Man, if that were how it worked I know a few lawyers who would immediately send out friend requests to certain judges. "Wait, I never have to deal with _____ again? SCORE!"

I keep hearing about awesome revolutionary inventions that are cheap, flexible, and tiny. Super efficient solar panels, screens, memory, everything.

And yet, somehow, years pass and I never see them actually used in consumer electronics.

Obviously that's not always the case. E-Ink is something I would have put into that category had it never materialized, for example. But in a general sense I just have trouble getting excited these days.

That example was based off of (but was not exactly) an actual event. In the real case I can't swear it was diesel, just that it was a fuel of some sort and the jug was nearly empty - my understanding is that the fumes caused the boom. Also, in the real case the kid didn't lose a hand - though I was told there was permanent damage to it in some way. Not sure if that means he lost the tip of a finger, or lost some sensation due to burn scars or what.

I agree with nearly everything you said, except the part where you said I was wrong. We agree for the most part, clearly - I'm just saying that there are situations where, no matter how well you have educated your kid, they will make a really bad choice. Some of this puts them in physical harm (I'm picturing my brother climbing over the railing at the GRAND CANYON so he could get a better look at the massive drop - yeah, that happened) and others are more about emotions and psychology... humans are wired very strangely when it comes to sex. I'm all on board with the whole "it's natural, etc." talk and I don't want it to be a taboo - but I don't think it's censorship to do my best to prevent a five year old from watching that "two girls one cup" video everyone on YouTube is talking about. I honestly believe that can do actual lasting damage. So that's the line you have to draw, and everyone will draw it differently. Education, yes. Understanding, yes. Maturity, sure. But kids can't decide what they're ready for - that's the job of a parent - and so sometimes you have to protect them from it. There are mistakes you learn from, and mistakes you never recover from.

For what it's worth, the kid (now nearly thirteen) seems to be spectacularly well-balanced and we've reached a point where we don't worry about letting her do whatever it is she does online - and for things that are omnipresent but still... distateful... we just don't make our opinions or the reasoning for those opinions secret.

Obviously YMMV, but virtually all of the kids I've met (including myself when I was one, and the many many kids I worked with as a counselor at a summer camp) were stupid.

For example, if you were to ask one "What would happen if you put a fire cracker in a container used for diesel fuel?" they would be able to access the information they had absorbed and correctly tell you that it would explode, injuring anyone stupid enough to do such a thing.

If, however, you don't ask them what would happen but instead just leave them alone with the firecracker, the match, and the jug of fuel... they'll lose a hand.

Kids are stupid not due to ignorance or lack of information, but because they take longer than a lot of people realize to develop the ability to think ahead and make good decisions. That's why you can so often hear people say, "Why would you do that? YOU KNOW BETTER!" Yes, they do, but they're stupid.

Because kids are stupid. Really, really stupid. Left to their own devices, kids would get themselves killed at an impressive rate. I agree with you that it's good to "teach them how to deal with things they may not understand, and educate them on what you don't like and why you don't like it". Absolutely. But that doesn't take the place of stepping in and trying to prevent them from doing things that you feel are physically, mentally, or emotionally bad for them.

I'm not for a second saying that parents shouldn't take responsibility, but I have to say I've been humbled somewhat in this area and do think that whenever possible people should help parents do this by giving them the tools they need.

Not too long ago my house gained an eleven year old. Before that I just rolled my eyes and said "Parents need to just keep track of what the kids are watching" ... once she was there I suddenly became aware of just how hard that is. The commercials that play during otherwise acceptable shows, for example - not to mention all the problems with knowing what is and is not possible in an online game.

I don't want to see things censored, but I welcome voluntary attempts to make the colossal task of monitoring easier for parents.

You don't want to know how expensive the toner is.

You also don't want to know how gorey the remake of Office Space will be.

Pssst! You probably meant QUADriplegic. Generally speaking, paraplegics can catch basketballs just fine.

Wait... an anal rape joke gets modded Informative"? Makes you wonder what "Insightful" is.

Also, [ontopic] Google. [/ontopic]

Absolutely. I would look at it, decide it was parody, and take one of two actions depending on the circumstances:

1. Ignore it entirely, hoping that without any attention it will go away (and knowing that any attention I give it is still serving it)

2. Publicly laugh about it and act like a good sport (if I think people are going to see it either way) so that I'm at least seen as someone who can take a joke.

Looks like someone has been watching The Dark Knight.

Hooray, Batman science!