not giving others the opportunity to judge our interests
Yesss!! Kids have all different types of crazy schemas and they may start to experiment with them in ways parents may see as "naughty" not actually realizing that doing all this "weird shit" could some day evolve in to something else and something they love because they were never made to feel bad about it. I think all kids (and adults) deserve to develop their interests unjudged.
I didn't realize we were the same age Ned. I hope you are well x