US Visa process for children, how long does it take?

I'm not holding my hopes to high on getting an answer to this, but here goes... if you've ever applied for a non-immigrant US visa (specifically a B1, B2 or B1/B2 visa) you know that the normal process [I knew about] required the applicant to go to the embassy (or consulate) for an interview on a given date and at the end of that interview they would give you an answer as to whether you'd get the visa or not.

With some new process they started (not sure if across the globe or just here in Trinidad and Tobago) you fill a DS-160 form and then re-enter some data on this site, which will sort you through with the appointment part of the process, however, if you're applying for a kid under 14, you don't go to the embassy, rather, you send all the documents through DHL to them and they will only update you once they've shipped back the documents to you (even worse this update will only show up AFTER they've sent the documents back).

So reaching to the question at hand, I sent the documents 1 week ago, Today there's still no update on the site, I fear that emailing and asking them for a status update my cause them to reject the visa out of 'nagging spite' (since "common knowledge" indicates that Visa officers will reject you if they're having a bad day, etc). Has anybody experienced this process? or have any ideas as to how long this process will take? since the day I sent the visa application to now, the tickets for my group have gone up US$400+ at this rate I might not be able to travel (my dates can't be changed)...