<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Athena53:
I feel more sorry for the parents. I can't think of any comfortable, quiet places in EWR to wait outside of the secured area till the plane takes off.</font>
In the United area the seats behind the ticket counter, overlooking the gate area, at the bottom of the stairs to the parking garage are usually empty and very quiet. Most times it's employees of the airport taking a break for a few minutes.
The cafeteria in that area is a good place to kill time too.