Comment by strken
2 days ago
My woodworking teacher in highschool was missing two fingers on his right hand. I don't think anyone is 100% safe around tools, child or adult, educated or otherwise. Life's about risks and how you manage them.
Which is not to say that kids can't be trusted to use tools! It's just that they're probably more vulnerable to overconfidence and complacency than adults, who are by no means safe from these things themselves, so it's probably better to let them cut themselves once or twice on a sharp knife before you let them use something with more permanent consequences, like a bandsaw.
In my observations the most overconfident and complacent tool users are the ones with the most experience, not the least. But perhaps it depends on the kid.
I probably stated that the wrong way. I think kids are more prone to overconfidence at any given skill level than adults, and checking in on them helps reduce the risk. It also helps for adults, but we're mostly not responsible for what adults do.