iMessage won't activate (iPod)

I know this has been asked and answered a hundred times, but here it goes.

I recently bought the latest gen iPod touch for my kid for Christmas. It is set up with Family Sharing. It is updated to 11.2.1

Everything seems to be working fine except that iMessage and Facetime won't activate. It just says "Activation failed please try again."

I have read the article on the issue. I verified I can log into the account (username/password is ok). Checked the time/date settings are correct and restarted/reset the iPod several times. I will say that it is an "under 13" account, but I haven't read anywhere that iMessage and Facetime is unavailable for that, but I have my suspicions that is the culprit behind the error. Any help is greatly appreciated.