I'm a parent of two male children, now ages 9 and 5. I'd say it's fine to ask to be seated away from the kidlets -- I do that myself when I'm out. If I'd wanted to dine with children I would have brought mine along (with the understanding that stepping out of line meant exiting the building), or I would have stayed home with the little darlings.

I know that babies and toddlers sometimes get crabby, but I am absolutely stunned by parents who will just let their little ones carry on and destroy the eardrums of everyone sitting nearby. My understanding and practice was that one should remove the small, magenta-faced creatures from where civilized humans were attempting to dine until the noise level receded to a socially acceptable level (i.e., that of sleepy breathing).

Hey, I think my kids are awesome, and I know I've worked hard to make sure the know how to behave in a public situation; generally they do very well. But I also know they can be little toads, and I do my best to inflict that side of them on others as infrequently as possible.