A Milestone: First Real Knife

Whittling with Daddy

At seven-and-a-half years old, John has received his first Real Knife. Oh, how long he has wanted one! Now he is the proud owner of a petite Swiss Army knife. The rules are that he may only "do knife work," as he calls it, with an adult supervising. Daddy is teaching John how to whittle.

Working with a knife,
the boy should probably be wearing shoes

In preparation, father and son sat down to watch a knife safety video online. The best take-away from the video so far was that one sits down to work and first checks one's "Blood Circle." Without holding the knife, stand up, put one's arms out in a circle, and turn around slowly. Everyone within reach of one's arms is in one's Blood Circle and needs to step farther away before one begins working with a knife. This advice is both prudent and has given us parents many giggles about the humorous phrase "Blood Circle." John is taking his Blood Circle seriously!

The joke picture Daddy emailed me from the store:
"We found John's perfect starter knife!"