She reluctantly closed her popular cafe in Canberra's north, Heather's House of Cake by the Lake, just over a week ago to "re-group" and do "a lot of soul searching" after a minority of bad children and their parents continued to wreak havoc on her business.

Ms Martin said like John and Claudette Osterberg, owners of Black Mocha in Sydney's Turramurra, she had found the behaviour of some children and their parents unacceptable and even a drain on the finances of the cafe.

She opened the cafe in Emu Bank on the banks of Lake Ginninderra in March hoping to provide a welcoming space, especially for mothers and babies who wanted a place to have a coffee and relax.

There was a playroom upstairs for children to play with toys and games – under their parents' supervision – but it has turned into anything but the "happy place" she envisaged.

"The minority have ruined it for the majority," she said.

A mother of eight children or step-children, Ms Martin said she was more than experienced in the ways of children and didn't expect them to be perfect. But she did expect basic respect for her premises.

Ms Martin said like the Sydney couple she had experienced parents changing their children's dirty nappies on tables where people were eating and leaving the nappies behind.

There had been instances of glasses being broken and the refuse being hidden amongst toys rather than being put in the bin. Food such as sandwiches was left "squished into the carpet".

"We put a bin upstairs but nobody used it," Ms Martin said.

Ms Martin said there were often "screeching kids" and parents would try to "sneak in food" rather than buy items from the cafe menu.

"I understand for babies and little kids they need their own food and I have no issue with that," she said.

"What I don't agree with is four and five-year-olds rocking up with lunchboxes full of sandwiches and muesli bar."

Ms Martin said some parents would buy one coffee and sit in the playroom "for three hours" leaving behind a mess that ended up costing her money to clean up.

The worst were parents who felt their children had free rein of the playroom and did not enforce any control over them, let alone basic manners.

"I really don't want to offend the majority of my customers who have been amazing. It really is the minority," she said.

"I just want to emphasise that when you're out in public, you need to control your own child. And parental responsibility doesn't stop because you're sitting in a cafe and having a coffee."

She detailed the cafe closure on Facebook and comments were mainly supportive of her, although people were sad to lose "the most family-friendly cafe in Canberra", according to one mum.

"I'm really sad to hear this," another mother posted. "I completely support your decision and am honestly sick of the minority of people and their unruly children ruining it for the rest of us."

Ms Martin said she was continuing to honour pre-booked cake orders and parties and still hoped to re-open the cafe at some point.

"The sooner the better but we need to put in place a plan first and find some solutions," she said.