NO DOUBT!! I was showing one of my builds to one of my grown-up friends and he just all of a sudden reaches down to pick it up and before I can say "oh no, no touchie", he pinches the front wheels and snaps them both off. I was flabbergasted. I couldn't believe an adult would do what a 5 year old would do. He didn't even ask if he could touch it, he was just gonna grab it!!
On the original subject though. I have raised both of my boys (6 & 9) around models. They both build and love the hobby and have been bulding since they were 4 (actually, my youngest was 3). I started explaining from day one that these are not toys. They've never even attempted to play with them. They each have about 8 or so done builds each. I put up a shelf in each of their rooms and they even put them in display cases. They know that their models are their models and dad's models are dad's. They will come watch me build when they're not building and they will check out what I've done. But they both know my two big rules......1) Don't ever touch dad's models and 2) Don't ever bump dad when he's at the desk.