[hackerspaces] People in hackerspaces - ages?

[Jan]

On Fri, 17 Jan 2014 09:53:41 -0500
Ben Brown <ben at generik.ca> wrote:

> Traditionally Kwartzlab has allowed kids in the space so long as
> they're supervised by an a parent (we're not a babysitter after all).
> A few months back we decided to lower the unsupervised membership age
> to 16 (we had a couple inquiries from teens), and we now have a
> 17-year old member.
At das Labor e.V. we don't really have a official minimum membership
age[1], and traditionally we only get visitors younger than 16 when we
have a special kids event.
The youngest active members were 16 at the time they found us.
They already had a fair bit of knowledge and supervision was only
necessary to ensure they wouldn't blow up (useful) stuff just for the
fun of it. (I'm exaggerating a wee bit.)

[1] We can't enforce a minimum age; as a non-profit in Germany
we initially have to allow the whole population to become a member.
Initially, because we can always ask to leave, or explain parents why we
can't deal with their 9 year old kids.