Need advice from the fathers out there...

Good choice on the Watch Dave. My Opinion is, I'm a Father of 2 children, ages 6 and 3. My Daughter received her first knife at 5, but like someone else mentioned, I keep it for her. When we are out doing chores on the Farm I let her carry it, but I tell her when to use it and instruct her as she does so.

I would not give a child of 5 or 6 any knife to carry on their own without supervision, nor would I leave it somewhere that is accessible to the child when you are not there. However, I think letting a child use "their" knife when you are around helps to teach them.

For small prying jobs, (which I agree a knife should not be used for) I would go with something else. By not letting him/her pry with a knife, you are also teaching what a knife "should" be used for.

Hope that makes sense.
 
I got my first knife at 10, and I gave my son his first knife at 10. Of course I wanted one when I was youger, but this was a goood age for both of us. All children are different, so 10 is not a magic number. 5 seems very young to me.

DO NOT give your son a knife to pry Legos apart. Knives are not for prying, so I think it would send the wrong message, and the blade may very well slip in his young hands on the Legos, leading to a cut.

Legos has a special tool for prying them apart (our kids got lots of Legos). Another option is a Craftsman 4-way screwdriver -- you know, the kind they sell at the checkout for $1 (about teh size of a 50 cent piece).

Good luck!
 
wadeblade said:
A couple of you brought up the question of why Lego's needed to be pried apart, and I think I need to clarify. These are the very tiny ones that lock together tightly, and they don't really need prying, just separated slightly so they can be pulled apart.
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Just to drive home the point many people have been making here, a knife shouldn't be used to pry with, ESPECIALLY a child should NOT use a knife to pry something with. Prying things apart like that is a good way for even an adult to cut themself, because it's something you shouldn't do with a knife. You risk damanging yourself and you risk damaging the knife. If you want to encourage a kid to pry things apart with a knife then you yourself aren't responsible enough to own a knife.
 
I'm with Hillbillenigma -- who said it better than I could have.

I'm an old father (heck, THAT could've been my Forums handle) of 4 children -- and a surrogate father of dozens more (their friends who always seem to be hanging around the chateau).;)

Each child had a knife early -- but that knife was only handled when I was personally with them. They 'graduated' to full ownership at around age 10 -- depending on the level of maturity displayed by each one.

No serious problems with any of them. Only one turned into a Knife Knut -- but she did it in a major way. Iaido, kendo, that whole path...in addition to Tae Kwon Do (multiple black belt, national champion). Sometimes, she even scares me!
 
In my opinion ,Stitches in a five year old would be a real bummer. Got my first knife when I was seven. My mother was horrified, but my Father said." If I earned the money I could buy it". I don`t think that thought that I would, but I did .I scrounged old soda bottles(remember when they were worth ten cents a bottle?) and did chores. It was a cheap Sabre brand from Japan, I bought it from the local Sprouse
Reitz Store, Remember those? Well, I cut myself good. The good point. I learned to respect a sharp knife at a young age. The bad point. My parents freaked. If your are ready, then go for it. SAKs and Scout knives are a good start. There is a big difference between a toy and a tool.
 
Get him a cheap knife, file the edge flat, then sand any other sharp edges.
He can still pry legos apart, and will teach him knife safety at the same time.
 
I can tell you that prying apart legos with a knife is not a good idea. Scratches and gouges the plastic. Use the lego tool (can be had from walmart-yeah, underaged!- thats what it looks like) the larger sets of legos would sometimes have the tool included with them...God, that brings up memories...

Another thing is that you don't want him to take it to school accidently and get arrested or expelled (and even if you tell him no, he will want to take it to show his buddies- I remember how I was at that age)

I swear, the top three things I loved from childhood were knives, guns, and legos.
 
A Victorinox Escort with the blade cut off. It will have the tweezers and toothpick and the nailfile with a screwdriver tip. It's the same length as the Classic.
 
This is a good thread, just the kind of info I hoped to find by joining this forum !

I started giving my son knives when he was 10, when he moved up from Cubs to Scouts. I let him use my knives under supervision since he was around 6 for whittling and in the kitchen. At 10 I felt that he was responsible enough and that his hands were strong enough to use and to safely open and close a folder like a SAK.

I have taught him safe knife use and how to sharpen and care for knives and tools. He is now 15 and is responsible enough to help me with chores like cutting and splitting firewood.

He is now as tall as me and we see each other eye-to-eye and I find that this makes it harder for me to remember that he is still a kid! I am sure that we would all agree that we have to be responsible for our kid's actions until they are adults but we have to remember that boys will be boys !!

Two years ago we had a holiday in Norway, staying with some friends in their hytte in the forest North of Bodo, we had a great time with lots of fishing and my son was using his knives every day. We had an early morning flight home from the airport at Bodo, and we packed the evening before. I reminded my son to pack all his knives in the check-in luggage. He gave a typical teenage response and that sixth sense you develop as a parent told me he had not heeded the message.

The next morning in the check-in queue, we could see people being searched in the security queue, my son turns to me and asks why they are being searched. I remind him of our conversation the night before and he turned pale ! He had left a knife in his carry-on bag, luckily he had time to transfer it to the checked-in bags!

On another occasion my son was going to a Scout Jamboree in another part of Scotland. Transport was laid on and he was to meet his patrol at the bus stop in the nearby town. I drove him down there in the morning and the rest of the patrol gathered there to wait for the bus. They were all chatting away, and then one guy asks what knives they had all brought for the camp. They all then reached into their bags and sporrans and fetched out an assortment of blades. I immediately shouted at hem to put all their knives away and not to get them out unitl they are at the camp. Knives are being demonised in the UK at the moment and it is unwise to display a knife in a public place.

