Message to parents getting louder: No screaming babies allowed!

In the latest burst of anti-kids-in-public news, a North Carolina restaurant is making headlines with signage that does not quibble. "Screaming Children Will NOT Be Tolerated!" read signs at the the Olde Salty restaurant in Carolina Beach, N.C. And while some parents have expressed concern that they are singling out disabled kids, most patrons have responded well.

Brenda Armes, the restaurant's owner, told the local NBC affiliate, WECT, the clearly stated message has been good for business. "It has brought in more customers than it has ever kept away," she said.

It's one more line in the sand(box) by adults who believe tolerance of cranky, crying, noisy (or quiet-breastfeeding) kids has a definite limit when they are around on a plane, in a restaurant, in a bar.

In Brooklyn, N.Y., the bar Union Hall took a lot of heat from parents/customers when it attempted to ban strollers. But the Double Windsor bar near Park Slope still followed up with a decision to ban babies after 5 p.m. As New York Magazine's Daily Intel reported, they did so with humor in signs that read, in part, that though the establishment is quite sure their customers' babies were "really mature for their age," they are just not old enough to legally drink alcohol. One "BAN KIDS FROM RESTAURANTS!" Facebook group has sprung up with 162 members. Even attendees of the Coconut Grove Arts Festival, it seems, had negative opinions about all of the strollers with kids in them at the Miami event.

Up in the skies, a recent poll by Skyscanner, a fare-comparison website, found that almost 60 percent of travelers would love it if airlines demarcated a families-with-children section on airplanes, meaning they would love to sit in child-free zones. And, nearly 20 percent of travelers said they would rather fly on completely child-free flights, period.

All of which begs the questions: Are people becoming more intolerant of kids, noisy or not, in public places? Or are more parents who bring their kids with them everywhere tuned out to how their sometimes noisy offspring may be affecting those around them?

[Image: Thinkstock]