I've been keeping bees for more than forty years; my advice is: don't keep them where small children are able to get near them. As a rule, bees don't attack people, but if you stand or walk in their flight path, you can easily get stung. Also, at certain times and under certain climatic conditions, they can get a bit bad-tempered. In the worst scenario, if a young child (or anybody else) decides to interfere with a hive, or knock it over, there is the possibility of serious - and even fatal - consequences. And finally, a small number of people are hyper-sensitive to bee venom, and just one sting can have serious results. All this is not designed to put you off beekeeping, but it would be foolish not to be aware of the dangers before you start.