Waynes view seems to be "normal" to me.

Reed and Shanley, you are special persons and you found this place to share your hobby,
where is no difference if you are 14 or 104 when you share your experiences (and PHOTOS)

To all those how started at about ten years of age,
are you sure you had no parental guidence?

Maybe it was hard to get permissions...
Maybe family holidays were planed with hidden meanings...
Maybe there were a lot of friendly questions about you critters...

There are a lot of ways hidden guidance can be performed.

BTW: my nephew got a garter snake when he was twelve.
He bought a book, watched, my keeping, and had to fight hard for his wish,
all before permission to require the snake,
but it took less than a year and the snake went back to me