I told him ... 'Bite your tongue!'

I too am a single mother with a young adult son who I had to confiscate knives from.

I had to take away only two, but I did not argue with him. I sat him down and talked about it. He said he wanted to be able to protect himself because he was teased sometimes too. However, I explained to him that although we don't always know when people may want to harm us, we must be prepared to take responsibility for our actions.

I told him that if in protecting himself he was killed, I would lose and if he killed the person, I would still lose. I made him understand that when we have weapons, we are less likely to walk away from simple arguments.

I taught him to bite his tongue and walk away because although words can be hurtful, a stab, cut, chop, thump or a gunshot wound hurts even more and can be fatal. He still gets angry sometimes and I am still trying to make him understand to take it easy, but talking is key.