To think this is so wrong but also quite funny at the same time

I am from an Asian family. My mum and her generation in their eighties always refer to us all in our 50s and even 60s as the ‘young ones’. ‘You young people sit there’ etc. So I wouldn’t be laughing so much as it wouldn’t amuse me or be out of the ordinary for us I guess.

I thought that it was completely normal until I realised that it meant the ‘kids’ weren’t sitting with their parents and had to sit with cousins and people who they may not actually know all that well if they live far apart. I think I’d expect to be sat near my immediate family rather than it be chosen by who was a similar age.

Aaand now I’ve just remembered that I did go to a memorial meal for my DH’s family member and there was a ‘cousins’ table (or maybe it was actually a kids table?)

I was once given a tumbler aged 25 at one cousins house and sat on the kids table …

that’s the sort of thing that happens in my family

and that’s fine by me, makes me feel young still

The smaller portions do seem to highlight that the uncle does still see them as kids rather than 'kids' ie next generation down

The kid’s kids table. With even smaller portions…

I think this is hilarious, OP, made me laugh (much needed in these dark days!).

I love the suggestions here that you should all have played up like young kids, food fights etc.

Agree this is totally normal!

I still have bad memories of visiting a certain uncle & aunt as a child. We would arrive there to see delicious food being laid out, and look forward to dinner. What we didn't realise that this was intended only for the adults; we would be served our beans & toast at 5pm then moved out of the way so the grown-ups could enjoy their sit down dinner afterwards.

So maybe this was a 'thing' for some older generations. Never heard of it being extended to younger adults though.

I’d struggle to find this even remotely funny. Grown adults trying to appease some dictatorial old duffer so he doesn’t take out his anger on his wife? Hilarious? No.

Could be worse. We went to a wedding and dh and I weren't put at the kids table. We were mighty put out, all the cousins at one table and were sitting with the aunties and uncles.

My Mum still treats my younger brother as a child, and expects other family members to do the same. I hosted an informal family party/BBQ this Summer. There were quite a few actual children coming, and I know that many of them would not be keen on BBQ food or would be hungry before it was ready so I made a snack box for each of them. Each box had a name sticker in it (to help manage allergies/dietary needs of some of them) and Mum seemed genuinely confused not to be able to find one with brother's name on it. When she asked me why, the answer 'because he's 46' didn't go down well!

So was it older adults then younger adults at the ‘kids’ table?

Yes I see it as a generation thing rather than children, uncle and his generation sitting together, relatives from the next generation sitting together. If you need two tables it doesn't seem an unreasonable way to organise it although I'd just let people sit where they wanted to.

The portion sizes are another matter.

I still call my kids kids... and my mum still called us kids (collectively) up until she died...

Good tale to tell and I hope you sent a thank you letter and picture you had drawn!
At Christmas we have 20 for a sit down meal so split onto two tables. I was aware that one of the cousins was older and married etc compared to range of teens. We moved every course and themed by age, gender, dietary/allergy needs. This meant everyone sat with a variety of people and worked well.

This is classic. At large family gatherings I was always on the kiddies table until my late 20s. Sometimes I still am if space is tight. If I'm at the regular table I'm always on a tiny broken chair, in between two teenagers, in the corner with a huge table leg between my legs! I'm in my 40s and suffer from osteoporosis!
I really should say something! 🤣

My partner's family does this for Thanksgiving too - the mid-30's, married "kids" sit at one table having a blast and the REAL adults sit sombrely (and probably soberly too) at the adult table, with DH's parents gazing yearningly over at the fun table while they have to sit in po-faced gloom. The seating arrangement is not negotiable. Poor IL's!

This is so funny, were you allowed an iPad at table to keep you amused? 😀

Some people are like this - I used to have a horse, and the owner of the yard where I kept it would regularly scold me (whenever she was in a bad mood, which was often) and once said, 'I know I seem harsh, but this is how I speak to my own children.' I am in my late 40s and probably less than 10 years younger than her. (I moved my horse as I got totally fed up with being infantilised! TBF she did do it to everyone. Horse people are weird though!).

Anywayyyyy it's the small portions that got me, OP. How can he actually think grown adults have child-size appetites? Did he serve it on plastic plates too?!

Thats really rubbish @HeyPrestoAlakazam !! Some of your family members sound horrible.

That's even worse, I assumed it had been pre-ordered restaurant food and the restaurant had done it based off of it being a kids' table.

I bet if you'd brought your son they would have Russian doll'd it and had him sat at a smaller toddler table.

They weren't in a restaurant so nobody ordered, they were in their Uncles home and the food was dished up.

At big family gatherings we are often separated into ‘generations’ rather than kids/adults and it’s not really they strange. Me siblings and cousins all have more in common and more to catch up with than older generation ie aunts uncles parents. We also have young dc so it’s often easier for us all to sit together with them.