glad she's ok.
I know a few guys (like my brothers) that would have flipped out if they cut themselves like that.
 
Glad the lass is OK.

My kids were always calmer than I when it came to injuries. I remember my son telling me he'd shot a nail through his finger at work. He was in the doctor's office waiting to have it removed and he started the call, "Now Dad. Don't freak out, but...."

Howsoever, the Buck Bantam is a modern design, so I'm going to move this thread to General.
 
Learning things the hard way can be the most rewarding but also the most dangerous. Glad this worked out to a certain extent!
 
She is okay, which is what matters. Going to the emergency room is part of growing up, I know :).

If you don't mind me asking, how did she cut her finger? I purchased a Buck Bantam for my father last Christmas, and found that it was hard to open one handed. Did she get cut opening/closing it?
 
At first she was a little scared at even the thought of her knife and asked me to put it away for her, but shorty after we ate dinner (her choice for being so good:)!) she asked if I could dull her knife "just a little" and give it back to her.
It helped a lot that she knows about the many times I have cut myself with various tools and how I always blame myself instead of the tool.
Thanks for all of the well wishes!
 
Very cool of you to trust her with the knife. Sucks that she cut herself, but life sucks sometimes. I darn near took off a finger myself just yesterday. I was working some oil into the joint on a new GEC 21 when my daughter walked in and started talking to me. I looked up at her and my hand slipped off the handle and right into the blade. I always wrap a paper towel around the blade when I'm oiling joints so that I can't cut myself. Well, almost always I guess. My wife wasn't too happy to see the blood running down my arm.

My point is, it happens. I'm glad the little one is going to be OK. Hopefully you don't catch too much guff from the wife. My kids love knives almost as much as I do, and to lose their knife privileges after an accident would be more painful than the cut itself.

Oh, and cute kid you got there. I showed my daughter her picture and she was mighty impressed by the knife and the cat. :thumbup:
 
I want my boys to be able to use tools and pass on my fondness for the sharper things in life, but I am terrified of how I will react after the first serious injury. Or how my wife is going to take it....I have been nicked and bit many times, and she is used to hearing a cursing trip to the first aid cabinet. No doubt they will get hurt at some point, I just hope they take it as well as your daughter. I have confidence that I will get him taken care of and back home if it happens, but daddy is gonna need some liquid relaxant afterwards. Maybe it's selfish, but I was proud of my oldest's reaction to getting his first tomahawk, his first "real" tool, that I am totally looking forward to his first knife even knowing the risk. I hope our family handles the accidents as well as yours.
 
I have used a method of safety since I was a pup that has worked satisfactorily--not perfectly--but OK. It's fear.

I force myself to remain afraid of my knives. It's surprising how respectfully you end up treating them.

I put the same fear of knives into my kid, didn't inhibit his cutting anything, just a fear. I also made sure he feared revolving credit. I guess most people teach their kids to fear spiders and snakes instead. We laugh about it now.

Going to knock wood now, but it's worked well for me.
 
Whew--glad she is ok.

My middle daughter had a nasty cut with her first knife. She was a trooper. She still has and uses the knife. That is 10 years later now....

One of the most important things I told my kids was that when I gave them their knife, they would cut themselves. It is pretty much inevitable.
 
Cute kid & cat, glad she is ok, hope she heals back quickly! She has very mature attitude towards being cut!

But that knife looks too big for her size, maybe something smaller would be better/safer for her ex: 1" PE blade, sharp but not razor sharp for clean straight cuts that heal quicker. Maybe cute pink PE CS Ladybug, etc?

PS I wouldn't leave adults like my father unsupervised with one of my sharp knives which is to him razor sharp, all his knives are dull, much less leaving my 2yr niece with one unattended.

Here is perfect example why not!
Yesterday I was helping my elderly parents un-load car after Cosco run, as you all know they wrap everything with thick plastic and cardboard.
So I hand him my cheap Chinese folder that I use for this specific utility work.
It has thin hollow ground razor like blade, it's still very sharp but not razor sharp, it has some dings in it after hitting all those tin cans and glass bottles.
It's twin that I use for kitchen food prep is still razor sharp, I sharpened them both in July!
Anyway, so while cutting plastic wrapping my dad is talking and looking at me and mom NOT paying any attention where his fingers or blade is!
I yell at him STOP WATCH OUT! He almost sliced his palm in two!!!!
Before he retired he used to work with tools all the time, he should have known better and pay more attention to cutting task at hand!
 
Great story. We've all cut ourselves once or twice along the way, lessons learned and wiser for the wear.

Glad she's okay, and great that she loves Daddy's hobby... I think the ksf program is a phenomenal undertaking by them...
 
So happy no one freaked out. People are way too overly dramatic for the most part. Glad she's stitched up and enjoying her knife
 
Sorry, but I have kids your kids age, and I don't ever leave their side as they are cutting with the same knife I got mine as you got yours. It's just to easy for a mistake to happen at their age no matter how much we teach them. I love that children are exposed and taught how to properly shoot, and use blades, but I'd never let them do so unsupervised.
 
:thumbup: Glad she's ok!

The very first time I handled my older brothers SAK Traveller (without permission and supervision) I almost lost half my thumb, I consider that being 'bitten for life' by the knife bug!
 
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