[Sean Flynt]

...I made a rondel dagger!"--my 4 year-old son.

[Chad Arnow]

You must be so proud. I can't count the times my son and I have played with Tinker Toy "swords."

[Eric W. Norenberg]

That's very cool, Sean! I didn't know you had a little one!
I like the hilt-to-blade length ratio, grip looks properly snug...

I have a tough time talking to my very inquisitive kids about my arms & armor obsessions... I want to share but at this point I don't want them to know too much about the "practical application" of this stuff. For now, as far as they are concerned, swords, daggers, armor and the like are for chasing the odd dragon out of your neighborhood...

-Eric

[Sean Flynt]

Yes, we love our foam swords, too! Arms and armour education for young ones is an interesting challenge, isn't it? My son has lost close family so he's starting to understand death, mean people, fighting, etc. It's all pretty abstract at this point. I'd like to prevent him growing up with video game/cartoon illusions about violence.

[Mike Capanelli]

I'm so happy I came across this topic. I was feeling very alone in this as none of my friends with kids are in to arms and armor or combat of any sort. I have a 2 yr old son that's positively fascinated with swords. He loves anything to do with them. Wether they be pirate movies or the clown wars cartoons he's just captivated. He's come down to he dojo a bunch of times and is now punching and kicking a little bag. He's also seen me fence and has been imitating me with his pirates of the Caribbean foam sword. Yesterday he even tried to copy a flourish. He of course has no grasp of what a sword can really do but if he's raised with a respect for safety and for weapons in general it'll carry on till he understands why. He sees me handle them and take safety very seriously when I fence and he seems to be copying that as well. After all the little buggers learn what they see.

[Jeremy V. Krause]

I let my 2 year old daughter carry around my Todds Stuff mace- she is holding it by the heavy end- for now. She can also identify a mace by looking at a picture.

I haven't really gotten into the bladed weapons thing. I don't like her attention drawn to them, in case she somehow comes upon one, though I do keep them safley away.

[Patrick Kelly]

My two older children never had much of an interest in swords or anything of an historical nature, still don't. The youngest one does though. He has an interest in bladed weapons as well as firearms. Years ago during our first big week long camping trip with his Boy Scout Troop a deer walked through our camp close enough to touch. Everyone else was commenting on how cute it was and/or reaching for a camera. My son? Oh nooooooooooo...............he told me, "Shoot it with your gun dad, so we can cook it for dinner!" I had to explain that probably wasn't part of the program much to his disappointment, while we received horrified looks from the other parents.

Sean, that's a cool idea for your son.

[Scott Hrouda]

That's quite a dagger. You must be very proud; it brought a smile to my face!

Patrick, I would have paid good money to see the looks on the other parent's faces! Before he could talk, my buddy's son used to point at deer on TV and say "yum, yum" while patting his belly.

[Leo Todeschini]

Flynt Junior wrote

[Sean Flynt]

[William P]

the headof my group has 2 kids ages 2 and3-4 i think, the elder has a wooden version of his fathers rus sabre. and the littler one has a proportionall sized one of the sam, to quoe him 'should be interesting when the younger one gts a year or two older. according to him the older one 'plays with the sword making those movie styleparries n the air etc.
he littler one just brings it straight down in a chop..
and when i isuggested that maybe they should be given a foam sword or something abit less solid. his reponse to my suggestion was something along the lines of saying that the older one willjust have to learn not to get hit. and block properly or something like that.

but as for childs armour. this takes the cake. http://www.talerwin.com/filmandtelevision.htm
http://www.talerwin.com/images/FilmandTVimage...20gear.JPG (the ruler shown is a foot long)

[William P]

[Sean Flynt]

Oh yes, he said, "Look, daddy! I made a rondel dagger!" He'd made one before--months ago--without realizing it was an historical type. I told him it looked like a rondel dagger and showed him examples in Toby Capwell's nice book. He remembered. It's pretty astonishing what a kid this age can remember with only a brief exposure--images, songs, whole books and, for better or worse, words. All part of the species survival game.