Let's me try to give you the solutions to your problems using Mac.
1. Homebrew: I use Nix package manager (with home manager, though you don't need to) and get rid of homebrew completely.
2. Docker: I assume you referred to Desktop version. You can just just Colima and the Docker/Compose CLI. You will get rid of all the bloats coming with Desktop. Bonus: see #1 for installing Colima and Docker CLI.
The parent's complaint about non-native docker is not solved by colima. It's not bloat from the desktop app it's the fact that you have to run a VM to run any sort of container runtime on a mac.
1. Homebrew: I use Nix package manager (with home manager, though you don't need to) and get rid of homebrew completely.
2. Docker: I assume you referred to Desktop version. You can just just Colima and the Docker/Compose CLI. You will get rid of all the bloats coming with Desktop. Bonus: see #1 for installing Colima and Docker CLI.