OK, first of all, I agree that parents should step up and take some responsibility for their kids actions. I, myself, can't really stand it when I am sitting down in what is supposed to be a relatively quiet place where good mannered people are supposed to be able to chill and enjoy themselves when some noisy and obnoxious kids are running about doing whatever they want while their parents merely smile and nod or even completely ignore them. That is one extreme and extremes in a lot of cases are bad.
The other extreme, though, would be to ban children from your establishment altogether or to make parents who have no choice but to bring children with them feel more than their fair share unwanted or that they have no place to go. I DO NOT see why in the original article, parents became upset at a simple sign with a very simple request on it, BUT I CAN see why parents who actually do put in the effort to try and control their children and a lot of the time to no avail, might be frustrated. Not all parents have enough money for babysitters 24/7. You simply can't go out of your way to make parents feel unwelcome with their children in every possible public place you can imagine. Kids exist. It makes sense to keep children out of some places, but in others we're just going to have to deal with them. None of us are parents here, so we can't really imagine what its like to try and keep kids under control. Some of these parents are atleast just as frustrated as we are and I am sure much more embarrassed.
And btw, to this day, I play with chopsticks when I go to chinese restaurants... adults can be just as annoying
_RED_ stuff