Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by nemo44x 1433 days ago
Yeah, I don't think we're giving kids saws and nails to play with.

Saying that where I grew up there were a lot of homes being built so there were piles of scrap wood, etc all over and we'd raid them and build forts using saws and nails from our dads' workshops. So maybe we are overprotective today.

2 comments

The nice thing about such basic hand tools is that you usually get to learn from mistakes without permanent consequences. Will a child hurt themselves at least once with a saw and a hammer? Probably. Will they seriously hurt themselves? Probably not. Will they learn to not hurt themselves? Almost certainly.

I also don't remember how exactly supervision works, but it definitely isn't just dumping a bunch of kids at some unattended construction site. Parents and/or the team managing the place are at the very least nearby.

We crafted wooden swords and then fought with them. Worst we ever got was some stinging fingers or a bruise.