It's a cultural thing, not a generational thing.
Meaning,,, I grew up travelling.
In some places we lived, the POLITE thing is for a child to ask directly.
In other places we lived the POLITE thing is for a child to ask through an intermediary. (Your standard).
In others, the POLITE thing is for a child to not ask, but to take care of themselves.
In others, the POLITE thing is for children to not ask at all (seen but not heard)
4 totally different Versions of polite =
75% chance of being seen as rude
Now...When I was a child (insert 'the tone' ;) most people were pretty ethnocentric/geographically stable. What was polite was polite for the whole REGION. Everyone had basically the same standards. So it was pretty easy to evaluate. We'd move into a new town/state/country... And
1) Found out what was polite for the region (in this and MANY other matters)
2) Always follow the lead of the hostess (if the hostess is nekkid, ya strip down.)
THESE DAYS... It's a lot more difficult.
People travel a lot more (school, work, etc.)
People adopt different standards (people are more globally connected via media/Internet).
Which means that while I'll still generally pay attention to regional norms, ITs reeeeeeeeally common for a single gathering to have people with completely differing norms. Which makes following the Hostess's lead even more important.