Teaching children the difference between safe, and unsafe items/practices is all well and good but when you have a 15 year old kid with a sword hanging above his bed its automatically "assumed" to be negligent because... it is.

The perception of what is negligent today and what was considered normal life in the past? In the past it was considered pretty normal to sacrifice people regularly to appease the moon, the sun, the wind etc etc. The point is, just because it was considered normal in the past doesn't mean it wasn't in fact negligent in that time as well. And, if a kid is 15 (and 15 is about right on the edge of "old enough" to be somewhat responsible where the average kid is concerned) it's not unreasonable to have items like swords in the house (as long as they arent in his room, and as long as they are all secure) but in this case there were also a pair of younger kids, who were living in the household. Obviously, if the sword can be knocked off a wall and kill someone it wasnt at all secure regardless of where it was stored unless one of these children has an arm like Steve Montana. These parents dropped the ball, plain and simple. There's risk, then there's stupidity.

Jean Thibodeau wrote:

The problem I see is the perception of what is negligent today and what was considered normal life and common sense in years past: With a firearm or sword it is fairly easy to assume, and maybe wrong, that any casualness in storage is automatically negligence ! And even more when a tragic accident happens. But, lets say one secures one's swords because they are sharp and scary and as attractive as magnets to iron filings when it comes to small kids: But one has a set of razor sharp chef's knives in a block on the kitchen counter ! Or even just steak knives in a drawer: Somehow generations of kids managed to survive sharp objects all around them. Now how about safety and power tools or an axe in the garage for chopping fire wood, large screw drivers, hammers, matches, butane torch and anything else that a kid could misuse or have an accident ! Shouldn't all these be also be behind lock and key ??? If you can't teach a child that these things are dangerous the only option would be to lock up your kids in a padded room and never let them out of their playpen because they will immediately run with scissors as soon as you are not watching ? This doesn't mean that one shouldn't take precautions and err on the side of caution. ( Common sense ) Kid used to be trusted with a pocket knife at very young ages and most made it to adulthood with all their fingers ! Finally, my condolences to the familly. :(

The previous point is what I had hoped would come across.

About a thousand years ago, a 7 year old who was lucky enough began some very basic training with maintenance of swords and combat equipment. With ability and some luck, by age 10, he could expect to be on the field of combat (John of Gaunt, the Black Prince's younger brother is a perfect example.)


On some of my own birthdays my father gave me a BB gun when I was 7 years old, and a 20 gauge shotgun when I was 10. For an additional contrast, my father was using a gun to put meat on the table for dinner when he was age 10, and running and repairing farm tractors for pay by age 12.

I fear we may be "unevolving" as a species when it comes to expectations for what our young are capable of achieving, and what we are willing to help them attempt.

I think it's a question of a balance between trying to lock away any possible danger and the other extreme of turning your house into minefield.

If the sword was just hanging from a nail over a bed it does seem like a case of being very negligent or simply not thinking in advance about what could go wrong.

Everybody's situation is different: With very small kids you can't leave anything dangerous within easy reach.
If you have no kids and no friends with small kid likely to visit the degree of care would be different.

But a baldly secured sharp sword or swords on a wall over one's bed in earthquake country, you wouldn't need to have kids for an accident to happen. ( Again a comment not related to this case. )

I just wanted to make the point that no matter how careful one can try to be we are surrounded by dangerous objects we don't perceive as a hazard because they are so familiar as to be invisible i.e. The butcher knives on the kitchen counter example.

There is just a tendency to want to legislate all things dangerous away to the point of it becoming neurotic.

One example I heard recently: A warning on a jar of peanuts that said " This product may contain nuts ".

( Oh, I don't want to be insensitive about this specific tragic incident as I am talking more about the subject of safety in general and how society deals with the subject in both sensible ways or overreacts in less sensible ways: I'm not saying I'm right, I'm just bringing some ideas forward for discussion. )

There could also be the case that the notches that hold in the swords, could be useless if the sword blade is hit from the perfect angle to knock it out of its holder. if you knock the blade near the tip it will send the tip plummeting toward the ground thanks to gravity. This may have happened and the kid was sitting underneath.

This is indeed a horrific tragedy and I hope the parents lives are not ruined by guilt. It's quite obvious that all proper safety conditions should be exercised and to fail to do so is neglegent. However, being over protective is also neglegent, as when kids are over protected they will be ill prepared for life on life's conditions when they are adults.
Swords are a responsibility and it sure sounds like this sword was not mounted at all in a safe manner and a freak accident happened under irresponsible chaos of kids playing resulting in the sad death of a 15 year old boy.

Very tragic!

Bob