[FundThrowaway]

"Don't push buttons if you don't know what they do!"

That statement makes me a little sad, it's pretty much the exact opposite of the way I was brought up and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be where I am without the freedom of curiosity I was given at home. The general rule was if it's not going to kill me or maim me then I could have it.

[jplayer01]

Uh, I'm sad for people who think you have to break things or press random buttons in order to figure out what it does. Like the people in stores who press buttons and then wonder why the police is knocking with a full SWAT team. Documentation exists. The resources exist to inform yourself if you're actually curious. Emphasize the need to satiate that curiosity, but there are ways to do it without being an idiot.

[mcv]

I generally agree with this, which makes the existence of buttons that do kill (you, someone else, or an expensive device) a problem.

I did have to teach my toddler not to press the power button of the PC while I was working. What kind of idiot puts a led in a power button?! Of course children will push that. Clearly PCs need to be put as high up as possible, to keep them out of reach of children.

[Piskvorrr]

Gave up on that and taped the button over with black tape. No longer lit up, no longer pushable, not interesting to toddler.

[tempestn]

Interesting, got a couple responses in this vein. I can certainly see how my initial post would give the impression of not allowing exploration. I certainly encourage them to explore the world, learn about things, and figure out what things do. They can of course also ask what things do. I don't think you need to have wide open freedom to try anything to explore though; part of learning to navigate the world is to develop an understanding of what sort of experimentation is safe and prudent, and in what cases learning should be done first. IE: experiment with sandpaper on a fallen branch or scrap lumber, great. Experiment on the kitchen table, not great; potentially expensive.

Likewise, regarding button pushing specifically—say a kid happens to get their hands on a power tool—I don't want them experimenting with it to see how it works; I want them to ask me, and I'll show them how it's used safely. (And if using it safely is within their capabilities, I'll let them try it, or help them to try it.) There are many other similar cases where blindly pushing a button or flicking a switch could be at best inconvenient or expensive, and at worst dangerous. (And of course many more where it would be innocuous.) By teaching kids to differentiate between these, and not to take actions without thinking through the consequences, you can then give them more freedom to explore, confident that they are unlikely to take dangerous or destructive actions out of ignorance.

So yeah, I'm not teaching my kids to never experiment with anything. I'm teaching them to first think about what could happen. In many cases it's obvious, even to a four year old, that experimenting with something couldn't hurt anyone, and is unlikely to damage anything. (And in your example, "if it's not going to kill or maim me, then I could have it," it's implied that someone has already vetted "it" for you, in which case again you know it's safe.) In other cases they might not be sure, in which case it's better to ask (or for older kids, study) than to just blindly try it.