There have been a couple of articles in the news about Angelina taking her eldest son knife and dagger shopping at specialist shops.

She maintains that it's in order to educate him in defending himself and that he has a fascination with knives now.

Apparently she was taken knife shopping by her dad or grandparents when she was 11.

Anyone else thing this is totally wrong?

First off the kids doesn't need to know about defense as lets face it there's never going to be less that 2 bodyguards around him and secondly knives aren't the way to go. Ever. Especially in the US. Knife does NOT beat gun.

Send her a message and tell her to go out and buy a gun for him then

I always wanted knives and guns when I was a kid.
Remember my dad showing me how to shoot his rifle when I was a year old (he used to teach English to farmers kids at a residential school, but was ex army and taught them how to shoot too).
I was never allowed to have knives or guns though.
I only found out after he died, that he had been shooting crows in one of the fields and a bullet had ricocheted off a tree and killed our family dog 'Rastus'.
Tragic though the story may be, I wonder if that's why he wanted to keep me away from dangerous things.

So, I don't see why AJ's kid shouldn't have knives.
Sometimes the best way to learn a lesson is the hard way?

Su Lin wrote:
Send her a message and tell her to go out and buy a gun for him then

Now Now Su Lin thats just being silly

mule wrote:
So, I don't see why AJ's kid shouldn't have knives.
Sometimes the best way to learn a lesson is the hard way?

Is it not illegal in America to carry knives around? Especially when you're 8? Also if she's going on at him about defending the weak and vunerable, theres a slight chance he'll see someone being picked on at school and stab the bully death. Slim chance i know but still.

I hope she's also teaching him about responsibility.

I just think it's wrong to give an 8 year old a deadly weapon and tell them to use it to defend themselves.

Then again Celebrities are a weird bunch

As a kid of 8 or 9 I owned a few tiny penknifes - which admittedly I mostly used to whittle bits of tree into pointy sticks - no idea why, but it was great fun. Can't say I ever thought of it as a weapon at all really, I liked to carry it around, but it was all more in the nature of girl guidey, campfirey, be prepared(y) sorta usefulness than stabby in the backy badness. I would never have dreamed of hurting anyone with it!

I say let him have knives, so long as he's given the right idea about owning and respecting them.

i had knives, i still have knives, hell , i even have the odd sword or two anf a bayonet, and i own a Semi automatic pistol and a scoped rifle.....

and am a big cuddley puddytat.

It isn't so much about the knife...it is about the parents and the child.

My son was raised in a rural location and has a swiss army knife from a young age...to whittle wood and generally amuse himself making things. He was however, strictly brought up to respect tools (including knives) and to use them for their given purpose.

The only blood that he ever shed was when he first had it and cut the top of his finger shutting the large blade away. Which served to heighten his respect for it.

Sadly, a lot of children are raised with no discipline, structure or the knowledge that actions can have consequences.

tomprice2k wrote:
mule wrote:
So, I don't see why AJ's kid shouldn't have knives.
Sometimes the best way to learn a lesson is the hard way?

Is it not illegal in America to carry knives around? Especially when you're 8? Also if she's going on at him about defending the weak and vunerable, theres a slight chance he'll see someone being picked on at school and stab the bully death. Slim chance i know but still.

I hope she's also teaching him about responsibility.

I just think it's wrong to give an 8 year old a deadly weapon and tell them to use it to defend themselves.

Then again Celebrities are a weird bunch

No its not illegal to carry a knife around, even if you are 8. Schools make it policy that they are not allowed in/on the premises. Also I don't understand the automatic negative thought process. Angelina stated she was around knives since 11. Guess what those of us brought up around guns and knive do actually teach safety and responsibility to our children when we expose them to the material, just as we were.

Besides what makes a child less responsible than some of the moronic adult population that activly kills people in my country? Age, pure and simple is not a judgement factor to test responsibility. Behavior and performance are the judgement for responsibility.

Morally it's not exactly sitting well.
Practically, hmm so long as education is adaquate it may be good for them to some degree.

I also had knives when I was young, I never cut myself or anyone else, I like paris used to carve sticks and things. Curious kiddies may aswell learn about knifes and things, I mean it would be nice if we wasn't curious about weapons and that all weapons disappeared and no one killed anyone etc but thats not whats reality sadly.

So long as she doesn't let him run around with some big ass knife and the child is supervised when using a knife, then I suppose its OK practically....

Personally I wouldn't let my kids (if I had any) or junior students handle dangerous weapons like that. But maybe she's only showing him knifes, or just getting a little blunt blade to examine rather than some double edged ninja blade of doom!

mprowe wrote:


No its not illegal to carry a knife around, even if you are 8. Schools make it policy that they are not allowed in/on the premises. Also I don't understand the automatic negative thought process. Angelina stated she was around knives since 11. Guess what those of us brought up around guns and knive do actually teach safety and responsibility to our children when we expose them to the material, just as we were.

Besides what makes a child less responsible than some of the moronic adult population that activly kills people in my country? Age, pure and simple is not a judgement factor to test responsibility. Behavior and performance are the judgement for responsibility.

Sorry i'm from the UK so here it is illegal.

I also had a pen knife as a child as i was from a rural area, i have no issue with that at all. What i do have an issue with is the fact Dagger was mentioned. No one needs a dagger unless they use it as a stabbing weapon.

It also doesn't sit quite right that she's using it to teach him about using it to defend himself and others.

Saying that i've just been reading about how she talks to her kids and explains the difference between the action movies she does and the real world violence so perhaps its just part of that education.

Also you just can't trust the media to tell a story straight and they may have twisted it slightly.