Based on past threads the most common fixes for this is to make sure the devices you pause don't ha e MAC randomization enabled, which must be set on the device itself.
- New MAC address = a different device in the eyes of Google Home / Nest Wifi
If that's not what's happening here, a factory reset of your existing network (delete network in the Google Home app, https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/6246619?hl=en) then set it up from scratch (https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9548301?hl=en) usually fixes it.
- Reuse your network name (SSID) and password, and your devices should reconnect automagically.
But yeah, with MAC randomization for privacy reasons becoming a thing in most OS-es (Windows, iOS, MacOS, Android), Nest Wifi current parental controls is becoming pretty much useless.
- An alternative way of achieving this is to look into alternatives for controlling the devices themselves, with products like Microsoft Family Safety (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/family-safety).
- A different approach could be to use the guest network for devices you want to pause. Then you can just disable the whole guest network when you want to pause the devices on it. But that's a jank workaround with little flexibility that also adds management overhead.
I don't work for Google.
