Caesarstone will be more practical than marble, no etching or staining, however any hard surface, be it marble or composites such as Caesarstone will chip & scratch if sharp objects are dropped on or dragged across it.

Not marble, no.

How much time do you have for maintenance and how much perfection do you require?

http://www.wikihow.com/Protect-a-Marble-Countertop

We were facing the same decision. I was pretty sure marble would be too hard to maintain but our designer gave me a sample piece to test "just to be sure". I put drops of citrus juice, ketchup and red wine on it. It failed miserably. We have 3 kids too and in the end I didn't want to have the type of kitchen where we all had to be super careful to keep the counters spotless 24/7.