Nor probably a requirement that you be 12 or older to have an account!
An email account! It makes sense for YouTube maybe, and I suppose the problem is it's all intertwined? But then there's Android too - is it really expected that if you're a (say) 10 year old whose parents think is old enough to have a phone (let's not debate that here) is it really expected that you skip the set up with Google account flow on Android first boot? Because it's very clearly not the preferred path; one they don't really want you to take.
Seems like 'underage' accounts should just have restricted access, i.e. none to whatever it is (like YouTube) that's the problem, I can't believe it's email.
Kind of ironic since I recall an early Gmail ad showed a father opening an account for his infant, then giving to the child as it got older.
Correction: technically a Chrome ad, yet very heavy use of Gmail. Maybe the trick is to not open it in their exact name? (In the ad they use "dear{name}@gmail.com)
