After children drift off, the house settles into a quiet hum. Families often find themselves adjusting devices with practiced calm, reflecting a day spent balancing responsibilities. As screens cast soft glows over faces checking messages, eyes soften at photos of their children from earlier—a reminder that parenting’s magic lives in the spaces between technology and touch. Sure, AI helps manage our days—but what really matters are those heart-to-heart talks no app can script.
Beyond Better Bots: Skills Only Humans Can Nurture
Parenting moments often involve children navigating disagreements. As they argue over a swing, phrases like ‘It’s my turn!’ and ‘You don’t understand!’ bubble up.
In those moments, it’s not about who’s right or wrong—it’s about helping them feel seen and understood. While AI may assist with math skills, it can’t nurture real-time human connection.
Digital worlds excel at facts, but a chatbot can’t explain the unspoken sadness in a friend’s eyes or share laughter after a scraped knee. Some questions about the sun get scientific answers from apps, yet children need more—eyes lighting up with wonder, voices full of awe explaining how sunlight connects us to stars.
That curiosity blooms in human hands, when genuine awe makes the world magical, not just measurable.
AI as the Village Helper, Not the Villain
Consider apps that sense frustration and pause like caring teachers—offering new explanations or breathing space. This is AI in service of humanity.
Yet screens can become barriers, not bridges. Silencing notifications during dinner allows hands to move rhythmically, but eyes flick to messages. The difference: using technology to enhance presence, not replace it.
Ethical AI builds safe pathways for exploration. Apps sparking creativity, like digital murals, are needed; endless scrolling drains spark. Parents instinctively know this balance, guiding children through creative apps, softly asking, ‘What does this picture feel like to you?’
This nurtures more than skills—it teaches seeing the world through the heart.
Intentional Off-Ramps: Spaces Without Spotlight
Recall unplugged afternoons—no phones, just baking bread. Maybe we’re making some Korean sweet rice cakes while we’re at it—flour dusts counters as hands show children how to knead, improvising with ingredients. Sticky palms press into dough, giggling as it spreads.
No digital guide; intuition and laughter fill screens’ spaces. That’s unplugged power. Choosing where to focus attention, not counting screen time.
Walking in parks, pointing out rustling leaves instead of social media photos. ‘Look what I found!’ a child says, holding a stone—and through their eyes, a simple rock becomes treasure.
Unfiltered joy, raw connection to the world: a daily gift. Not captured in hashtags. It’s in fully present spaces, untouched by interruptions.
We don’t need more gadgets—we need those moments that make us feel both tiny and mighty.
Raising Tomorrow’s Builders of Compassion
Kindness weaves into daily routines. Technology is a tool, not the whole story. A robot might teach long division, but when you sit with your kid through tears and tantrums? That’s where real grit gets built.
Sharing worries and hopes models strength and vulnerability. Our home is where kindness happens, one messy moment at a time, nurturing emotional intelligence only humans provide.
The future shaped by these lessons? Children designing AI tools prioritizing compassion and connection. Tomorrow’s world starts in quiet moments shaped today.
Because in the end, isn’t that all any of us ever needed? Someone who says, I see you—right here, right now.
Source: The UNGA Science Summit 2025 Offered A Glimpse On The Future Of AI, Forbes, 2025-09-20