19 pages, huh. Well, I voted for "Eh!" because I'm not really for some extreme laws and bans. However, I lean towards the "yay". I wouldn't ban small children from any establishment at any given time, but I'd be in favour of bans after a certain hour or at certain days for example. Also, I'd implement a "You or your child makes a mess; you're going out" norm, so, you can bring your kids and if they behave, it's okay. If they start making a fuss, yelling, screaming and generally being annoying to other customers, you'd be kindly asked to leave the establishment. It's only polite, isn't it? That should especially be implemented in movie theatres.
Should kids been banned from local movie theaters, like they were at a recent adults-only Harry Potter screening?
Oh God, I would so like if they did this in my local theatre. I went to see the last movie (part 1) in the theatre and there was a gruesome amount of children too young to watch that movie. And they didn't calm down during the entire screening. At one point, even their parents didn't act like normal people, but they kept standing up and blocking the way to the screen. My mother was pissed like never before; she paid the ticket to go watch the movie and instead, we were tortured for two hours and were unable to even see the screen at certain points. When we got home, my mother called the theatre to ask what was that shit all about, and they told her that it was some kid's birthday and that they apologize. What kind of an idiot sends 30 10-year-old children that obviously lack the basic knowledge about how to behave in theatres and are unable to stay focused and watch the movie that is above their power of understanding and is most definitely not interesting to them is beyond me. I mean, sure, ban is really a "too much" option, but some regulations are necessary. At least make screenings for brats and normal people separated. I'd gladly pay more for the ticket if that guaranteed me that I will watch the movie in peace.
I generally don't like kids, but I have nothing against people taking them anywhere. However, if you can't control your kid or they can't control themselves and they are behaving like wild animals, you have a problem; a problem that I do not want to be a part of. Solve the problem and you can take your kid wherever you want. Recently at the airport, there was a mother with a baby and I immediately thought I'd spend 2 hours of waiting for the plane listening to screaming. However, the baby was quiet and behaved normally. Didn't say a word. Stared at me for a while, I made a funny face, and the baby smiled. It was a nice experience. And I wouldn't ban that baby from any establishment. It's not really the kids' fault. Mostly, I blame the parents that are too biased to see the problem they have, and they continue acting like nothing is wrong. As we should all just tolerate that because it's just a kid. But obviously, some kids behave properly and bother no one; if yours is troublesome, sort that shit out before going in a public place, especially a place where silence is required. In the street, I don't really care, but theatres and restaurants are a different story.
Also, I've seen a lot of people talking about baby-sitters. Sitters are almost completely non-existent in my country. We are usually taken care of by grandparents when we're little. I know I spent most of my time with my grandparents whenever my parents worked or had to go somewhere alone. However, I understand that some people don't have that option. If that's the case and they can't afford baby-sitters, they just need to realize that their life cannot be the same as before children and will have to spend much time in educating their children to be polite and how to behave properly in the society (which should be done anyway). I'm sure they should have known that when they decided to get a child. However, banning kids unquestionably is not going to solve those problems really, so I'd vote for something moderate. Separate screenings at theatres or separate restaurant halls, different day = different regime, no kids after 8 pm for example and so on (when necessary, of course). There are many solutions to this without really going into the extreme.