The recent hype around AI is undeniable, but for many busy parents juggling work, home, and family life, AI might feel like just another tech trend that doesn’t have a place in an already packed schedule. While the internet is full of amusing AI-generated images of cats eating pancakes on the moon, the practical applications for AI tools to make daily life easier are still shrouded in mystery. It may not be immediately clear how AI can help make life easier, especially for those with limited free time to research and learn these new tools.
So, this Father’s Day, we’re taking a look beyond the hype and exploring the many ways AI can be used, not just for fun, but as a powerful tool to make life as a parent and caregiver easier. Here are five ways dads and other caregivers can use AI to make their family life run more smoothly:
Lightening the Mental Load of Family Management
As we mentioned in a previous blog post, Can AI Apps Help Carry the Mental Load for Moms? there are several startups with apps designed as “family assistants.” The features include calendar management (for juggling playdates, camp sign ups, PTA meetings and more) as well as creating shared to-do lists and personalized reminders. The apps promise to alleviate the mental load of parenting, ensuring you don’t miss a soccer game or forget to buy a birthday cake.
Helping Parents Help with Homework
When kids are in younger grades, helping with homework can be straightforward: If Miguel has 2 dolls and Clara has 8 dolls, how many dolls are there? But as they progress to higher grades and more challenging curricula, homework can be challenging for both students and parents. Parents can turn to generative AI apps for help, not by providing answers as a search engine would, but by asking for step-by-step instructions on how to apply concepts to solve the problems, as explained in this experiment from New America’s Better Life Lab.
Boosting Creative Brainstorms
After a long day of work meetings, school drop-offs and pickups, making dinner, and completing necessary household errands and chores, it can be hard for parents to fire up creative juices. But sometimes, ahead of a long weekend or an upcoming birthday party, it’s required. And it’s a good place for generative AI apps to step in and help. Using prompts like “My daughter is turning eight. She really likes soccer and sharks. Help brainstorm possible party themes and games” can be a great first step to planning the best birthday bash. Generative AI apps can also help a creatively struggling parent come up with epic bedtime stories to help the kids wind down for bed. The possibilities for being creative with AI are endless.
Paving the Way for Health and Wealth
Worrying about finances or health can easily distract working parents from spending quality time with their children, not to mention poorly managing finances or not taking care of your health could lead to negative outcomes for the whole family. Increasingly, AI-powered personal finance apps are coming online with real-time tracking, automated spending categorization, and personalized insights to help users budget better. At the same time, new and legacy fitness apps are integrating AI to provide personalized recommendations, workouts, and diet recommendations. Generative AI apps can also help you create budget friendly meal plans, alleviating the mental load of meal planning while saving you some money.
Teaching Responsible AI Practices
Although AI can offer many benefits, it is crucial that we understand the risks associated with using any technology. By using AI responsibly, dads and other caregiving adults can set an example for how children should interact and use this new technology. This can include reviewing data privacy policies, and limiting what personal data you share with an AI app, particularly when it involves sensitive personal information. It can also include explaining to your children what AI can help with–like automatically adding events to your calendar or suggesting birthday gift ideas–and importantly, what it can’t. There will be times when looking up a question is more appropriate for a search engine, or a specific news site. And there will be times that asking a person, like a parent, doctor, or trusted adult, is more appropriate than asking the internet at all.
This Father’s Day, and everyday, consider how these AI tools and tips can help you get back to what matters most, spending more time with family. By saving you time and mental bandwidth, AI can make life just a little bit easier. And, by thoughtfully embracing AI tools, busy caregivers can not only alleviate the stress of raising a family but can also demonstrate how to use new technologies safely and responsibly.
