What is the reason you want your kids on the same platform?
Is it perhaps because it's easier to message them, do photo sharing/albums, see their location, have airtags work on both? At least for a sizable group my extended family included it's a lock-in for iPhones (or a very strong social disincentive to switch).
Yes exactly - it’s the whole Apple experience. If iMessage started working on android it would remove one reason to get my kid an iPhone. I still have 20 more.
I don't think that list of reasons are long, for me personally iMessage is the reason I'm not switching to Android alone. For others, it might take more but once you start to remove reasons, switching can be based on competitive reasons instead of lockin, ie iPhones are better devices than Pixels and worth the premium vs today I have to get an iPhone because I want to use the dominant communication tool to talk to family.
Is it perhaps because it's easier to message them, do photo sharing/albums, see their location, have airtags work on both? At least for a sizable group my extended family included it's a lock-in for iPhones (or a very strong social disincentive to switch).