"Picture this: You finally sit down after a long day. Dinner is done, dishes are soaking (ignored), and someone is crying in the background (possibly you). You pick up your phone because you suddenly remembered you need a birthday message for a class WhatsApp group. Before you can even unlock it, your child appears: "Mom, can I ask ChatGPT something? It understands me.""
"AI has become the modern version of that "helpful neighbor" we didn't ask for. It listens. It offers advice. It remembers things. It never loses patience. (Well... until it hallucinates and tells your child to cut their hair with kitchen scissors because it sounds fun.) And here's the truth: AI isn't going away. It's in homework, social connections, creativity, therapy apps, gaming, school assignments-and, sometimes, in the places it absolutely shouldn't be."
Parents encounter children who turn to AI for understanding, advice, and emotional support in everyday moments. AI functions like an ever-present, patient neighbor that listens, offers guidance, remembers details, and rarely judges. Children report using AI because it understands them, never judges, and feels easier than human conversation. AI appears across homework, social connections, creativity, therapy apps, gaming, and school assignments, sometimes appearing where its influence is inappropriate. Parenting must adapt to teach confidence, critical thinking, emotional skills, and healthy boundaries so children learn to rely on humans as well as technology.
Read at Psychology Today
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