Spooled -

"I would fly for free if I could,"

It's a saying. Give him a break.
Maybe you haven't had a flying job that you love so much and then are taken away from it from an extended period of time.
Maybe sitting in the car watching the planes fly over and wishing that you could be up there.
Some of us have a certain passion for flying and there are certainly times that I have been sitting on the sidelines and thought that I would do **anything** to fly again. I'm sure that once he gets his first break and gets to be a paid pilot that he will see how things work and will fall into line with the standard way of thinking.
Until then - like many of us did - let him dream about being a pilot and getting that first foot in the door.

USMCFLYR