The question is not as much shelf life, as whether you want your kids to be builders or consumers.
Should they learn to drive a car or repair a car.
Etc.
Putting air in the tires is on the level of charging the battery.
But messing with drivers and config files and antivirus and RAM - that's not being creative or productive, that's being used by the machine instead of using the machine.
No specialist knowledge should be needed to use a computer, and thankfully Apple is providing that experience for people who are interested in what the computer can do for them. I remember when hardware had to be configured with COM ports and whatnot. Networks had to be configured with gateways and masks and whatnot. What a nightmare.
If you’re a developer and can’t diagnose a broken Ethernet port on the dock for your MacBook, I’m (perhaps silently) disappointed in you.