Kate Hawkesby: You can see why restaurants want to ban kids

"Leave kids at home, restaurant bans children", the headline read in yesterday's Herald on Sunday.

The restaurant, a bistro in Akaroa, is fed up with small children running around and, after several complaints from diners, not to mention a waitress getting injured after a child ran into her, has decided to go "child-free" and ban anyone under 10.

The restaurant justified its stance by arguing that it's an intimate space, which limits the amount of room for kids to run around or get off their seat.

The owner also cited health and safety risks. A random excitable child sprinting through a restaurant into a tray full of glasses, doesn't end well - in their case it resulted in a waitress with severe cuts to her arm.

But whose responsibility is that? Well frankly, the parents. The restaurant shouldn't have to justify this move at all.

We were out for dinner for my mum's birthday on Saturday night. My dad had booked a large space for our large family as a surprise for Mum. All the grandchildren were invited.

As with all adult-centric events, the venue was not really a kids' restaurant, more a flash adult one. And like many adult events, with a large crowd, dinner was not being served for a wee while.

There were drinks and catch-ups to be had. So how long can young kids sit still in a restaurant with no food? Depends on the kids.

I've seen lots of families go to restaurants armed with props: an iPad, colouring-in books, anything to keep the kids amused.

Some of our gaggle of kids got restless and, combined with the excitement of being around all their cousins, decided to go outside into the restaurant's courtyard by an outdoor fire and play out there.

On seeing them playing, in plain view of other adult diners probably wanting a relaxing or romantic night out, I suggested I'd rein them back inside into their seats.

But Mum interjected - "Oh no, leave them, they're fine, I'm sure no one minds, I always like to see kids running round enjoying themselves when I'm out."

But is her view - or the view of the other diners - more important?

This is possibly where the bistro in Akaroa struck trouble. No doubt there'd be families dining whose kids would stay in their seats, under the thumb of parents whose expectation was that kids don't run around, and there'd be other parents with Mum's view that it's perfectly fine for them to run around.

That puts the restaurant in a bind. How would they ever know which family was going to adopt which attitude, and how much policing of their floor space they'd have to do any given night.

I can see why a small restaurant would see a blanket ban as the most fitting fix.

Eating out is a treat and most restaurants would want that to be the case for all diners.