In terms of keeping him safe online look into some content filtering for the whole home network, either paid or self-hosted.

Projects that act upon physical stuff are the most rewarding. Something simple such as building a simple Python script that interacts with a smart home API and turns switches on/off or changes light colors around the house are relatively simple and require no hardware/mechanics if you’re not into robotics, soldering or circuit boards.

You’ve got a great kid :)

Sorry, I laughed harder than I should have just imagining the whole thing.

Thank you for telling your story, I’ll think about your rachet strap whenever I remember about my Coke can and that will definitely provide some comfort knowing there’s just some crazy nonsensical people out there.

I once got my window crashed to steal my radio plus a warm can of Coke I had in case of a long drive sleepiness emergency. The radio I get it, but the warm Coke… dunno why but I still think about it decades later.