For some parents, many aspects of parenting feel intuitive. We develop parenting skills by reflecting on our own experiences, applying the social and emotional knowledge we’ve acquired during our lives and observing and communicating with other parents.
But most parents encounter situations they find challenging or are unsure how to navigate. In these cases, we often – and should – reach out for support.
Parenting can become especially challenging when mental health issues, young people’s experiences, or social conditions create situations that are outside of our own experiences and knowledge, and we feel unequipped to cope with. It can also become harder when our own experiences or events within the family make it harder for us to parent in the way we want to.
Parenting challenges can also arise because of the complexity and intensity of daily life: the balancing of work and family life, the fulfilment of different responsibilities, and the practical requirements of parenthood. These stressors can impact other aspects of parenting, including emotional support and parent-child relationships.
When parents face these challenges, it’s important to look for sources of support. In recent years, AI-powered resources have emerged as a tool that may assist parents in some of their parenting responsibilities. However, while AI-assisted programs may be valuable in providing specific kinds of support, over-reliance on AI can be harmful, especially if it’s used as a replacement for human connection or professional help.
This blog explores the benefits, limits, and dangers of AI-assisted parenting tools. It also touches on the professional support programs that can help bring parents back into their parenting role and transform family relationships.
How Might AI Support in Parenting Teens?
Advocates of AI believe that it can support parents in various ways, from helping to organise their own schedules to guiding the educational support they offer to a young person. AI can be considered a practical tool that can make the organisational tasks of parenting easier and aid with time management, giving parents more free time and energy for other aspects of parenting and everyday life.
It may also constitute a type of self-help tool, helping parents to access specialised information about parenting and develop certain skills.
Coordinating Schedules and Activities
Parenting involves many different types of skills and tasks. Alongside boundary setting, emotional support, and role-modelling, parenting also requires a lot of practical work. Parents may have to organise meals, transport to and from school, and accompaniment during activities alongside their personal responsibilities, commitments, and needs.
Often, scheduling and coordinating these responsibilities is a task in itself that adds additional stress to daily life. In this context, AI may support parents in creating schedules that effectively and efficiently organise daily routines to ensure every family member’s needs are covered. While it may seem simple, well-organised days can free up energy and time for parents, improving their well-being and allowing them to focus on other aspects of parenting.
AI-Powered Homework and Educational Support
Parents can support teenagers’ education in many ways, from directly offering homework support to organising additional learning when it’s desired or needed. New AI-powered programs may offer support in these tasks, helping teenagers through challenging homework tasks or providing virtual learning sessions.
Unlike older systems, AI-powered systems are often more able to personalise learning according to each young person’s learning style, knowledge gaps, and other educational needs.
Well-known learning platforms such as Duolingo and Khan Academy already use AI algorithms to customise content according to young people’s learning pace and preferences.
AI-Based Parenting Coaches
AI-powered programs have also been developed to support parents in developing parenting techniques and skills. AI-based parenting coaching has the potential to provide parents with specialised assistance tailored to their family’s needs.
These programs can take into account the composition and history of a family, the specific dynamics of the family system, and the difficulties a family is facing when offering advice. This means that advice and support may be more relevant to parents’ real experiences than previous self-help resources.
What Are the Limits of AI-Assisted Parenting Support?
It’s crucial to keep in mind, however, that AI-powered programs are not a substitute for professional support or social and emotional support from friends and other family members.
AI-assisted programs are best understood as a self-help tool, in the same category as self-help CBT or DBT therapy courses or psychoeducation resources. They can provide valuable information for parents, as well as exercises that can support the development and reinforcement of useful skills and techniques.
AI-assisted programs, however, can not provide the same insight into a family’s experience as a mental health professional, nor the same level of nuanced expertise. They also lack the element of human connection, which is fundamental to therapeutic programs.
The relationship between parents and a therapist, in parenting skills training, family therapy, or other modalities, often provides a space for the transference of relationship patterns that may be replicated elsewhere in the family. Within therapist-family relationships, these patterns can be identified and challenged before applying the lessons to different settings.
But perhaps most importantly, AI-assisted programs cannot provide the broader benefits of human connection, such as feelings of security, a sense of belonging to a community, a sense of shared experience, or a feeling of being cared for. This requires genuine relationships with others, whether it be a therapist, other families taking part in group therapy programs, or, indeed, non-professional support from loved ones or community figures.
If young people or families have experienced trauma or other mental health challenges, they should always seek professional support.
When Can AI Be Harmful for Parents?
AI starts to become harmful when parents try to use it as a replacement for professional or community support. In these cases, it not only becomes a barrier to effective help but also starts to degrade the quality of our relationships with others and the closeness of communities. Over-reliance on AI and other technologies makes us more isolated from one another, gradually degrading family relationships, friendships, and community connections.
AI can also be harmful if parents use it uncritically, without questioning the information it shares or the assumptions and conclusions it makes about parents’ experiences. AI can make mistakes, and in some cases may offer false information or direct parents towards unhelpful resources. Parents using AI-assisted programs should always maintain a critical mindset and reach out to friends or professionals if they’re unsure about the information they receive.
What Kinds of Therapeutic Programs Can Support in Parenting Teens and Young People?
When parents come to us at The Wave Clinic, they often speak about the loss of their parenting role. They may feel like they’ve moved into the role of a therapist, a doctor, or a social worker.
When young people develop mental health disorders or when families experience instability and trauma, parents can feel unequipped and unsure of what boundaries to set and how to care for their child.
Parenting skills training and family therapy can support parents in moving back into the role of the parent, setting boundaries, and reorganising family structures to nurture each family member’s well-being. They can provide parents with the tools and skills they need to support a young person’s recovery while improving relationships with one another.
Parenting Skills Training
Parenting skills training helps parents develop the skills they need to support a young person’s recovery. Skills training sessions may be individual or in groups with other parents.
Skills training may use a variety of different techniques and draw upon various therapeutic approaches, including cognitive-behavioural therapy and dialectical-behavioural therapy.
Parenting skills sessions may include:
- Practising validation of the self and others, mindfulness, and self-acceptance to reduce the intensity of conflicts and harmful behaviours
- Developing motivational interviewing techniques to encourage positive change
- Learning skills to manage emotions and prevent conflicts from escalating
- Balancing boundary setting with autonomy
- Understanding how intergenerational trauma impacts the family
The Wave Clinic: Transformative Recovery Programs for Young People and Families
The Wave Clinic offers specialist mental health support for children, teenagers, young adults, and families. We take a whole-person approach to mental health support, emphasising how past experiences and social systems shape the way young people think, feel, and act.
We offer a diverse selection of evidence-based modalities, delivered by a team of experts from around the world. We provide residential, intensive outpatient, and outpatient care.
Our parenting and family intensives combine the lessons of months of outpatient therapy into a few days or weeks. We support parents in developing practical strategies to move back into their parenting roles while understanding why certain dynamics have developed. We also offer intensive programs with a specific focus on deceptive and compulsive sexual behaviours and family trauma.
If you’re interested in finding out more about our programs, send us an email, text, or message today.
