When my youngest was little, she had a knack for stretching out the bedtime routine. Most of the time, the stretching was due to all the questions:
“Mom, where’s my liver? Mom, how did Noah get the dinosaurs on the ark? Mom…” etc., etc., etc. One night, the tuck-in routine sparked this question: “Mom, what are alien spaceships like?”
Tired and ready to call it a day, I said sharply: “There are no aliens.”
“But mom! How do you know you are right? I mean, how do you KNOW?”
Inching toward the door, I said impatiently, “Hon, there are no aliens. Now, go to bed.”
As the door was closing, my youngest called out, “Siri! What are alien spaceships like?”
I always laugh at that memory, knowing that my daughter was sure AI would give her a better response than her tired mother. Now, several years have passed, and with time, AI has only grown more responsive. Rather than children asking a one-off question, teenagers now inquire of robots more than they do their parents or teachers. Our kids are growing up in a world where AI not only feels normal but has become a kind of companion.
Conversations about AI sound a lot like the early conversations surrounding social media: Do we let our kids use this? Is there long-term damage? Do I need to be afraid?
But AI is not just another screen or app. It speaks, advises, creates, and influences how children think about truth, identity, and relationships. However, Christian parents are not called to panic, but to intentionally disciple their children in wisdom and discernment as they navigate an AI-shaped world.
Disciple Your Children to Pursue Wisdom, Not Just Information
As with smartphones, pretending AI does not exist will do little to protect our children from its influence. AI will inevitably teach and shape children in some way, so parents must intentionally define what is truly valuable before AI defines it for them.
So rather than ignoring it, let’s teach our kids how to utilize it redemptively. That’s easier to say than to do, I understand. But the key in all these hard-to-navigate technological advances is cultivating wisdom, and that requires intentional discipleship.
AI can provide instant answers, but it cannot form character. Wisdom comes through maturity, discernment, humility, and your child’s relationship with Jesus (Prov. 9:10). So, by the grace of God and in his strength, our priority should be teaching our children what it looks like to pursue wisdom.
Sometimes, our actions say that what is most important is our children’s grades and success. Kids learn what matters most by what parents consistently celebrate and prioritize. So, what if, before we praise the “A,” we carefully look for the ways they are acting and responding wisely, and praise them for those things first?
We should help children learn to ask questions like: Is this true? Does this align with Scripture? Who or what is shaping my thinking? This goes such a long way in teaching them how to handle AI carefully. The goal is not simply raising informed kids but raising wise disciples of Jesus.
Disciple Your Children with Intentional Presence
We have a friend who told us that Chat GPT told him his art was “museum quality.” He’s a great artist, but this person’s confidence was boosted because a robot told him what he wanted to hear.
AI imitates relationships without requiring vulnerability, patience, or accountability, and that can be especially dangerous for an adolescent. Parents, this is not where we start panicking. What we can’t do is control all the AI avenues that our children will have access to, especially as they get older. What we can do is teach and model where to find true belonging and identity.
Kids want validation, advice, and emotional support. They will turn to AI for that if we are not prayerfully thinking through how we are cultivating their understanding of belonging through family connectedness, church involvement, and godly friendships.
While children are in your home, prioritize family meals, even if it’s just once or twice a week. And ask the Lord to give you the extra energy needed when they come in for a conversation. I know all too well what it’s like to try and pull words out of a teen all day long, only for him to pepper me with questions at 11:00 p.m. But those are the moments to quietly ask the Spirit for strength and wisdom because nothing can replace that face-to-face conversation.
And parents, prioritize the church—even during the mayhem of teenage schedules. Home and church are two of the primary places for discipleship. They shape your child’s identity. When they are at youth group, in worship, or serving alongside fellow congregants, they are learning that they are deeply known and loved by God. Sure, monitor screen time, but put the same amount of energy into cultivating face-to-face connections. When that sense of belonging happens in person, the affirmation through algorithms will become less and less appealing.
Disciple Your Children Through Honest Conversation
The answer to AI is not fear or avoidance, but intentional discipleship. You don’t need to become a technology expert, but it’s important to ask honest questions and model prayerful discernment.
Sometimes we avoid conversations with teens about things that we just don’t quite know how to handle. That’s natural, but the more we can openly talk with them about how they have used it, how you have used it, what they think about it, and what the pitfalls might be, the better we can help each other when it comes to AI (yes, our children can help us in this area!).
As their parent, it’s also very appropriate to establish family expectations and boundaries around AI. But the boundaries are more likely to be followed if open conversation precedes laying down the rules.
This can all feel like “the right parenting strategies to survive AI.” Parents, there is no “right” way to go about this hard and high calling of parenting. The hope for our children is not found in perfect rules, in constant monitoring, or in raising kids who handle technology flawlessly. Our hope is ultimately in Christ, who came for sinners like you and me. Because of the gospel, we don’t disciple from fear but from confidence that Jesus is at work in the hearts of our children. Even in this rapidly changing world, he remains the source of true wisdom and lasting identity.
As Paul says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Rom. 12:2). In a world shaped by AI, children are constantly discipled toward convenience and instant gratification. As Christians, may Jesus give us his grace to cultivate minds and hearts shaped first by Christ, his truth, and embodied relationships.
The Rooted Parent Podcast aims to equip and encourage parents as they disicple their children to lifelong faith in Jesus. Tune in as Cameron Cole and Anna Meade Harris apply gospel truth to the pressing issues of parenting.
