This is an idea that originated in Japan.
At the time they were looking at some of the children that were tasked with hard labor.
The theory was that hard labor injured the kid’s growth plates.
However, correlation does not imply causation. Their theory was actually incorrect.
The lack of height was due to the fact that they were undernourished at the time.
Weightlifting has actually been shown to be beneficial for bone formation and growth as long as it is done correctly!
Feel free to teach the youth how to train and lift weights.
Just make sure they are supervised and do it correctly!