Playing with knives

There were three things that surprised me most about children in Switzerland when we moved here in 2015. Swiss kids play with knives, give real handshakes and listen to a lot of stories or as they call them "Hörspiele".

(Picture: from Tobi - first reading book assigned in first grade in Switzerland)

Let's start with the knives (I'll get to the other two in future posts). Most Swiss kids spend a lot of time in the forest. It helps, of course, that forests are never far away, even when you're in the cities. When my kids went to a forest preschool, I thought it was a new trend for hip, urban parents to send their kids off to the woods (in ALL kinds of weather!).

While forest preschools have become more popular in the last few years (and even more so during the pandemic), spending time in the forest is something families just do here - for birthdays, on Christmas, for school field trips, or on a regular Sunday. Time in the forest is built into the school curriculum (and, yes in all weather), and there are even special forest backpacks and rain pants made for a Waldmorgen as they call them.

But, how can you grill a Cervelat (a fat hot dog) or bake a Schlangebrot ("snake bread" dough twisted around a stick) without a knife? This is where my inquisition begins. Sure I had spent time at campfires, roasting marshmallows for s'mores and telling scary stories. But what I experienced in my first few months was something different.

Walk through the forest or go for a hike and you’ll likely come across at least one child sitting on a rock sharpening the end of a stick or carving something out of wood with their pocket knife. There can be rows of kids sitting around preparing an arrow for a bow or whittling a wooden figure.

Many children receive their “Sackmesser or Sacki” between the ages of 5 and 7 years old. It's almost like a rite of passage - like that first briefcase (ok, that's even before my generation) or business card holder (ugh, what do people give college graduates these days). In the forest preschool my kids attended, kids were granted the privilege of using a pocketknife at 4 years old, and it was a big deal in kid circles.

My son proudly wore his first knife (received on his 5th birthday) attached to a lanyard around his neck and admired his name engraved on the front of it.

But, pride wasn't exactly what I was feeling. When my son received his first knife, and then another, even sharper one (think Crocodile Dundee) at 8 years old, all I could think about was the fastest route to the emergency room. I tried to conceal my fears and worries from friends and most importantly, from my son. I had never used one myself and when I tried opening and closing my son's, I nearly lost my pointer finger.

Children are taught from a very young age about the virtues and value of a pocketknife watching their parents use them on playgrounds and on hikes in the mountains to do everything from cut apples and sharpen branches for grilling sausages on a campfire to open a bottle of wine and make a bow and arrow. I imagine the Zurich airport has a whole stash of pocket knives from Swiss people going through security. It's second nature to have one in your bag, it's easy to forget. Plus. people have multiple knives - the standard go-to knife, the keychain knife, the multi-tool knife, the super duper dangerous knife - I'm sure there are more official names for these.

I kept thinking to myself - how can I trust my son to do something that is so out of my comfort zone? How do I show him how to be safe, when I don't even know how to? And of course, my own selfish concerns - will I look like a wimp to my kid (and others) if I admit that I'm totally afraid?

I learned a lot watching my son use that knife. Children are intuitively aware that owning and using a pocketknife is a privilege and a responsibility. But it also helps that many Swiss (maybe not all families) designate an age or a situation when the knives can or can't be used. And, they make that clear to the kids so that they also feel the weight of this responsibility. They are also taught to always fold the knife when finished and are scolded by parents or teachers for leaving an open knife laying around.

It's also a process. Kids aren't carving with a Bowie knife from the beginning. Most kids receive something like “My First Victorinox” which has 8 functions and a rounded blade so if something goes wrong, the damage isn't too severe. Kids graduate to different knives, which also happen to be more expensive over time.

We have had plenty of minor accidents, and some near serious misses so I can't say that I'm totally at ease when I see my kids with their knife. But I no longer cringe, and I also see all of the good things that come from using the knife. It's rare for a kid with a pocket knife to say I'm bored in the forest. The possibilities are endless.

Picture: my daughter at 6 years old spending many hours whittling a stick during the first wave of the pandemic.

#swissarmyknives #switzerland #victorinox