I convinced my family to sign some papers so I could get a "real job" around the age of 12, working at my middle school, and doing computer repair for complete strangers as a teen just to save up for software. That included Borland C++, which cost considerably more than Turbo C++.

As an added benefit, my family knew that I was keeping out of trouble. There's not much trouble you can get into when you're going to school, working, or sitting in front of a computer (at least in the pre-online era).