Oh sure, I see it all the time. You just have to be aware of when your kid likes doing something because they’re hanging out with you and when they actually like doing something. My point with the blowtorch was that I didn’t have an acetylene torch, but if they show interest in the closest thing I have to it I’m going to let them use it.
You should let that kid come over to your place and help you cook. Or get that dad some Alton Brown cookbooks to help them get started. My kid likes to draw. For hours. So we supply them with crayons and reams of paper. You just have to encourage what they want to do within limits (No, you can’t stay up late and eat all the candy), and one of the limits can be screen time, either the internet, phones, or television.
A lot of parenting can be summed up by the words Pay Attention. Don’t be on your phone when your kids want to hang out at the playground. If they’re interested in something, learn along with them. You’re not molding them, you’re finding out what interests them and encouraging that. You’re fertilizing the random weird growth the plant wants to make instead of trimming it to the perfect little bonsai. When it turns out to be a pretty awesome bush in the shape of a lion instead of the dolphin you wanted to make you just have to accept you have a bush shaped like a lion in your yard.
I’ve always asserted that children are like birdseed. Toss it out on the lawn
and eager birds pick it up and fly away. Birds gotta eat and
most children enjoy the company of birds. So it’s win-win.
I’m only an Honorary Uncle (which means my job is to keep the kid safe but otherwise I’m allowed to spoil him rotten). So my opinion counts for absolutely nothing.
But I’m a firm believer that kids should be encouraged to try things once they’re mature/large/whatever enough to try them safely. With supervision by all means, but if they’re interested then there’s absolutely no reason they shouldn’t have their own tools… preferably tools chosen to fit their current size and strength, but of high enough quality to facilitate rather than obstruct the tasks at hand… Dexterity, and strength, both develop with time and practice. (Not necessarily linerarly with either; I was one of those with late-developing fine motor skills.)
I’d also point out that even for adults, there’s no reason a tool can’t have a silly shape or color as long as that doesn’t interfere with its purpose. Please remember not to confuse solemn (which is a pose) and serious (which is an attitude); there is absolutely no requirement that either be accompanied by the other, and they often diverge.
I actually have wanted to give my kid a blowtorch for the longest time. She is a natural sculptor. Sadly, my grownup friend who actually blowtorches sculptures very nicely felt that 17 was the lower age limit.
Possible solution: Have kid hang out with sculpture friend more often. Kid might prove they can use it under supervision at a lower age. And kid gets a mentor. Pay friend in cookies or actual money for their workshop time.
