lillypad

If you have a separate room to put your trainer in, just put it there and close the door and you won't have children problems. I began riding indoor trainers back in the days when they had fans on the back. There really was no problem with that set-up. The faster you went, the greater the resistance. The only "problem" people had with those was the noise they made. When mags came out, I simply bought a mag unit, took off the fans, and placed the unit on the trainer that I already had. They made them especially to replace the older units.

There is really no need to sink the money into a fluid trainer unless, for some reason, you want to. Mag units may not be as smooth as a fluid unit to begin with, but this only forces you to spin more smoothly on your own (I have never had any real problem with this). Just remember to think circles rather than up-and-down.

The mag units are quiet, and you can adjust the amount of effort you want by simply using the gears on your bike even if the mag unit has no way to adjust the resistance built into the unit. I guarantee that you will not spin out your top gear. You can even gear up and stand up and "climb" with the same effort necessary to do real climbing out on the road.

I would suggest that you get a mag unit made by a reputable manufacturer without all of the frills. You might even want to look into getting one mail-order, there is generally a lot more different types to choose from. Most local dealers are more into selling bikes than they are trainers.

Surprisingly, trainers do tend to eat your rear tire, even worse than riding on the pavement. I wouldn't suggest riding your best road tires. Get a cheapo and use that one just during the bad weather season, unless you ride the same bike both indoors and outdoors.