When I Gave My Child a Whittling Knife, I Didn't Expect This to Happen
I'll admit, when I handed her the knife—I held my breath and tried my best to suppress visions of the emergency room.
Because let's be honest: knives are dangerous!
But then again, she'd been using scissors at school since she was old enough to do her ABCs. Surely this was the next step up? I mean, she could zigzag cut like nobody's business, so how is the blade of a small penknife any different, really?
Well, a lot, it turns out.
In fact, I had never seen her work so slowly—not frustrated slow, but meditative slow.
Over and over, the blade peeled away layers of bark from the green stick of camphor laurel we'd found. The smell of the tree's oil filled her senses with every swift movement.
This was nothing like the scissors she would wield like a reckless racecar.
This was laser focus, precision, and caution.
She took her whittling knife VERY seriously.
At Forest School, she'd learned the rules: how to unlock the blade, open it safely, lock it in place. She knew about the arteries in her hands and thighs. She knew to sit with her knees outward like a triangle. She knew the blade would fold if not locked properly. And she knew to always face it away from her body, using only the slightest pressure—letting the blade do all the heavy lifting.
She was well and truly aware of its dangers, and I was ready to trust her with it.
Because here's the thing: one day she's going to be grown up and making her own way in the world, and I want her to feel strong, capable, and independent.
I want her to be able to cut up her own dinner, cut her own fishing line off a snagged rock. I want her to be able to work with caution and intuition in all surroundings.
I want her to have common sense because she was trusted enough to learn it by doing—not because someone shouted, "Don't touch that!"
But mostly, I want knives to have no novelty. Zero. Zilch. Because children using knives should be as normal and boring as any other tool you'd find in a kitchen, shed, or forest school program.
And if that means giving her a hot pink whittling knife for Christmas at 7 years old, then so be it.