What's sad IMHO is that the Boy Scouts is or should be a GREAT place for a boy to LEARN how to use a Fixed Blade
Glad you had a good time though--but I'll wager you could have taught them a lot about the use of a fixed blade and they would have LOVED to learn it as well
You know... I totally would have agreed with you as I took my knife off my belt and headed to the campsite, but now with hindsight, I will point out that I believe it is BEST to teach the boys to accomplish everything they can without a knife. Here is why.
1. You put a knife in the hands of a 10-14 year old and it is very hard to keep their attention (they will focus on the knife and not hear or see you trying to teach them anything).
2. You teach a boy to build a fire with their bare hands (and a match or fire-steel) and they will appreciate/understand the need to work as a team, and collect ENOUGH tinder in the right sizes.
3. By contrast, you give a boy a fixed blade and let them go to work, they will probably never learn to cultivate these minimalist skills until they are in a BAD situation (i.e. they lost of forgot their knife, and now need to learn WTF to do).
To your point. Once you develop these (knife-less) skills,
yeah grab a good fixed blade and learn what you have been missing! (just do not forget these skills). The troop leader mentioned in the absence of the boys to me as I was taking the knife off and stowing it in my truck, that they only allow folding knives for reasons of safety. This statement utterly confused me, but I was a guest so I STFU and obliged. I am glad I did, it was a great time...but I
fail to understand how proper use of a fixed blade poses any safety concern that a folding knife fixes (but there was no way I was going to disrespect anyone by challenging it...they have been teaching boys a lot longer than I have

)
It was pointed out by many/all of the leaders that family campouts probably have different rules, but Boyscout rules were in effect here. As the weekend went on, I learned that everyone present (left to their own devices) would do things the way I would, but when in Rome...
I guess it is a little like using fire starting aids. We all now they work and we (probably) all have them at our disposal when needed, but most of us practice minimalist/primitive means to build skills....sans-knife is quite primitive
