I think crying kids aren't really the issue; it's when parents allow it to continue w/o removing the child so as not to disturb others. If there's a cranky baby, I'd tend to be more lenient. Poor Mom and/or Dad are trying to have a nice meal and baby is cranky. They don't want to leave. I get it. I think we're talking more about the downright brats who are allowed to get mouthy or run wild in stores and restaurants. We've all seen, haven't we? The worst is when you're stuck on a plane w/a bratty kid whose parents think everything s/he does is adorable, such as the two kids who ran up and down the aisle on my son's flight home to L.A. They actually wrote w/magic markers on the walls of the plane and the parents did nothing. Zero. Neither did the flight attendants, probably b/c they'd end up getting sued. I'm still proud of the self control my son had by not tearing into the parents for that one.