To me, Torchwood veers wildly between fantastic and cringeworthy, sometimes in the space of a few minutes. Season 2 was a lot better, but I still felt that the finale was a rushed plotless mess.
This mini-series looks promising, but the kid plotline makes it look like a step towards Dr Who. We'll see.
You could be right about the kid plotline, however, seeing as Torchwood is geared towards adults, what could be more scary for parents than having their children taken over by aliens?