By Guest Author Julie Braumberger

When I was teaching third grade, I never imagined I would someday have to think about whether a student had written an assignment, or whether a computer had written it for them.

Today, artificial intelligence can answer questions, summarize information, generate stories, solve problems, and help children brainstorm in seconds. Our children are growing up with access to tools that would have seemed impossible when many of us were their age.

As both an educator and the mother of college-age daughters, I don’t think the answer is to pretend AI isn’t here. It is here and it is not going away. The bigger question is: What do our children need from us because it is here?

I keep coming back to the human skills that our children will always need: empathy, judgment, critical thinking, relationship-building, and the ability to consider how our choices affect other people.

When the Answer Is Always Available…

For parents and educators, one of the challenges of AI is that it can make getting an answer incredibly easy. But learning isn’t only about getting the answer.

The American Psychological Association (2026) reported that educational technology can sometimes help students get the right answer or finish a task more quickly without necessarily helping them truly learn the material. A better sign of learning is when students can use what they know on their own, without relying on the technology.

Think about two third graders arguing because one grabbed a marker from the other. I could solve that problem in ten seconds: Give the marker back. Problem solved. Or is it?

A more valuable approach takes longer. What happened? How were you feeling? How do you think your classmate felt? What could you do differently next time?

Those questions require children to pause, listen, consider another person’s perspective, and decide what to do next. AI can generate an answer to a problem. Our children still need opportunities to think through problems themselves. That means we shouldn’t be too quick to remove every struggle, at school or at home. We should give the encouragement and space to do the important thinking work before making a choice.

Schools Play an Important Role

As AI becomes more common in education, schools will understandably need policies about when and how students should use it. But the conversation must go beyond whether AI is allowed or not on an assignment. We should also be asking: What thinking do we still need children to do for themselves? When will we give them that space and support for that thinking to occur?

Parents Play an Important Role

Parents should be asking: How is AI being used in my child’s classroom? When are children expected to complete work without it? How are students learning to check AI-generated information for validity and also, who benefits from the information and what or where the original source of information might come from? In addition to digitally-influenced work, are children still getting opportunities to write, create, discuss, solve problems, and make mistakes independently?

UNESCO’s  (2023) recommends that schools use AI in ways that are appropriate for a child’s age and that support their learning and development, rather than simply using new technology because it is available. Children need opportunities to wonder, make mistakes, disagree respectfully, create something without knowing exactly how it will turn out, listen to another person’s ideas, and change their minds when they learn something new.

They also need to learn to question information. Who created this? Is it accurate? What might be missing? Can I verify it somewhere else? Does this sound right? Those skills matter whether the information comes from AI, social media, a website, or another person.

What Parents Can Do Now

We don’t have to wait until children are old enough to use AI independently to prepare them for an AI-driven world. When a six-year-old pauses instead of grabbing a toy, that’s a practice in judgment. When a child notices that a friend looks sad and asks if they’re okay, that’s empathy. When children work through a disagreement instead of immediately asking an adult to fix it, they’re building relationship skills. When they ask, “How do you know that’s true?” they’re beginning to think critically. 

These ordinary childhood moments matter. Before solving a problem, ask your child, “What do you think you could do?” When you encounter information together, ask, “How could we find out if that’s true?” When something is difficult, give your child enough time to struggle, try, make a mistake and try again before stepping in.

And Parents Have to Practice, Too

My daughters are in college now and living away from home, and so many of our conversations happen through text. Texting creates its own challenges. A short answer can sound angry when someone is simply rushing to class. No answer can feel personal when someone is just busy. And then there’s the famous: “I’m fine.” AI could probably generate a perfectly worded response. But it doesn’t know my daughter the way I do. It can’t hear the hesitation in her voice or understand the history behind a particular situation. Sometimes I text back. Sometimes I call. And sometimes I ask, “Do you want help thinking this through, or do you just need me to listen?”

That requires something technology cannot give me (or her). Technology can’t determine the tone of voice or her personality. It also reminds me that parents have some practicing to do ourselves. Can I pause? Can I listen instead of fixing? Can I trust my daughter to work through something? Can I recognize when she actually does need my help?

Raising Humans Who Will Use Technology Wisely

Our children will probably use AI in ways we can’t yet imagine.

Trying to prepare them for every new tool is impossible. Preparing them to be thoughtful human beings isn’t. We can raise children who know how to pause, question, listen, empathize, reconsider, create, and make thoughtful choices.

AI will continue to change the tools our children use.

Our opportunity is to invest ourselves in developing the human beings who will use them wisely.

Resources:

1. UNESCO’s  (2023) Guidance for generative AI in education and research.
2. American Psychological Association (2026) Children’s and adolescents’ learning with educational technology.

Julie Braumberger is the Director of Education at Mind Body Align and is the co-author of the Labyrinth Adventures, 32-book series for children and curriculum. She earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Notre Dame College and is a certified K-8 school teacher. When she is not at work, Julie spends time at home in Ohio with her family, including her husband, a fellow teacher, and her two college-age children.