Comment by alphazard
5 days ago
The app itself is a great idea, but looking through the demo video I see lots of bad "tiger parent" memes. I don't think that I would want to force a child to do these sorts of tasks in a regimen, or be forced as a child to perform them.
The demo video (which does showcase the app well), includes things like chess and piano and homework. Does the child like doing any of these? Have you vetted the homework as worth the child's time?
Missing from the list are things that translate to adulthood, like physically training every day and performing useful tasks like chores in exchange for something like money. You have to exercise as an adult even if you don't want to, it's part of the human condition. If you don't become accustomed to conditioning as an adolescent and only exercise through sports, it can be difficult to stay fit as an adult. You have to perform useful work because we live in a world of scarcity, but doing hobbies that don't interest you because they impress people or your parents told you to do them as a child is absolutely nuts.
I should add: I'm not criticizing your parenting decisions, obviously I have none of the relevant context, but I thought I would convey a sentiment that may exist in your market demographic, which you maybe don't share.
>Have you vetted the homework as worth the child's time?
If the homework isn't worth the child's time, what do you suggest? Don't do it and get a bad grade? Parent does it for the child? Ask AI to do it? (That would still take time and thus should probably be on the schedule.) Talk to the teacher to ask it not be done?
I talked to my kids' teachers about their homework and just told them I didn't believe in homework for younger kids and they wouldn't be doing it unless they were falling behind and needed practice. Some teachers were a bit taken aback but I didn't get any real pushback.
The best long term answer is to seek schooling that doesn't assign busy work. If you really want to take your child's education seriously then homeschooling, private schooling, and manipulating the school board all have to be on the table.
If the child is old enough, you could explain that the homework is not useful to them, and try to turn it into a teachable moment about manipulating systems for one's advantage. Then delegate the homework to AI, or lookup the answers online. I would be very cautious about doing that with a young child, there's a lot of nuance. Dishonesty towards friends and family is always bad, towards bureaucracies is okay.
The crucial adult skill is to not tolerate useless work. If you become complacent with doing work that doesn't help anyone, then you considerably increase your risk of losing employment, or being ineffective when working solo. AI is going to force this lesson on the next generations.
Fair points, and I appreciate the candid feedback. The demo tasks were chosen to showcase different task types (timed, photo-proof, etc) rather than being prescriptive about what kids should do. But I can see how it reads as "tiger parent starter pack"
For context: my older son genuinely enjoys chess and piano, and this structured schedule approach was recommended by their child psychologist. We tried paper-based scheduling but it didn't stick, so my wife asked me to build an app to help
Your point about useful adult skills is well taken. The hope is they internalise the habit of planning and following through, so eventually they can set their own schedules. We'll see how it goes
I would study what you're apparently intent on ignoring: that kids and screens do not mix well and reduces their ability to engage with the more complex aspects of reality. Do you want automatons or fundamentally happy beings?
“A growing body of evidence has found that children’s brains can structurally and functionally change due to prolonged media multitasking, such as diminished gray matter in the prefrontal cortex, where attentional control and complex decision making abilities reside, among other really important skills, like the development of empathy and understanding nonverbal social communication,”
There are over 300 studies detailing how early screen use damages children's brains and impairs their ability to reason and relate to others. How engineers ignore this is incredible.
https://www.childrenandscreens.org/learn-explore/research/?t...
The scientific reality of loss of gray matter in children from screen use can't be downvoted away.
Perhaps this is how engineering is forced to change its tune: the irreversible damage to children.