I've seen young kids grind their tires down to the strings... Then only get a flat once the tube starts showing.

Perhaps a couple of flat repairs in the middle.

But, as mentioned above, they're typically only riding short distances around their house, and hopefully exposed to less road glass. The rear tire wears down due to skidding, of course. Remind them not to skid, and 5 minutes later, they're skidding again.

I think a 50 pound rider on low pressure fat tires would also be less prone to flats than a 200 pound rider on high pressure skinny tires.

From 1982 to about 1990, I was riding sewups. Many were "rescued" ex-racing tires that I got already flat. And, I'll say that over those years, I patched a LOT of sewups.

Then a few clinchers, and I was still getting flats.

I remember begging for kevlar belted tires 15 years ago, and only finding kevlar beaded tires.

It has just been recently that I've been able to find good puncture resistant tires. Still a few flats, but they're kept within reason.

Oh, those 27 x 1 1/4 tires of old were big, heavy, and slow.