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I can see both sides of this. My kids had their moments - but they were disciplined for them, they were few and far between, and I or my wife always took action to end any episode. For example, I physically picked them up and left restaurants when they threw a fit. Only one time with each. Going hungry and sitting in a car with dad while mom and brother ate drives the message home. Losing privileges for days or even weeks at a time helps too. I remember "Slam your bedroom door one more time and I'll take it off the hinges for a week..." He didn't think I'd follow through. Lost privacy for a few days set him straight on that one.

In public, when I see/hear a child throwing a fit I admit my first reaction is usually to smile - thankful I'm past that stage with my kids (youngest is now a legal adult, when did that happen?) and that I no-longer have to deal with that. However, if you as a parent let your kid(s) behavior continue that sympathy rapidly turns into annoyance and anger. Who is the parent here, who is in charge? "Let it run it's course." is not a valid strategy when your offspring is ruining dozens of other people's meals, movie, flight, etc.

On the other hand, I do not blame people who do not want to be around other peoples' kids either. No children flights, restaurants, movies... Sounds like a good idea. I don't blame someone for not wanting to risk running into brats and bad parents and having an evening ruined. Several months ago Mrs. TS and I celebrated a milestone anniversary with a weekend away. The place we stayed had a "family friendly" pool on one side of the complex and an "adults only" pool and bar on the other. It was nice being at the adults only side. There was no yelling, screaming, splashing. We carried on normal level conversations with several other couples while being served food and drink at poolside. No worries about kids spilling or throwing food/drink in the pool. I could get used to that.

I have three kids and 99% of time all have been well behaved in public. My youngest bucked on me at a restaurant when he was 3, he did it once. I literally dragged him out by the arm across the floor, took him to the van, drove behind the restaurant and set his a$$ on fire. Came back around and wife and other kids had paid bill and were waiting on me. Took him him and whipped his butt again and sat him on the couch in my office and flipped on the fox news channel and said don’t move until bed time. He didn’t.

A few months later we were at a pizza hut and were seated across from a family with a boy and girl and they were wild, throwing food, trashing table, yelling screaming and parents were just doing nothing but pleading. Finally after a few minutes of this my 3 yr. old says loud enough for the hellions parents to hear, Dad those two kids need their hinneys busted good! Both parents just looked our way and rounded up their horde, paid and quickly left.

I run the church sound system so my wife would be the one watching kids in church and she would not tolerate any cutting up or miss behavior in church. She would give one warning and then out they went to the front porch of the church for a dose of fire to their behinds. Our oldest was stubborn and hard headed and got several spankings on that front porch. On the last trip out the door as he was being taken out he was heard to say but Mom I don’t want a spanking! Other two had one or two trips to porch and got the message.

We currently have a bunch of parents who will let their children scream and talk during the church service with impunity, makes me want to scream. Some of the older members have quietly whispered in my presence, I wish so and so would let your wife take care of their kids for a couple of services and put a stop to this disruption and foolishness.

You can’t negotiate with kids and you can’t be friends with them, be their parents and if that means them being afraid of crossing a certain line, so be it. You can be friends when they get old.

I appreciate restaurants who are family friendly but that still doesn’t mean they or their other patrons should have to put up with other peoples hellions who will not behave in public.

Going hungry and sitting in a car with dad while mom and brother ate drives the message home.

My parents were the same. With 4 boys, if we acted up when out to dinner, we first got "the look". Most times that settled us down.
The second infraction was rewarded with a sharp rap across the knuckles with the back of a spoon. Of course today, that would result in family services getting involved and a night in jail for dad.
The third infraction resulted in dad hauling the offender, out to the car to sit quietly with our hands folded in our lap, while mom and the brothers finished dinner. Heaven helped you when we arrived home, cuz it resulted in an appointment with Mr. Belt.