On our last cruise the kids were 12 and 9 and they went to dinner by themselves (well, along with a 13 year old tablemate) while all of the adults went to Palo. They had a great time and wanted to do it again. The following night at dinner some people at an adjoining table commented to us how well behaved all of the kids were. Now, if we didn't know the people we were dining with I don't know if I would have left them or not, but we had met some disboard members and linked dining so it all worked out great.