Would you give your child a pocketknife? (teaching, allowance, weight)

[AnotherTouchOfWhimsy]

My kids got them when they were about 8 years old... they rarely carry them, and they know that they can't take them to school.

[Huckleberry3911948]

a very small swiss army knife the kind they let u carry on airplanes? also called a pen knife?. yes.

[Natsku]

Sure I will. I got a swiss army knife when I was about 7 or 8 and loved it, still have it somewhere. Not sure when I'll get my kid one but when she needs one, probably a proper knife when she starts fishing so she can gut the fish but I might get her this knife sometime soon (saw it in a shop in my town, it was labelled "child's first knife")

[mom2justynsarah]

Originally Posted by ParallelJJCat

Can't ever remember being without my trusty swiss army knife as a kid, but I'm betting things are very, very different now.

Would you allow your kid to have a pocketknife? If so, at what age? Are there are rules you would expect them to follow?

My 14 year old son is a Boyscout, and he had been trained to use it. So I have no problem with it.

[willow wind]

My kids had pocket knives in elementary school. That was at a time when no one thought anything of it and every kid had a small knife.

I'd probably still let them have one today. However, in today's world, I might also have to block the kids on the way out the door to the school bus and ask to make they sure they didn't have on one them on a school day. .

Zero tolerance at schools has evolved into total insanity. Read the crazy story in the link

. Parents Furious After Boys Suspended For Using Fingers As Guns « CBS Baltimore

[ADVentive]

My daughter went to a camp last fall where she learned some beginning whittling. She was interested in continuing to learn whittling, so I put a whittling book and knife on her "wishlist" for her 7th birthday. Nobody wanted to get it for her, and they seriously questioned why I would allow her to have a knife at this age.

[Oleg Bach]

If it was 1957 I would give my kid a pocket knife and a BB gun...If you give a kid a knife today...it really is not needed. We do not live for the most part in a rural environment anymore where a kid on a farm for instance NEEDS a pocket knife...If your kid is caught with a pocket knife he will be considered a threat and potential terrorist....If the kid does have a knife and brandishes this knife in public or at school - even if he is cutting some string...don't be surprised if he comes home in handcuffs. If you live in the country and the kid is out and about- then YES - if you are a suburbanite or urban dweller NO.;

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by willow wind

My kids had pocket knives in elementary school. That was at a time when no one thought anything of it and every kid had a small knife.

I'd probably still let them have one today. However, in today's world, I might also have to block the kids on the way out the door to the school bus and ask to make they sure they didn't have on one them on a school day. .

Zero tolerance at schools has evolved into total insanity. Read the crazy story in the link

. Parents Furious After Boys Suspended For Using Fingers As Guns « CBS Baltimore

Boy you got that right!

Reminds me of the story of the KINDERGARTNER who was suspended because mom put a plastic knife in his lunch to cut his banana with

Idiotic policies like this are why I have lost all faith in public schools.

[Sabinerose]

Originally Posted by Huckleberry3911948

a very small swiss army knife the kind they let u carry on airplanes? also called a pen knife?. yes.

You can't even carry toenail clippers onto an airplane. I cannot believe what are describing would be allowed.

[randomparent]

Yes, my kids have pocket knives. I think most received them at about age 10.