What do your kids see?

I always let my son sit and listen with me, even when he was a baby. He learned to operate the equipment not long after he could walk. I never told him "no," instead I showed him how everything worked and helped him.

The only off limits thing was the electrical outlets and the cables running to them. One day he crawled over to one of my dedicated lines and stared at the outlet. I crawled over beside him like a giant child and stared too. He looked at me and began to laugh ( I can still see his face in my mind !) I pointed at the wall covering near the outlet and calmly said, "cold." He smiled. Then I pointed to the openings leading inside the outlet and said. "Hot." He immediately drew his hands back to his chest, the same pose he made when he thought his dinner was too hot.

May sound silly, but they are smarter than you imagine. Just get them to understand with a little patience and love and they will not only learn, they will help you later on.

Last week he paused his computer game to help me move my new Soundlabs. For those unfamiliar with teenage boys passion for computers, you cannot fully appreciate this situation.

My eldest girl as a toddler (she's now nine), stood up on my speaker wire like it was a tightrope. The monitor ended up crashing into the amp. I found myself instinctively concerned for her, which gave me good news about myself. She wasn't hurt and as it turned out only the speaker was scratched.
My other daughter liked to mimic her daddy changing records. She twice grabbed and broke the cantelever off cartridges. That cost me some money, but she's the one that gets out of bed and cuddles with her daddy when he's listening late at night...priceless!

I have a little one that has just turned three and he has figured out how to turn my amp and pre-amp on and off. I guess that I am lucky that I have a room soley for my audio gear. Once I saw that he was starting to get curious about daddy's toys, I changed the door knob to one with a lock on it. This way I don't have to worry about me turning my back and him running into my room.
He has most recently figured out how to operate the dvd player and reciever, which are in the living room. I haven't quite figured out some form of deterrance for that yet. If/when I do, I'll let you know. Also, if you think you kid is bad now, just wait, it gets worse!!!!

My second born son, now 6, loves the home theater rig, and rarely touches components. Due to the difficulty of a (multi-component, multi-format, multi-function) system that even boggles me sometimes when the remote gets stabbed at blindly in the dark, he doesn't mess with the remotes or the manaul controls on the units themselves. Although he DOES know how to manually switch video inputs on the TV and video processor. He's seen me do that enough times.

He's got his own TV/VCR in his bedroom, and he's got that remote mastered.

I have no qualms about quality time spent listening to, and enjoying music with him. He doesn't have the critical ear that I do, but he does listen to the lyrics, often repeating what he heard hours later.

TV/movie time is monitored vs. "hands on" recreation (puzzles; skill-building; problem-solving, etc.). I just hope he learns, either thru example or life experience, that he has to work for the toys. Too many kids these days are living with their parents 'til their mid-30's and beyond. Anything resembling a job is just for "play money", not survival funds.

He has great respect for the "boundaries" and ownership issues surrounding the equipment. I don't play with his toys. He doesn't play with mine. He lives with his mother, and spends 2 nights a week with me. But considering the circumstances, all is good.

I think the worst example to set for a child is unhealthy habits: Smoking, abuse, drinking, drug use, multiple partners, welfare slouching, poor hygiene, junk food, etc...

Hifi is a worthy, intelligent, harmless obsession (providing you can AFFORD it). Some can take it or leave it. Nobody gets hurt. And it's great mental stimulation!--

"My name is David, and I'm addicted to hifi".

Teach your children well....
David.

I like your approach, Albert. And I would bet that you were happy to have the help with the Soundlabs . . .