Grip Shift Sucks For Kids

I never would have realized without seeing it over and over the past couple of years, but Grip Shift sucks for kids.  It is very hard for many of them to master and makes the shifting a complete mess.  It looks like it has something to do with amount of rotation needed and the smaller size of a kid's hands.  I guess the good is that there are no levers to break off, but I have seen way too many kids mountain bikes with Grip Shift and too many kids who don't shift very often because it is too difficult and/or annoying for them.  That's fucking stupid.