Perhaps TT doesn't ask you if the parents took it or not because it doesn't matter. As long as the student has a parent alive they don't qualify for the full credit (except in some rare circumstances where they truly provide their own support)
it's not a glitch. It's the tax law. The authors of the tax law intentionally wrote it so that parents who don't qualify to take the credit can't simply pass it on to their children. One of these days, the IRS is going to ask for all of that money back that you weren't supposed to take.
