I guess it is not so much an age but attitude and skill set.
It depends on the individual.
My Dad let me take a buck at 13 and I never showed interest again. I just liked the machete and trying to copy him packing the Adler lengths on my shoulder. One time I was out with older friends.. which had older friends and mentioned a chainsaw was used so then then they freaked out and said he better not find out I was using the saw and he doesn't think they should be using the saw either. My grumps were pretty concerned.
I would have been 17 when I was taking on clean up work after Fallers. I was definitely man enough as I had already threw down against my Dad at 17.
Everything still comes with a parental guidance. I still get the Dad lectures and still get the Mum lectures.
I was staying with my parents on Vancouver Island between shifts on my week off whilst Heli-Falling back a few yrs. I was on the straight and narrow once again and wasn't visiting anyone just hanging out with the parents and not drinking for some time. I'm ready to go back to camp and my Mum said: As she has said for yrs,
" I want you to be very, very careful out there" You know, as she wags the finger my way.
Then she said.."And you know what I mean now don't you"?
My response was " yes, I know, I wont"
So she is talking about having a drink. which I was never a camp drinker anyways.
My follow up response was: "Mum!!! Do you even know what I do for a living"?
I would drive like a bat out of h-ll for 5 hours and then take a float plane up the Pacific rim for an hour and then go do the most dangerous job in North American.
Lots of people parked their truck and never saw pavement again.
That still kind of blows me away that she was most worried about but they trust me that I take my safety seriously even after fatalities on the crew.
They didn't change but I leaned to take my time and think of others that never got to drive home. l learnt to drive slow and take it all in and take time to smell the flowers on the way.
IDK, maybe you should just break his nose and let him know you care? Maybe I'm not the best person to advise though.