Should restaurants ban children?

Last week Mamamia published a blog post called The restaurants that wont allow children.   If you read the article, and attached comments, you will find it was a topic on which people held some very strong views.

As someone who spends a lot of time researching and supporting child-friendly cafes & restaurants I was really fascinated by the article. A lot of really interesting questions were raised:

• Does a cafe/restaurant have a right to ban small children?
• Would you pay a surcharge to take a child to a restaurant?
• When does a child's behaviour become unacceptable in a cafe/restaurant? Is it when they cry, or when they bang their spoon on the table?
• Do parents have the right to take their kids to any cafe/restaurant they want to or just the "child-friendly" ones?

One comment posted that made me chuckle was someone who asked something like "If we can ban children because they are too noisy can we also ban the tables of pretentious grown ups that laugh too loudly and talk at the top of their voices all the way through dinner?"

For me personally:

• I like taking my kids to a range of cafes/restaurants .. not just the officially child-friendly as it is important they learn how to behave in a "grown up" environment. Having said that I mostly go to child-friendly places because it makes my life easier and therefore we all have a much better time.
• A surcharge for my kids - that is just ridiculous!
• Banning Kids - I can't believe I am going to say this but I think if that is what fits with the restaurants values and business then they should do it. If they believe it will make their "preferred" customers happier and therefore they will make more money - so be it. Of course, I will feel put out and offended ... but hey, if we are really not going to be welcomed with kids surely it is much better to just have that out in the open so I can go elsewhere
• What behaviour is unacceptable from my children in  a cafe ? well, the same behaviours I would find unacceptable at home. Tantrums, hitting siblings (or other kids), throwing food/plates etc on the floor intentionally, screaming ... If my kids behave like this in a cafe (which would be very rare) we would either leave or at least have some "timeout" outside. If my kids are just being kids, happy, bit noisy, bit messy, but generally well behaved ... I ignore the occasional dirty look I might get from someone who was hoping to read the paper in total tranquility.

What do you think? Should a restaurant be allowed to ban children? What boundaries do you have with your kids about behaviour in a cafe?