Please, DON'T TOUCH

My wife and I now life in a child free zone. After several bummer incounters with various friend's kids, we now no longer welcome most of them at our home.

It is unfortunate, but most parents are used to their children and accept their behaviour. In a new enviornment, behaviour that is cool at home may be disruptive, destructive or even dangerous.

We have had a 6 year old start a tractor and an eleven year old drive a golf cart into a pond. Over the years, kids have destroyed art, stolen money, colthing, jewerly and collectables, broken heirlooms, hurt our pets and defaced our home and its furnishings.

Most of our friends understand and accept our rules. A majority even like haveing a place to visit without their kids.

You can take the risk, but I can tell you that it will destroy your friendship if a kid ruins your stuff.

I want to thank everyone for all of their insight! I am not in the financial position to absorb the cost of repair or replacement. I'm going to follow some of your advice and dismantle the system entirely for 1 week. That way, nothing gets damaged and I won't offend anyone. This will also allow me to clean IC's, the rack, etc. when I reassemble the system.

Thanks again!

Portugal ... I think a very good move.

After reading the thread I agree with Bombaywalla's statement that as a society we are wedded too closely to our posessions.

Hey Portugal11, another positive in the dis-assemble and re-assemble of a system is that it affords a great opportunity. To clean all connections and re-arrange cables and etc. And Bombaywalla we in the western world also shamefully share a sense of humor and do not judge an entire social hemisphere by what we read on a website forum.

Theo, Chadlinz,

I have lived in Germany, my home country & now the USA. Spent a -l-o-t- of time in Western Europe. If I add up the years spent in the Western world & in my home country, it works out to be a 50-50 split. With that experience in mind, I wrote my original comment. I did not pass my comments by merely reading "what we read on a website forum".
The suggestions made by people here are EXACTLY what I wrote in my original post. It mirrors the society at-large even tho the sample in this thread is really very small.
FWIW.