As a parent, I know exactly how you feel ... when my kids were mature enough to have (parent monitored) accounts on the Internet, they too were less than the required 13 years of age. The COPPA law allows you as a parent to determine that for yourselves but rightfully doesn't try to force providers to do so (you can understand the logistics nightmare that would become).
So the solution to both the real names policy and the under 13 year-old policy is simple. Take matters into your own hands.
Buy a domain name and DNS service. Sign this service up for Google applications for domains and then give accounts to up to 25 kids if you wish. Note that you will be responsible for complying with the COPPA regulations ... not too hard if it's for your own kids but perhaps it wouldn't be wise to provide this service to other's kids.
At some point in the relatively near future, you can expect G+ will be enabled for applications for domains (gradually almost every Google service has) and I don't see how they can force these domains to use any more real names than those entered for the domain's users. By definition, these are the names the users are commonly known by. Whether a real name or an alias, their colleagues must know this to be a valid alias/nick since they're using it as an e-mail handle.
I agree, I use this too for my kids and it works great. It has the added benefit that if Google decides to become evil/expensive/bankrupt in the next 20 years, you can at least keep your email address.
So the solution to both the real names policy and the under 13 year-old policy is simple. Take matters into your own hands.
Buy a domain name and DNS service. Sign this service up for Google applications for domains and then give accounts to up to 25 kids if you wish. Note that you will be responsible for complying with the COPPA regulations ... not too hard if it's for your own kids but perhaps it wouldn't be wise to provide this service to other's kids.
At some point in the relatively near future, you can expect G+ will be enabled for applications for domains (gradually almost every Google service has) and I don't see how they can force these domains to use any more real names than those entered for the domain's users. By definition, these are the names the users are commonly known by. Whether a real name or an alias, their colleagues must know this to be a valid alias/nick since they're using it as an e-mail handle.
Good luck!