Your children vs your PM collection.

[BlackPearl2006]

I bring my kids with me when I shop for myself them and they help me pick out new stuff.

Both my son and my daughter as well as a family friend's daughter who comes over quite alot play with the the victorian and pirate playmobil stuff.  I'm not afraid of anyone breaking anything, just losing parts, especially wrist cuffs from klickies that are notorious for falling off even under adult care (so I have hot-glued most of my wrist cuffs directly to the klickies).  Other than that, I do have to forego any diaramas I had arranged in just the right way if they play with it and "mess" it up.  But I don't mind because it just gives me excuse to set up new ones.

The only "restricted" playmobil I have are the customized ships which usually stay up on the shelves away from less-careful hands when I can't supervise closely, but I do let my son play with the custom ships under strict supervision. He is 4, but usually knows to treat the custom ships with a special care compared to the stock factory ships.

[cowabounga]

Hey! Nice interesting topic!
I have three kids, the eldest boy is 8, the other ones are "Irish twins": an almost 3 y-o boy and a 14 months-old girl. I still buy one figure of every new special for my eldest, and more for me. I bought 20 Mongol warriors, kept 19 for me!
The second boy just doesn't care about playmos but he does sometimes throw them into the paper bin! I always need to check the bin before I empty it. My daughter likes to open my drawers and take all my new figures out. The klickies I most care about are on the shelf above my playmo desk and they can't reach them. My eldest son played with his playmos until the DS came (Not that DS! The Nintendo DS!), now he doesn't play so much with it. The other boy knows that the toys on the desk are "à Papa" (Daddy's), and whenever my daughter wants one I always the same big belly figure without its hair and she's happy with it.
Kids are OK, Bolingbroke, and they're the real goal of life, BUT, careful with others'kids!!! They're the real danger, pure evil possibly, and they need to be kept far far away from your collection!
Cheers,
Arnaud