It’s a basic human instinct to want to protect you and yours. You want to protect your car from vandals, your property from trespassers and your home from burglars. Of course, you also want to protect your family being harmed or frightened, and home security systems these days can be so advanced that you can very easily, if left unchecked, turn your home into Fort Knox.

The question is of course, should you? Home security for your safety may seem like a great idea, but does it actually breed fear within your family, and how far should you go? Yes, an alarm system is probably a good idea, and often essential for reducing your contents insurance premiums, but there are other security measures that could be a little too ‘big brother’ or frightening.

For example, CCTV systems are now fairly cheap, and easy to install. You can pick up a CCTV system for under £100, fit it yourself and begin recording people who go near your home, near your car or visit when you are not present. You can go further again and install bars on the windows, something that it is very common in some US towns. While having bars on your windows mean that you’ll never have to worry about someone breaking in and stealing your TV set, you of course will make your house look like a prison – and this could, in turn, really upset your children as they wonder why they need bars on their windows and cameras on the walls.

How far should you go to protect your family and your posessions?