We’ve all been there—late after bedtime, when you’re finally sitting with your tea. The house is quiet, but the phone’s screen still glows. That’s when I see it. You’re scrolling through parenting advice, your eyes reflecting the phone’s light after a long day of tantrums and negotiations. And I realize: the way we’re teaching AI to understand our children is the same way we’re teaching our children to understand AI. It’s not about the commands. It’s not about the shortcuts. It’s about the quiet moments we’re shaping them to be human—the way we’re teaching them to navigate this digital world with the same compass of kindness we’ve used for generations.
When Defiance Turns into Dialogue
We’ve all watched that moment—the stomping feet, the crossed arms, the ‘why’ phase. It feels like fighting a wildfire some days. But here’s the thing you’re showing me, in the way you ask ‘Why do you think that’s making you feel this way?’—that’s exactly what we need to do with AI. These tools aren’t just for answering Alexa’s commands.
We’re using them to ask questions back. When AI suggests a parenting strategy, you’re teaching our kids to hold that curiosity—to ask ‘Why? How does this work?’ Not just the ‘how does the AI’ part, but the ‘why is this decision right for us?’
You’re building a space where they learn to trust, not just obey. That’s huge. It’s the same way you’re teaching them to question a toy commercial’s appeal. Same way we question our own emotional triggers. That’s how we’re raising ethical AI navigators, by modeling the practice of questioning—not just complying.
The AI Whisperers in the Midst of Chaos
There’s been evenings when I’ve watched you pull up an AI tool to find a tantrum explanation. I saw the way your shoulders relaxed—not just because it gave you a strategy, but because it gave you context. A reminder that defiance isn’t disobedience. It’s development.
I think what we’re doing—holding space for the questions, not just the answers—it’s the way we’re keeping our children in the driver’s seat. They’re not just the users of the AI. They’re the leaders of our future. We’re just the GPS. We’re just the guide. Still the heart, the soul, the wisdom, the wonder. We’re in the driver’s seat. Just the AI is helping us navigate the world with a little more light. What do we think?
But here’s the beautiful truth: AI isn’t dimming the sunlight. We were the ones holding the flashlight in the dark all along. When you’re using that tool to explain the science behind the tantrum, you’re not outsourcing parenting.
You’re teaching our children to use technology as a magnifying glass—not a mirror. We’re the ones who taught them to ask ‘what does this moment teach us?’ The same way our ancestors taught us to ask about the weather patterns—the vital signs of being human.
Building the Future Together
I’ve noticed something else. When you let AI help draft a lesson plan for our kids’ homeschool group, you weren’t looking for the easy way out. You were modeling how we’ll navigate this new world—teaching them how to use tools without letting the tools use them.
Like the way you showed them how to question a search result—recognizing the difference between human truth and automated convenience. Because that’s what we’re doing here: helping them to not just navigate AI, but to navigate life with the emotional intelligence that no algorithm can replicate.
We’re not just teaching our children to be ‘good with AI’ in school. We’re teaching them to be bold in the world, with a sense of the deep, the emotional, that is 100% ours. We’re raising the people who will think in colors, in the spaces that we’re all in the world.
And when we do that, we’re not just preparing them for an AI future. We’re equipping them to be the architects of something better. Because that’s not just what we’re doing today. It’s the quiet way we’re preparing them for every tomorrow.
Source: AI in E-Commerce and Retail Marketing at UBI Business School: The Future of Retail, Ubi, 2025-09-30