But, did Jesus not say “Suffer the little children to come unto me?”
I don’t see an issue with gathering the children around. Times have changed since we made our First Communion. Kids now have endless games and computers to occupy their minds. Such things give a distorted view of what is “real” in the world.
Bringing the kids around the altar, to me, is just bringing them a little more up close and personal to something that is VERY real, but hard to understand in today’s world of computer generated “everything”.
Bringing the kids around the altar, could be very symbolic in their minds of gathering around the table, much as the Apostles did at the Last Supper.
Just my opinion, not to be confused with Church teachings…