Any thoughts on traveling to Amsterdam with children...

Places, regions to stay.  Possible day-trips to castles or other locations such as Bruges, Belgium or Cologne, Germany...

Thanks.

2-3 days max in Amsterdam with kids is plenty.  Take the high speed train to Brussels for a day, Bruges for a day and then you can head into Paris or London on the same high speed train.  If going the other way towards Germany, lots of cool little towns along the Rhine you can see with a rental car.  

Hookers and drugs.  What could possibly go wrong?

I pass through there occasionally on business  

There are frequent trains from Schipol airport Amsterdam to Central station Amsterdam, about 25 min.  You can walk much of the city from Central Station, including everything I describe below.  

Definitely do one of the many Canal boat tours, most leaving from in front of central station. About 90 minutes; save it for after your feet are tired.

Depending on the age of the kids, the Rijksmuseum is one of the world’s best, the Rembrandt house and museum is interesting, and I’ve never managed to get into the Anne Frank House.  Tickets go on sale online (only) each day and are generally gone before the house opens for the day.  There are a number of historic churches, though I’ve only seen them from the outside.  I’m told the nearby (20 min by train) town of Haarlem is also worth a visit, for the architecture surrounding the town square.

The city is safe, at least the parts I’ve been to.  Your biggest fear will be getting run over by cyclists.  Even the red light district is safe, thronged as it is with gaping tourists, but it’s probably not worth having to explain to the kids why all the windows have scantily-clad women in them.  

Chocolate, cheese, and tulips are the popular bring-backs, with the airport having shops selling USDA-inspected bags of bulbs you can bring right through customs.   But if you have deer, they’ll be eaten the moment the first shoots emerge in the spring.

Have fun!