Teen AI Conversations

Talking to teenagers about AI: a two-way conversation, not an inspection

A listen-first conversation guide for talking with a teenager about their AI use — shared uncertainties, real boundaries, and a set revisit date, without leaning on surveillance to justify the questions.

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Raise children who remain authors of their own lives

App-level screen time rules answer 'how much AI.' They do not answer the harder question: which of the choosing, deciding, creating, and relating that childhood is for should stay a child's own, even as AI becomes ambient in homework, friendship apps, and games. A practice framework across six domains gives families and schools a decision rule, not just a time limit.

Intermediate

AI homework help vs. cheating: a decision tree by learning objective

A decision tree for deciding when AI use on homework is legitimate practice help and when it substitutes for the learning the assignment is meant to assess — plus why school rules control, not a household preference.

AI literacy by age: what to expect from a 6-year-old to a 16-year-old

A conservative age-band matrix for supervised AI literacy, plus current account rules and a clear distinction between an adult-operated session and a child's own account.

A child's first AI conversation: a facilitator's script

A step-by-step script for a child's first supervised AI conversation, built around a false-answer test, a source check, a privacy pause, and a closing reflection — run on a caregiver-controlled account.

6 min read

Do not give a child an AI friend: the red flags and what to do instead

A plain stance and seven concrete red flags — anthropomorphism, secrecy, dependency, sexual content, monetization, memory, and exit friction — for why AI companion apps are not appropriate for children, plus a calm way to raise it.

6 min read

Write a family AI agreement your kids actually helped write

A seven-clause household AI agreement — accounts, private data, schoolwork, companions, creation, purchases, and help-seeking — built with the child in the room, not handed to them finished.

Your AI agrees with you too much: four thinking-partner failures

AI can help you examine a decision, but it also inherits your framing, rewards confident prose, and quietly encourages you to outsource judgement. Here is how to catch each failure.

Spaced practice, retrieval, and interleaving—with AI doing the right work

Build a practical study system around three evidence-backed learning techniques, two of them strongly supported and one more tentative. AI prepares questions and feedback; you perform the retrieval and make the distinctions.

Why AI explanations feel like learning—and often aren't

A fluent explanation can make a subject feel familiar before you can actually use it. These three tests reveal whether AI helped you learn or merely helped you follow along.

What not to delegate to AI: draw your personal line

Use a practical boundary test to keep accountability, relationships, and important skills in human hands while still getting useful AI assistance.