I don’t like Mint because it’s just Ubuntu with even more stuff added.
Mint removes snaps and card games and replaces some GNOME utility apps like image viewer, video player, store etc. with its own apps. Mint also comes with additional apps like Hypnotix, Transmission, Hexchat, Timeshift but worst case they need additional disk space. Like 500 MiB maximum in a 10+ GiB install. I wouldn't consider these apps "bloat".
I kept Windows "just in case" because it had some sort of fake activated MS Office which I would lose access to if I uninstalled Windows, along with iTunes. I also used an exam website that claimed it wouldn't work on anything but Windows & Chrome and Mac users would somehow always have problems so I couldn't take the risk. Guess what, it is just fine on Firefox. (right next to a Windows VM, y'know, just in case) Now I see I could have chosen clean install in the installer and live on.
Strict protection on iOS was literally the difference between "I can use this phone" and "brick". I had an old iPhone, 6 Plus, and Safari lagged to death because it tried to load ads. Firefox didn't.
As a user of Linux and primarily FOSS software for 2 years, each time I recommended something FOSS, others had bad luck.
I tried switching someone to Linux but I couldn't achive %100 funnctionality on a Windows only app I set up via Wine. (it is an obscure program, not sth like Adobe or MS Office)
I recommended Kdenlive to a Mac user friend, he couldn't export a video he spent 30 hours on it.
I convinced someone to use Libreoffice but they lost data in only 30 mins because I forgot to tell that if you draw more than a few strokes in LO Draw it enters a save loop. This is fixed now thankfully.
I recommended VLC for DVD ripping, it entered some sort of loop and failed to export.
Each of the above examples involve completely different people, by the way.
I set up 2 fresh Windows installs for family but installed Firefox with strict protection and uBlock Origin instead of Chrome and... it worked?! They still use Firefox. Maybe the alpenglow theme is too good, I don't know.
Finally a systemd praise post after so many hateful remarks. I knew systemd could do dns resolving but just learned it could handle the entire network stack and replace NetworkManager. I have a question: How can services such as Apache adapt to both NM and systemd at the same time? NM and systemd have different wait-online services.
You can also add systemd-analyze for boot time analysis to the list.
FYI Windows 11 doesn't need secure boot enabled, just secure boot available. You can disable it and not deal with the issues in your TED talk post. Even if this is no longer the case, Windows Update enforces hardware requirements only in yearly feature updates. In other words you can enable secure boot only once a year in worst case.
On 2nd PC I will delete everything and install Arch, I should have done that years ago when I initially made the switch. 1st PC is shared so dual boot is the only way.
Are there any specific series your kids are interested in? If there isn't maybe you can cancel one or two subs, remove the apps on TV and the kids may not even notice, depending on their age. (I am assuming 5-10 based on your comment) D+ has Marvel and Star Wars but what does Paramount have appealing to kids? Maybe you can get Nickolodeon (apparently part of Paramount) from satellite.
There are self-hosted apps like AirMessage which can relay iMessage to your Android from a Mac. (or macOS running in a virtual machine if you have the time for that) There is also Beeper which doesn't require a Mac but it will put you in a waiting list if you sign up now.
In heroic go to game's settings and check "Install DXVK" and "Install VKD3D"