Children and A/V Equipment

not much you can do - i have 4 kids and with av equip located at their height where they can see it with nothing to block them from access they will be drawn to the buttons and lights. maybe you could get some fabric to block the equip to act as a visual barrier. our equip is behind floating walls so that was not an issue for us but i used to have the covers off my speakers and my younger kids were drawn to them and love putting toys inside - while i liked the look of the speakers i replaced the covers and solved the issue as they have never bother them again.

After convincing my child that there is nothing scary living in the closet or under their bed, I just convinced them Dad captured all those scary monsters and moved them down into that cabinet with the glowing lights and buttons.

In my opinion, it basically boils down to what you are willing to do to prevent your child from touching your gear. My kids are now 5 and 3. My gear has always been out in the open, and I've never had an issue with either of them touching anything. When my wife and I decided to have kids, I made it clear that my gear is off limits. As such, we've instilled in both kids the same notion from day 1. Children have to be taught what areas of the house they can play in, and what areas are off limits. Don't get me wrong, we all enjoy TV and movie time together as a family. However, it is I (daddy) that controls the equipment. My wife is next in line when I'm not home. She uses the universal remote to turn everything on, tune to a channel and then sets it back in its base. Now that my kids are getting a bit older, and a bit more responsible, I sometime allow them to use the remote to shut everything off (it's one button). In summary, work out a game plan with your spouse and start building the foundation that teaches your kids to respect your gear.