I had great luck with Anycubic as my first printer... If you want to have a larger variety of materials available I recommend a printer with an enclosure (depending on the age of your kid, it's a bit safer too?)
I will try I haven't used them recently but a friend of mine uses a Kobra 4 which produces prints very close in quality to my X1Carbon (I know...). That one has no enclosure, but the Kobra 3 is still available for even less if you really just want to see if the hobby takes hold.
They have a Kobra S1 which seems like a decent option but I haven't done any research.
My personal advice would be to not skimp too much on cost... Trying to stick with my older hardware nearly killed the hobby for me since everyone around me was printing higher quality it a quarter of the time....
Freeze dryers are much less useful day-to-day so the market is much smaller which won't really drive much of a scaling up of production like happened for microwaves I imagine
Can't speak first hand but someone I know has it. Medication and some lifestyle changes keep it manageable for them. I don't mean to lighten the weight of it too much, but I wish you the best.
I never understood how me preferring to look at a female figure while playing a game was ever something to question...