And how do you teach children to do it properly if it don't let the children try under your supervision? Do these dangers miraculously disappear because you're an adult?

Actually, it is illegal to do in the state of Maryland, and a warning is supposed to be posted on each gas pump, warning that only adults should pump gas.

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By adult do you mean over the age of 18? If that is the case then 16-17 year olds can drive cars, but not put gas in the cars? That doesn't make sense. What's more dangerous driving or pumping gas?

I still remember when I was 16 with my driver's license, and pulling into the gas station for the first time to fill my tank. No one had ever showed me how to do it. It may seem intuitive to those of us who have done it thousands of times now, but I distinctly recall the feeling of being lost as to what to do. I finally asked a man at another pump to show me how. He kindly did, but I still wondered how I got my license, and a car, without ever knowing how to pump gas. I don't know what Maryland law means by "adult", but I know I will be teaching my children to (safely) pump gas by themselves before I send them out driving by themselves.