Can AI Make Parenting Easier? According to 500 Babylisters, It Sure Can
Here's how to harness the power of AI for parenting tasks, for everything from grocery lists to personalized lullabies.
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In a recent newsletter, we asked Babylisters, “Do you use AI for parenting tasks?” About 2,500 parents said that they don’t, but 500 do! And their go-to scripts are so brilliant we've included examples below in our roundup of the top nine ways families are using LLMs (large language model). They all focus on one common denominator: making life easier and more enjoyable.
If you’re new to AI, here are some pointers we’ve gathered from Babylisters who love their chatbots to help you get started:
A beginner-friendly chatbot is ChatGPT. (“ChatGPT is my bestie lol”)
Talk to the chatbot like you would a search engine. (“I like to ask questions that are too specific or too vague for Google to an AI engine.”)
Use your chatbot’s output as a starting point. (“I click the links it finds to verify the information and don't take the LLM summary at face value.”)
You can also prompt the chatbot to adjust its output multiple times. (Personalization is a popular draw.)
The mental load of parenting is a great motivator for learning AI. (“What used to take me hours and way more brain space than I had now takes less than 30 mins from start to finish.”)
The more you use a chatbot, the more quickly it’ll be able to customize content for you. (“I've trained my AI assistance on my family medical history so that I can ask it specific questions about our family's health.”)
To see ChatGPT in action, check out this TikTok of a parent using it for the first time to create a meal plan.
And here are the nine most popular ways parents told us they're using AI:
Meal planning & grocery shopping
Parents are creating customized meal plans (and grocery lists!) that account for allergies, ingredients they have on hand, picky toddler preferences and baby-led weaning needs. (Pro-tip: chatbots can sort shopping lists by grocery store sections!)
“By now, ChatGPT knows my wife loathes cilantro, and that we don’t cook with onion or garlic (allergies)… ChatGPT plans weekly menus, I tweak, and then I request a shopping list! Bam. What used to take me hours and way more brain space than I had now takes less than 30 minutes from start to finish.”
“I will often tell it what ingredients I have on hand and ask it to help me come up with easy, baby-led weaning-friendly recipes.”
“Meal planning to make sure my daughter is meeting her daily iron needs.”
Sleep
Lots of people are using AI to develop personalized sleep schedules and gentle sleep training plans, as well as troubleshoot sleep challenges based on their baby's existing patterns. (Or even to figure out what they should be wearing as temps change.)
“I’ve used it to create a sleep training plan that includes a mix of Ferber and Possums approaches.”
“It has helped me plan and track a gentle sleep training approach.”
“Yes, with nap schedules to help me figure out the best naps for the day. But if my baby doesn’t follow the schedule, then I just ask AI to adjust based on their first naps.”
Craft, activity & party inspiration
“Recent example was for some easy and fun activities for a toddler to add whimsy to the garden. I also use it to create a sample monthly themed play plan with activities. During the holidays I use it to plan low-lift but impactful and memorable activities.”
“I’ll enter ‘best rainy day activities for toddlers in (insert place).’”
“I used it to plan my daughter’s first birthday party. Didn’t do everything it recommended, but it was a good idea starter.”
Trips & outings
Standout ideas include generating stroller-friendly itineraries, packing lists for traveling with children and kid-friendly (and budget-friendly) vacation agendas. Parents are also using AI to plan what to pack and wear based on the weather forecast!
“When traveling, I use it ahead of time to develop a talk track about our destination so I can be out family’s tour guide and teach fun facts, history and stories about the places we visit.”
“It helped me prep how many diapers and how much formula to bring on vacation.”
“Vacation planning to make an agenda that works around our nap schedule.”
Schedules
“When it was time for me to go back to work…I wrote down all the times she ate and slept for a week. I then plugged it into ChatGPT and told it to make a schedule based on my baby’s habits.”
“I have been using it for cleaning plans.”
“I’ll send my daily breast pumping output and timing for analysis and planning.”
“Yes! To help me create a schedule as a SAHM.”
Product decisions
“I used it for finding non-toxic products and comparing baby formula ingredients.”
“I recently used Chat GPT to help me narrow down my choices for the best shoes for early walkers.”
“General household sustainability planning for budgeting and moving towards reusable items versus disposables.”
“I’ll ask it when’s the best time to buy different baby products.”
Developmental support
“Sleep and potty training advice: ‘I’ve tried x, y, and z, what should I try next?’”
“When my 5-year-old asks, ‘what does [insert word] mean?’ and I'm stumped, I use AI to figure out an age appropriate way to define the word.”
“Yes! We record important conversations, like with daycare providers and doctors, so we can get complete rundowns, outlines and explanations afterward (and keep them on file).”
Communication
Writing thank you cards, birthday invitations and even drafting important emails to schools or daycares.
“My husband used it for tips on how to talk to grandparents about boundaries.”
It wrote “first birthday invitations and all thank you cards for my baby shower.”
“It helps me write letters to the school when my son’s struggling.”
Entertainment
“I used AI to write me a personalized lullaby for my daughter.”
“Custom bedtime stories!”
“It even cheers me on for being a good mom.”
Related: see what happened when we asked ChatGPT to design baby nurseries.
