I'd like to see womensgroup-free dining. Your article reminded me of the many times a nice quiet meal with my wife and son has been ruined by a group of screeching ladies-who-lunch who sit there with six bottles of chardonnay and one entree to be shared amongst them. They seem to believe their recent news about their blokes, jobs and babies is to be shared at a zillion decibels. I know guys do the same but we tend to do it in the pub or club, plus we yell about far more sensible topics like cars, politics and the footy.

Turning to your original topic, as your article intimates, its more the parents than the kids. My son is 14 now but has been dining out with us once or twice a week since he was tiny. He loves restaurants and is more adventurous with new dishes than me, but he knows the etiquette. When little he happily read a book when not eating or used the crayons and paper often provided. Now he joins in with our quietly spoken discussions. You can't blame the kids for ignorant parents who think its fine to allow Molly and Tarquin to disturb everyone else so long as it permits the parents an undisturbed meal. Near us, we have two restaurnats side by side and I've seen parents encourage their kids to run around in the other establishment in order to keep the noise down in theirs!

I also blame the restaurants who are too timid to ask parents to control their kids. The staff see whats going on but do nothing, and therei are a number of places we won't return to because we know they sit back and do nothing. If the parents won't do something it is the restaurants duty to their other customers to ask the parents to speak to their kids, and if that costs them a tip then so be it. And why do so many places insist, on a quiet night, in sitting the only two tables of diners right next to each other?

But to finish, I have no problems with the concept of adult only dining hours. We are usually in and out by 7.30pm so something like no families after 8pm would not bother me in the least. Most cruise ships encourage families to dine in the first dinner sitting so the later sitting can be mostly adults. Other than that, a notice on the door and on the menu saying "Well behaved children are most welcome. Unruly customers of any age are not".

I loved reading your response John, I had a giggle and agree on many points. I feel embarrassed of those women's groups too and I'm female :-) Thanks for reading the article. Regards, Vanessa