If in fact the interior of a commercial aircraft is "public space" as someone just said in another post above, and if that means children and their parents can do whatever they choose in that public space without control or intervention by the air crew, then why do adults not enjoy the same privileges? The example I'm thinking of is the woman who was thrown off the Southwest flight just because she had a t-shirt on that had some rude words on it. I think that was back in 2004 or 05. Yet flight crew intervened in that situation and tossed her off the flight at the first stop. You don't have to read a t-shirt, but you can't necessarily avert your ears if a kid is screaming or acting out and the parent is dong nothing effective to control the situation.