Oh yeah the world has gone completely and utterly mad. I'm 22 now but I remember my dad getting me my first SAK at 5 (could have been younger but not any older than 6 since that's when he took his own life; I can hardly blame him; this world is so bent out of shape it wouldn't take much to push someone over the edge). Still have the scar where it closed up on my finger. Was flint knapping from four and making bows and arrows with flint heads at the same age. Both parents helped me. Taught to light fire when I was four or 5 with a burning glass too, think I had gotten in trouble with the school for being smarter than the teacher's kid essentially, or it might have been that time that asshole of a bully tried to push me into submission and I knocked out his tooth; he never touched me again at that school. My mother wanted me punished but my father taught me how to make fire with naught but a magnifying glass, he also gave me the best advice in case I ended up in another fight; grab the person by the neck or shoulder with one hand and keep pounding the face with the other, or if you can kick as hard as you can at their weakest knee. I remember I was taking apart the old gas cooker when the whole thing came down on me, split my head open good and proper, needed 6 stitches. Naturally the hospital assumed domestic violence rather than inquisitive five year old and kept asking me who pushed the cooker onto me and I wouldn't be in any trouble if I told them. Fecking bubble wrap or what. In the end it turned out that my parents had been wholl irresponsible to let me work on a disconnected gas cooker using tools without supervision.
That said the old man would usually take the wooden spoon to my rear end, I remember one time I fired a rubber band at the neighbour's car; he hit me with it til it broke. That said I learned my lesson on property damage pretty ******* fast after that whipping. I've gotten on the wrong side of the law a couple of times I'll admit, though never for violence, theft/property crime or crimes that would endanger or otherwise cause financial or physical harm to others.
If and when I raise kids they're getting their first knife when they learn it can be dangerous, by the time they're six or seven I'll be teaching them to hone straight razors and as soon as they're strong enough to draw a junior bow I'm teaching them archery, Lars Anderson style.. There was a time when every schoolchild carried a penknife so as to cut in a nib, those kids fought in two wars that would probably have any adult today run screaming to the nearest foxhole, they, the drafted had no choice either; in the first world war it was charge for the trench or be cut down by your own guns if you tried to run back. Not so sure about the second, though America and the UK wrote the history, so it wouldn't surprise me if the same thing happened there too; I know it happened with the Russians. Now (and I apologise to any soldier, but it's my opinion; you have every right to disagree and express yours against mine) but the current wars have just been a few states brutalising what amounts to a wet paper bag; the worst ones are the ones who brag about serving. I know my great grandfather (who built his own house by hand from the ground up and was still felling trees at the age of 92-94) never talked much about his time as a saboteur in Denmark except for showing me his luger that he 'acquired' from a German officer, taught me how to break a man's neck with little force and how to silence an opponent so he can't call out for backup (knife slid between the ribs, puncturing both lungs). He never talked about his days in the war and when he finally got caught never spoke of his time in the labour camp., he did however show me his 'bad-bottom tattoo' he got when he was in there.
No doubt if I get my child even a play gun or airsoft gun before he was a teenager I'd be looked down on as as scumbag, never mind getting my kid his/her first lockknife/fixed blade when they turn 9. People just don't know how to teach their kids responsibility and discipline nowadays and then they wonder why they're off getting **** faced (without telling me) at the ages of 15 and 16. I was actually scolded in college by saying that once my kid turns 6 he can have a (teeny tiny just bigger than a shot glass) of wine with dinner. UK stance on drinking is fecking stupid; "no drinking til you're 16-18 then you can binge drink all you want rather than learning responsible drinking from a young age. Hell, even former head of the ACMD admitted alcohol was more physically harmful than IV Heroin and people are flabbergasted when alcohol and tobacco make it to the top 5 on the 20 most dangerous substances. I'll likely let my kid have his first try one of those 'special cigarettes' when he turns 16-17 (and it's probably gonna be legal here or in Denmark; my bolt hole if UK gets much worse) if he's so inclined to sample it and if so at the age of 18 he can get to try one of those funny stamps that are all the rage, all the while in a safe environment with the person/s who love him/her most; once again only if it interests them.
, but at least it buys you the time to install proper skills and guidelines while the use of the knife is limited to you being around.
