She's a good egg (shift gears, I'm not talking cage-free stuff now), so even you ferocious parents of young pups, see if there's a kernel of truth here before you bristle.

"Saw that you did a recent piece on noisy restaurants.  On a somewhat related note, I have an ax to grind about Starbucks.  Last week there were rumblings that they were looking at developing more products to market to kids.  Yeah, we don't have kids, but we live in a really family-oriented neighborhood. As a result, our local Starbucks has the ambiance of a Chuck E. Cheese's.  It's sad to see people with their laptops trying to have a meeting with a client, like they used to be able to do, while the little ones do laps.  I'm not knocking the kids.  Some are great.  Others, their parents don't expect much self control from them, so the worst of the lot sets the tone.  Here in our area, people can even bring their children into bars, so you can't go there for a bit of adult conversation their.  What's a grown up to do???  Am I really supposed to spend $4.00 for a coffee and not be able to enjoy it in peace?  End of rant."

I know what she means. Here's a question for you:

My editor is interested in me doing a story about people who bring electronic pacifiers (gameboys, DVD players, iPods) to restaurants for their kids. Is this a reasonable way to assure kids' good behavior? Are we missing the boat by keeping them constantly entertained to assure good behavior, or is this a kindness that proactively insures our fellow diners' happiness?