If the Child Trust cheque was raised to ?1000, I'd attend any course willingly to ensure my child benefitted long term. However the point about the contribution is that it is held in trust for the child until s/he is 18, so as its an incentive it may be a little long term for some parents to have an effect. Also, I am not sure the parents in question would be changed by any amount as most bad behaviour I have seen from accompanied children in public places has come from the middle and upper class sprogs, not people from the local Council estate.

What Millesens describes is to me a typical scene with many adult British holidaymakers abroad, not just their children. When we were in Barcelona a year ago we witnessed similar scenes in a hotel - plain embarrassing. The British abroad in Europe are generally not popular. It doesnt surprise me that the kids also run riot- they surely get it from their parents.

I still think the subject of this thread is a bit of a non issue- most people take children into pubs during the day, not the evenings, and drink filtered coffee or fruit juice whilst they read a paper or chat to their friends. Most will probably be very selective to go to a well known gastro pub or one which is family friendly. This is a change in culture largely due to extended opening hours and the smoking ban. The traditional boozers and child free boozing time are therefore probably safe for future generations. To avoid kids, go to the pubs they wouldnt touch, and stay at home on weekend lunchtimes. Please appreciate that people with kids also need to get out of the house.