css active selector exception for a child element

I have a div with both hover and active selector effects, this div contains a child little div which contains some buttons

now -of course- when the div is clicked, the active effect will be triggered, but also when one of the buttons is clicked the same thing happens, which is what I don't want, (it feels like the guest has clicked both the button and the div, very annoying)

what I want, is to exclude the inner div from triggering the active effect of its parent when its clicked, is it possible ?

(I don't mind using js or jquery)

thank you .