I didn’t intend to keep this thread going.. after all, I did say that I didn’t feel qualified to say much on the subject, not being a parent and not having been a Scout. However, the direct responses I’ve gotten seem to be responding to things I didn’t say, and I need to set a couple of points straight.<br><br>The only intent of my original post was to express surprise at the age group of the kids being discussed so protectively.<br><br>I did not, for heaven’s sake, criticize Scouting as a whole, or it’s benefits, or intent, or the people in it. I’m sure there are valid criticisms that could be made, as there are with any organization of humans, but I’m in no position to make them. Instead, I expressed regret at never having been a Scout (actually, I was briefly a Cub Scout- but at the time that had to do with gluing macaroni to coffee can lids and weaving potholders, and even at that age I could tell the difference between useful skills and make-work).<br><br>Somehow, despite my saying that nobody gave me a knife as a kid and that I don’t remember asking permission to own one, much of the response has focused on the fact that many kids don’t have parents involved enough or knowledgeable enough to train their kids in such things. No doubt that's true, but it may not be relevant.<br><br>I have no need to get into the details of my upbringing, but there are some huge invalid assumptions implied here. Through most of my childhood my father was a somewhat remote and foreboding figure that worked long hours, traveled a lot, was not involved in my activities in much detail, and was not an outdoorsman. I was an only child until my early teens, so I had no brothers or sisters to emulate and follow, and the fact that we moved almost every year meant that I had no long-term friends for guidance, either. I doubt that my mother has ever spent a night outdoors in her life, and she still regards anything more robust than a brisk walk- and any knife outside a kitchen- with polite horror.<br><br>I’m sure I was never encouraged to own a knife, nor trained in the use of one. I learned it the way I learned most things in my life, by some combination of reading books and trial-and-error. That’s how I learned camping, for instance- when in my teens I wanted to go on a camping trip with friends, I borrowed a tent, bought an army surplus sleeping bag, and went, with no experience and no knowledge, and when I got back I took my new experience and hit the library to understand what I’d done wrong (a lot). Eventually I became an experienced camper, then backpacker.<br><br>I’m only saying this to point out that the degree of parental involvement is not the sole determinant in such things, though I can see how it might often seem so from a Scout leader’s viewpoint.<br><br>Nor am I saying that most 9-year-olds can be expected to already have these skills. My surprise was that there was discussion about giving FIRST knives and baby-step instruction to kids from 11 to “teenagers” who are already involved in Scouting, and thus presumably have some interest in such things. <br><br>Maybe my experience was abnormal, but I’d bet that in a random group of 13-year-old boys, a significant percentage might play along with such silly games while already owning, or even carrying, things you’re not aware of. I certainly did at that age, as did most guys I knew. Some things you just don’t mention to adults, they tend to react irrationally.<br>