Good Inside with Dr. BeckyA Tween Parenting Shift for the AI Era (Introducing The In-Between Years)
At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Reframing AI fears into connection-first tween parenting strategies and conversations
- Dr. Becky announces a new Good Inside podcast, The In-Between Years, designed to support parents as kids enter more complex tween and teen stages shaped by tech, peers, and identity shifts.
- A parent voices fear about AI and rapidly changing technology, and Dr. Sheryl names the core anxieties: uncertainty, speed of change, and feeling unprepared to protect kids.
- Dr. Sheryl reframes “AI panic” as a broader parenting goal: raising kids who can think critically, distinguish real from fake, and still come to parents when confused or exposed to something unsettling.
- The practical strategy is to lead with curiosity and normalization, offering age-appropriate “sprinkles” of risk awareness while modeling calm, ongoing conversations rather than lectures.
- A key boundary-setting tool is making a “human-first deal,” where parents model seeking advice from trusted people before turning to AI, inviting kids to do the same and use AI together when appropriate.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasThe real issue isn’t AI—it’s raising a kid who can navigate the unknown.
Dr. Sheryl suggests the anxiety underneath AI fears is about kids encountering experiences parents can’t fully control or understand, so the target becomes critical thinking and trust rather than platform mastery.
You don’t need to be a tech expert to parent well in a tech-heavy world.
Parents can stay grounded by focusing less on tool differences (e.g., ChatGPT vs. Claude) and more on relationship habits that keep communication open when new tools appear.
Lead with shared curiosity to prevent secrecy.
Position yourself alongside your child—“Tell me what you know; it’s changing fast”—so AI becomes discussable and your kid is more likely to show you what they’re doing instead of hiding it.
Normalize limited, moderated benefits before addressing risks.
Mention everyday uses (recipes, room design ideas) to set a non-shaming tone, then calmly introduce mild, age-appropriate concerns (e.g., altered images that could hurt feelings).
Dose the conversation to development, not headlines.
At younger ages, keep examples simple and concrete; plan to go deeper as teens mature and encounter more complex situations, rather than front-loading fear-based warnings.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesLearning to live with technology or AI isn't about being an expert in technology or AI. It's about staying connected to your kid.
— Dr. Becky Kennedy
It's really about, how do I raise my kid so that they can think for themselves, so that they can protect themselves, so that they know the difference between, it's not just right and wrong anymore, it's, like, between real and fake.
— Dr. Sheryl Ziegler
So by you saying, "I wanna be ahead of it," it just sounds something like this. "You know what? This might be the year where at school or maybe even with your friends, they might start using something called ChatGPT or Claude," right? Or something like that.
— Dr. Sheryl Ziegler
And you know what? Like, I kinda understand in some ways why people would do that, 'cause it's always there. It's always available. It's never distracted. It gives you usually some pretty good advice, but we don't always know what it's gonna say.
— Dr. Sheryl Ziegler
Your kids don't need you less. They need you differently.
— Dr. Becky Kennedy
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