@CartoonFig I was brought up in the 1960's and part of the 70's, in those medieval days calling children "kids" was a very derogatory way of reffering to them. I'm not sure why it was seen in such a horrible way, as nearly all baby animals are incredibly cute, and baby goats - kids - are just as sweet. But there we are. I think more and more people found their own and other peoples children increasingly annoying, especially as we adults became more and more busy, and maybe that is why they had less patience with their children.
I find it ironic really, that over those same number of years, there has been much improvement in the tools and gadgets we use in everyday life, and the jobs we use them in have therefore become easier and quicker, and yet our lives seem to have become more difficult, not less.
Anyway, I do think that younger adults today get much more stressed than in my day, and I think that even if it is in the subconscious, most people still believe that referring to children as "the kids", or "those kids", or "my husband's kids", or "my wife's kids", is very close to them saying "those bloody/fucking kids are doing my head in!"
Whether you meant it like that OP, or in the way that some people will say "we are taking the kids to the zoo today, and we will have a picnic in the park, by the canal, and have a laugh", I shouldn't surmise; but the second phrase just sounds a much nicer way of referring to all the children (whoever their parents may be), than the way you referred to your husband's kids.
I have never used the term "kids" instead of "children", because for me it still sounds like such an ugly term for children, but I can see and understand the difference in the way different people use the term. The fact that you then went on to refer to your own DLO as a "child" really looked as if you were making that differentiation yourself. I have just been explaining my viewpoint here as you seemed to (maybe consciously) not understand where some of the PP's were coming from, when they complained about the language you were using. However, I can only speak for myself here, if the other PP's were upset for a different reason maybe they would be kind enough to try and explain why to you, OP.
Can I just give you a little snippet of something that I found amusing at an adult party a few years ago. We were in small groups taking turns to try to explain to our partner in the game, the word we had picked out of the hat, without saying the actual word. One person said to their partner "kids", well their partner went through all sorts of words (probably including "baby goats") trying to find the correct word - I am sure if anyone else here is reading this, you will have known straight away what the word was, just as I did - anyway after a while I mouthed to my partner "why are they not saying "children"? The person asking her partner what the answer to "kids" was, saw me, because she said "TurkeyRoastvBubbleandSqueek" has it, sounding quite surprised (probably because of me being so ancient!), and in the end she asked me to tell them... ðŸ¤