Well, it would still be nice if they started off with something. Best yet, give them a low bonus via the skill of their parents.
Parents were a legendary weaponsmith and a master mason? Kid gets a slight bonus to these skills. Nothing major, at max novice, but enough to be noticable. And maybe have a randomized starting skill for children (not more than dabbling?!). That way children don't end up all as legendary -crafters and you don't need to find a way to use all these figurines.
Just my thoughts on how the mood-system for children would be better - then again, I'd make moods for children extremly rare anyway.
But it's not my game, I just play it when I have the time to get into it.
Of course moods and artifacts are nothing to rely on. It's just sad when you try to run a generations-fortress instead of a migration-fortress, so you rely on childbirth a lot with a low starting population, and end up having only disappointing mood results to a point where it really doesn't matter to you anymore what "crap" gets produced next.
At best I could imagine packing all the artifact figurines into a minecart and shotgunning invaders with them. Display cases... pfff... I prefer elves people to admire my art right up close and personal. Preferably with their face and brains.
I just love the suspense you get when you know the dwarf might be creating something useful. A door, a hatch, furniture, or even armor or weapons.