I was annoyed at it initially, too, because I've seen TT do similar inexplicable things that did in fact turn out to be bugs. But in this case it's there because of the new child tax credit payments that started being sent out about a year ago. The selection of recipients was based on 2020 tax-return data, so in some cases a dependent child would have aged off in the meantime, new dependent children were born, etc. (or the payment might have been made in error).
Obviously these payments have an effect on the taxes owed/due. By requiring you to provide an answer, Intuit can demonstrate that they did due diligence incorporating the credits, or lack thereof, into your tax calculations, and if the answer turns out to have been wrong, the taxpayer is clearly responsible for the information.
