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> Another story I love: when he was 12, my son and his friends found bottle of vodka in the schoolyard. Being 12 year old boys they did the obvious: filled on of the kids' sneakers with the vodka and set fire to it in the schoolyard. Apparently the math teacher walked by and called out "Boys! Class is in 5 minutes!"

I thought the obvious would be that they drank it :D

for twelve year olds it just tastes foul.

Which is just another way to show your group how tough you are. By consumption, unfortunately.

Is that different for 20 year olds?

What's age-appropriate? The nails were too big to swallow and the hot glue guns the kind they sell at CVS. The kids cut and poked themselves and learned to be careful.

Yup, mostly that. Nobody lost a hand or was rushed to the burn ward.

Im no safety nut, but welding? What type? I wouldnt let a full grown adult use one unsupervised without training. Depending on the form of welding one can do real damage very quickly. Not bumps and bruises. Im talking missing fingers and eyeballs. Or was this propane-powered soldering rather than melting steel?

Can't speak for any GP/OP but I learned simple welding with 12 when my father built a new grid for the berries in our garden to grow, spot welded a few steel grids together (about 8mm thick). Of course my father watched the first 10 tries or so but after he was sure I would be able to handle it he would go do other things and only occasionally check back to make sure I didn't spontaneously die.