Well i have the rp as i only want one port exposed. I have separate networks per service too to isolate things. Only the things that need to talk to each other can.
My stuff is only accessible on the lan and via the vpn and even then only certain ips have access to certain things.
In your case it might be different , but generally a reverse proxy is better as you can have a single point of access to secure and you are not exposing all of your ports to the host or the internet.
Dont buy them for them. Kids have no money unless you give it to them