He has learned the odds at your table
Your dog's discrimination is impressive rather than insulting. He has run a long, careful study of your mealtimes and reached an accurate conclusion. Adults sit higher, keep plates further back, notice an approaching nose instantly and respond the same way every time, so attempts near them have never paid. Children present a different picture entirely. Their plates are closer to his head height, especially for younger children at lower chairs, meals involve more movement, chatting and looking away, and food regularly reaches the floor. An approach that would earn nothing beside you might earn a chip, a crust or a whole unattended moment beside a child. He steals where stealing has worked, and experience, not disrespect, drew that map for him.
Why children are easier targets in practice
Several small advantages stack up. Children are often slower to react and less consistent when they do: one day a stolen bite gets a shriek and a laugh, another day an adult intervenes, another day nobody notices at all, and that occasional jackpot is exactly the pattern that keeps a behaviour alive longest. Children may also feed him deliberately, slipping him pieces under the table because his attention is delightful, then protest when he helps himself as if the two acts were different. From his side they are one lesson: food flows around children. Add the fact that children's meals often feature the finger foods he most covets, held low and waved about, and the temptation beside them is simply stronger in every way.
One mealtime station for the dog, every evening
The fix is to give him a defined place in the mealtime routine rather than leaving him to freelance. Settle him on a mat or bed within sight of the table but out of snatching range, with a long-lasting chew that is only produced at dinner, and reward him there in the early days at intervals for staying put. Children need two clear rules: never feed him from the table, even under it, and call an adult rather than pushing him away themselves if he approaches, because pushing and squealing can become a game. Keep children's plates pushed in and chairs tucked so the geometry helps you. Consistency across a fortnight of dinners usually teaches him that the mat pays and plates no longer do.
Keeping mealtimes safe as well as calm
Plate stealing is not only a manners issue. Children's dinners can include foods that are unsuitable or unsafe for dogs in quantity, and a snatched plate can mean a cooked bone, a skewer or a large fatty portion disappears before anyone can react. A dog who is escalating, from opportunistic snatching to growling over a stolen prize, needs the situation managed at a distance while you seek qualified behaviour help, not children retrieving food from his mouth. Note which meals trigger the boldest attempts and whether his boldness is growing. KinsLe helps you run the new routine as a team, because Care Teams lets you assign the mealtime station duty and tick off each settled dinner, so the rule survives busy evenings when willpower varies.