A new AI app or chatbot shows up in your child's world roughly every other week now. You don't need to vet every single one in depth — but a 60-second gut check before the first real use catches most of the trouble before it starts.
1. Does it know it's talking to a child?
Some tools have an actual "kids mode" with tighter guardrails. Many don't, and will happily talk to a 9-year-old exactly as they would an adult. Check the settings before assuming.
2. What happens to what they type?
Look for a plain-language privacy note, not just a legal document. If you can't find one in under a minute, that itself is useful information.
3. Can it pretend to be a person?
Companion-style apps that simulate a friend or relationship deserve a slower, more deliberate conversation than a homework helper does — the emotional stakes are different.
4. Is there an easy way to see what it told them?
Chat history you can review together, after the fact, without it feeling like surveillance, is a good sign the tool was built with families in mind.
5. Would you be comfortable reading the conversation out loud?
This is the fastest test of all. If the honest answer is no, that's worth sitting with before letting the app become a habit.
None of this requires becoming a security expert. It requires ninety seconds of attention at the moment that matters most: the first time.
We walk through exactly this kind of checklist, live, in our workshops — not as a lecture, but as something you practice together in the room.