I fully agree with this. My son and nephew wanted me to buy them Bedrock edition, I looked at that shit with the Marketplace and the Ads, and the Coins and was like 'No way, this is not suitable for children" and I got them the Java edition instead, and guess what. When they learned about mods and being able to go back to other versions they immediately loved the Java version.

They loved it so much that when they did finally play Bedrock with their friends they hated it because it is buggy and built poorly and asks them to buy stuff often.

You should not buy your kids games with predatory micro-transactions, just like you would not buy them violent or sexual games. I would say they damage developing minds just the same, and maybe more in some ways. You can't keep it from them forever obviously but if you train them in the formative years you can help them help themselves later on.