I remember catching your glance across the room that night—the soft glow of your phone screen illuminating your face as you looked up from the latest parenting app review. We both knew the kids were sleeping down the hall, dreaming about messier and simpler things. And I wondered—what digital playgrounds are we building for them? The tools they’ll learn with, the voices they’ll come to trust, those invisible boundaries they’ll need to navigate. It’s all taking shape now, isn’t it? And we’re not just watching the builders—we’re becoming the guardians of the slides.
The Ladybug Lesson
Remember when she found that tiny ladybug? You showed her how to hold it gently, your hands cupping hers like an invisible bridge between the natural and the digital. We’re doing that same careful dance with AI now—these apps that could help diagnose their ear infections, tools that could adapt to their learning styles.
But I’ve watched you, night after night, balancing that screen between the wonder and the fear. How do we trust the builders of the slides? you whispered to me once, when the kids first started exploring apps. You’ve always been our compass, showing them the quiet joy of discovery while holding their questions about where the answers come from.
The Tightrope Walkers
We’ve all seen that moment—the moment you set the timer while your child asks for ‘just five more minutes’ with the AI math tutor. It’s the same tightrope walk we’re making as a society: the screen time limits that feel like playground rules, the way you help them question the AI helper’s responses like they’re asking a new friend.
You’ve always been the one who sees the potential in the tools while keeping the snacks in the backpack. And isn’t that what we’re really doing here? We’re not just managing screen time—we’re shaping the future challenge-takers, the ones who’ll need to know when to trust the slide and when to build their own.
The Values We Carve
That night you found the teether, still bearing the tiny mark of teeth—the tools we’ve held onto the longest. The AI tools that seem to help are the ones that feel like warmed teethers—the digital safety guides that feel like holding hands, not the ones that feel like silent alarms.
The playgrounds of tomorrow won’t be built by us, but they’ll be shaped by the values we teach them now
I’ve watched you navigate the playgrounds, digital and physical. The way you showed them to ask why, not just how. The way you model how to question the maker of the swings, even while appreciating the push. This is how we’re building better playgrounds together—through those everyday moments that teach critical thinking and that beautiful, compassionate curiosity.
Source: Excessive Antitrust Threatens American AI Leadership, Forbes, 2025-09-27