Underaged brewing?

So lately I found that my 15 year old nephew has been clamouring about adult things, subtly hinting at smoking ("man, smoking sure is bad, why do people do it? Well, it's pretty popular so...") and drugs ("So we had a lecture on drugs the other day..."). It seems innocent, and as far as smoking and drugs go I trust in his common sense, but he grew up in my traditional Chinese family seeing gift exchanges of fermented rice, drinking of minute amounts of wine and beer almost daily, and such.

But his dad, which my sister married to, holds a firm belief that he should not touch alcohol ever, despite being an avid, responsible drinker himself. Personally, I don't agree with his view, as driving him off of what is almost a daily sustenance in the adult side of our family would only make him more curious, and having a first alcoholic beverage night out without adult supervision is rather a danger I'd like him to avoid.

So I asked my local homebrew store, and they said a homebrew kit is just sugar in a box and a bucket+carboy with a bunch of tools, so there is no issue with giving them to a minor. I thought I'd give a kit for his birthday coming up, and hopefully teaching him both to enjoy beer responsibly, and teach him a little about working and being patient for a promised fruit of labor.

What are your thoughts on giving a 15 year old boy a beer making kit?

In the US, it is illegal for someone under legal age to make alcoholic beverages. They can possess the ingredients, but once yeast is pitched, it is considered beer and therefore illegal.

Since we don't allow discussions on this forum of illegal activities (and the forum is US based), this thread must be closed.