> no chance of burning where I work, they let children work with soldering irons too, and at first I very much wondered about the safety of this. turns out, s

> no chance of burning where I work, they let children work with soldering irons too, and at first I very much wondered about the safety of this. turns out, soldering irons aren't all that hot to do serious damage[0]. the worst they can generally do is a minor first-degree[1] burn wound and a seriously valuable learning experience. what remains is a chance of fire hazard if they forget to switch things off. this obviously is a parent/teacher's responsibility. (btw I agree with your general point, this is just an addition, from experience) [0] unless you poke them in the eye, but there are a lot of objects you shouldn't poke in someone's eye. [1] it takes some effort to get a second degree burn from a soldering iron, it can be done in theory, by accident, I've never seen it.