At the beginning of December my son's Explorer Scout leader organised a training camp to teach some of the newer Scouts camp skills like fire craft and safe axe and knife use. The leader asked the oldest scout to demonstrate knife use to the others. This lad had not brought his own knife and asked if anyone had one he could use.

My son offered his Opinel with the warning that it was very sharp. To demonstrate its sharpness he shaved some arm hairs. The older scout had apparently not seen this done before; he took my son's knife and tried to shave hairs off his own arm, but the inevitable happened and he started skinning himself! The knife lesson quickly turned into a first aid lesson.

I hope this post is not too long ! but I have found this thread so useful. I think it is important that us dads can share this kind of information so that we can teach our kids to respect what is a useful tool.
 
There is a special tool made for prying apart Legos - if I remember right it even has a hole for a key fob. Go on the Lego website and order him one. IMO 5 is too young for a sharp knife - even an SAK - not because of maturity, but because of coordination. If he were to hurt himself you would never forgive yourself.
 
I'm not sure anyone can say when the right time is other than an attentive parent that is active in the kids life. My 4 1/2 yr old son will get a knife when I feel he is able to handle it and is responsible enough, right now he isn't, but he is learning.

He regularly wants to cut his own food at the dinner table, and we help him do that and teach him how to correctly in the process.

The best way to teach is to take advantage of everyday situations when you can. Both he and my 18 mo. old understand when they wanted something opened (Christmas) to stand back and not make sudden moves/reach for the toy while my knife is out, and I make certain to use it with forethought and close it promptly after I'm done.
 
My 2 1/2 year old is already keyed into the necessity of knives. If we have a box to open or something needs cutting, he says, "Need a knife."

That said, he won't get his own till he's 9 or 10.
 
alittle_edgy said:
My uncle gave me a knock off of a Barlow electrician's knife when I was 5. I couldn't even open it because it was too stiff, but the fact was he gave me a knife. Giving a kid a knife is a very special thing like a first bb gun or a bike. It was a real vote of confidence from him.
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I had a similar experience. My father worked for a moving company and in my early years he was gone 90% of the time. But everytime he came back he'd give me a new "souvenir" knife, usually a little penknife with the name of a different locale on it. Really they were very cheap dollar store knives, soft very dull steel, very short blades 1 to 3 inches,usually around 2 inches. From 5 onwards I always had one with me and had been carrying for a couple of years before i had the dexterity to open them. And i when i finally did they were about as sharp as a butter knife. Later (when i was ten-ish) he gave me one of those british sailor knives with the canopen,blade and marlin spike. It was ugly but the steel was at least sharpenable, that kept me going for years. Later when i entered junior high i began buying knives on my own and on from there!

As the poster said in the quote above (and also from my point of view)being given a knife felt like a vote of confidence. And the knifes were very dull so really they couldn't do any damage.
But of course its a different world today. Its a judgement call.
 
Five is probably too young for all the dexterity/maturity issues mentioned above in previous replies....
I have two boys, ages 14 and 17. Both got knives around 10 after completing the safety test in Cub Scouts. You could probably look up the requirements for what the Cub Scouts called a "Whittling Chip" to see safety issues addressed regarding knife handling. At various times, they both lost their Whittling Chip when someone noticed them breaking safety rules...just part of growing up and learning that benefits come with responsibility.
For a 5 year old, I would recommend a pair of curved nose pliers to pull Lego's apart, the kind that have a smooth anvil so as not to mess up the Lego's too badly...
Good luck and enjoy the time with your son, they grow up quick!
Blade01
 
i gave my son his 1st knife when he was 4.it was a small Vic sak.he could,nt open the blades and lost it before he could.the plan was to dull the blade when he could.he's 9 now and has had more knives over the years.he cut himself once that i can remember of in the past few years,while using 1 of his knives.my reasoning was that if he ahd his own from an early age,he'll know how to use knives,will not fear knives [join the sheeple] and respect knives as tools [and weapons].
 
I bought my first knife when I was six. It was a small slip joint folder I got for $3 at a flea market. When I showed it to my dad, he snatched it up and proceeded to dull it on the concrete. I couldn't cut anything with it, but I kept it in my pocket anyway. It made me feel good to have it.

I've had a knife in my pocket ever since.
stdlrf11
 
I started carrying a knife when I was five. Nobody in my house really thinks about knives except for me, so I just borrowed my dad's Wenger Esquire. I never cut myself with it to my knowledge. I did try to whittle (the only whittling that I knew was how to make a pointy stick :D), but mostly I think I just carried it and used it a little here and there as needed. I didn't go around looking for uses.

I remember quite vividly that when I was 9'ish I did something very fun but stupid in retrospect. I had a plastic wagon that had tall sides that I used to ride down our somewhat steep hill in our back yard. I told my friend Chris to tie my hands behind me with some twine, put me in the wagon, and I had to access my knife (in my back pocket so I had a chance), open it, cut the rope, and jump out of the wagon before it crashed into/forced itself under the chain link fence at the bottom. Really stupid. Really fun :D I did manage to free myself and jump from the speeding cart in time ;) I now realize that I might have seriously mamed myself doing that, but I had fun and learned a lesson from it: kids do pretty dumb things!
 
5 is too young in my opinion. (I have two kids 5 and 7)

I got my first at 8.

Kids mature ALOT between 5 and 10. You will notice differences in their personalities almost monthly from here on out.... I know its late in the game on this thread... but the topic is interesting...
 
I just gave my 6 year old my switchblade comb, he's happy for the moment but I was going to take an old folder and dull it, they don't know, they just want to be like dad. I hold a piece of paper out and tell him to cut it, I'm just pulling it so hard it rips in two and he's just amazed how sharp it is, (tee hee) so he's very careful because he's seen my cuts on my fingers.
 
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