(NewsNation) — Parenting has never been easy, but in a world of non-stop schedules, digital distractions and a child’s constantly changing needs, more Americans are turning to artificial intelligence in search of a helping hand.
How can AI help parents?
From constructing healthy meal plans, planning rainy-day activities, and even creating relatable bedtime stories, AI is becoming a digital go-to to help out many parents.
Parenting experts say asking for computer-generated help makes sense for busy parents living in a digital world. But they also warn that leaning too hard into AI can turn problematic if they move too far away from the core of the parent-child dynamic.
“Nothing can take away the relationship — that’s what parents need to know,” Barnard College associate professor Tovah Klein told NewsNation. “We’re not robots. Parents are not robots and children need the warmth and the affect and the emotional management and the forgiveness of a parent.
“And that’s not going to come from AI.”
Seeking and receiving high-tech help isn’t a bad thing, experts said. But doing so puts the onus on parents to involve their children in the process, says Devorah Heitner, the author of “Growing Up in Public: Coming of Age in a Digital World.”
“I think talking to kids about how search works, how AI works (is necessary) just so they can understand the tools we’re using, and it doesn’t feel like, ‘Oh great, I don’t ever need to do anything ever again,’” Heitner said.
Using AI to help get kids to bed
AI apps like ChatGPT, Scarlett Panda and Story Spark allow parents to input keywords and other specifics unique to their children to create bedtime stories.
Rather than children growing tired of more traditional stories they’ve heard repeatedly, parents using AI to “create” new tales with ideas and characters that often come from children help to build new memories.
Because the technology builds the stories introduced by a parent for their child, AI makes for a more interactive bedtime storytelling experience, developers say.
Personalized AI meal plans
AI platforms like MealPlanner, Mymealplan and Menubot help to take the guesswork out of creating meals based on specific information. AI technology offers seamless interactive menus and meal plans that can be tailored to include dietary restrictions including gluten-free, vegetarian and other needs.
The AI technology also allows users to input ingredients they have in their refrigerator or pantry and handcraft recipes and meals that take busy schedules and even last-minute dinner needs into consideration.
Some platforms use AI meal plans generated by celebrity chefs like Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay while others calculate marcos, calories and other nutritional information.
Organizing kid-friendly activities
Taskade’s AI Family Activity Planner Bot and AI platforms like Midjourney can map out a week’s worth of activities by using keywords, individual interests, and other specifics that cater to each family.
Other AI platforms allow parents to plan their kid’s birthday parties on a budget while also managing guest lists, gift ideas and party venues.
Other sites, such as Wonderplan, can make vacation planning a breeze. The AI technology allows families to build memorable trips around their interests and budget and will even suggest itineraries based on personal interests and hobbies.
Managing artificial intelligence overload
Unlike other informational sources like magazine articles, blogs and podcasts, tracing the origin of AI information can be difficult. Although AI aggregates from a collection of sources, experts warn parents must still do their due diligence.
Too much information can be equal parts overwhelming and undermining to parents, Klein said. Artificial intelligence can be viewed as an over-arching authority, but it can also cause parents to question their intuition of what’s best for their kids.
Part of maintaining a very human relationship must allow for a margin of error, Klein insists.
“It’s in the mistakes that relationships can get strengthened — it’s those mistakes, it’s an apology – I need to understand my child better,” Klein said. “A child has to learn their parent isn’t perfect because life isn’t perfect. All of that is very human learning and it won’t come from a robot, and it won’t come from AI.”
Heitner agreed.
“(AI) still is not a human being. It doesn’t have the same ethics, the same level of discernment of morality,” Heitner said. “It’s not a human being and (kids) have to understand the differences and what it’s good for.”
Like with other child-raising endeavors, parents must be intentional with AI tools. AI assistance may provide a helping hand, but like anything else, moderation is key. That can be difficult due to the volume of information at a parent’s disposal with one quick search.
“If you overuse technology of any kind, it becomes a hindrance to interacting with your child and relating to them in positive and sensitive ways,” Klein said. “It is always going to be about moderation, but it is also recognizing that technology is never going to replace the back-and-forth of that parent-child relationship. It can’t.”