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"I'm torn about this."

I'm not. Keep AI the hell away from teaching children.

I respect that. What would you do to teach your kids advanced math, electrical engineering ?

Does your recommendation hold with a full time job ?

My kids are rapidly approaching an age where they should be experimenting, and I can't offer any solutions short of involving AI in some way.

> At some point, you need to watch out for cynical/nasty series. In fact, all of the books we purchase are ranked against peers they have read in the past, or those we know to actively avoid buying due to cynicism, sarcasm, or open disdain towards adults (Wimpy Kid).

This is interesting because when I was 7-8 my mum just recommended me whatever books she was reading, some of which were quite... adult in retrospect, and I turned out mostly well-adjusted.

Kids aren't LLMs, they know that what they're reading is fiction. Maybe reading something like that would be a fun way to start a conversation about it?

>>> Kids aren't LLMs, they know that what they're reading is fiction

My comment was not one-dimensional. Its not that they can't tell the difference between realitiy and fantasy.

Every kid is build differently. It sounds cliche, but it is not. Some are incredibly resilient, some are extremely sensitive. Think Briggs Myers = some extremely concrete-driven, others perceiving. My recommendation was built on experiences that worked for all kids, the concrete and teh perceiving, the sensitive and aloof, which means you must consider all dimensions of a kid when sharing books with them.

Reality matters little when mimicking behavior. Kids will learn to respond with "This is stupid!" when they are given specific books.

Can a resilient kid capture that this is unacceptable ? Some will. OK, but why risk it ? We are talking about your lifelong companions here. Potential best friends. Caretakers.

Parenting is hard. There will be a time for risks.

> At some point, you need to watch out for cynical/nasty series. In fact, all of the books we purchase are ranked against peers they have read in the past, or those we know to actively avoid buying due to cynicism, sarcasm, or open disdain towards adults (Wimpy Kid).

yeah how do you "know" this? our kid is obsessed with wimpy kid and a few other similar series and "cynicism" nails it perfectly, is there a list? of what's known to be "cynical" and what's not?

Funnily enough, I was using ChatGPT for the same purpose a week or so ago. You can ask something like:

> I'd like recommendations for book series that avoid self-pity, misanthropy, nihilism, and over-indulgence in self-identity analysis. Lessons on character building and virtue can be present but ideally without overt moralizing. Characters should simply inspire through their actions. Starting from Curious George, and working toward things like LotR. Background themes should lay the groundwork for stoic and transcendental philosophy later.

If you then ask for series to avoid, at least in my session Wimpy Kid is explicitly named. Or more succinctly it basically told me I want pre-1970s children's literature and adventure fiction and stay away from contemporary school-market YA.

Earlier poster nailed it. LLMs are a godsend here.

There are tons of parents that have traveled this road before you and I. LLMs leverage this data. Its just a matter of writing a decent prompt, and recycling it.

Cynicism, Disrespect, Bullying, Violence, Sarcasm.

Wimpy Kid is a valid gateway drug if your kids refuse to pick up any books. But in my opinion, its a break-the-glass situation.

Its the book you buy only because nothing else will stick (options have been tried and failed).

EDIT:

>>> At some point around age 9,you will need to decide if violence and some adult themes, are tolerable (Dragon Wing series).

I am sorry. I mixed up series.

The series I was alluding to in my comment above, as the "grey" area for violence, death, and some adult themes is "WINGS OF FIRE " , not "DRAGON WINGS"

Dragon Wing series as top 5 as the most wholesome series for U8s , along with MAGIC TREEHOUSE etc.

Apologies for confusing dragons :)

This sounds psychotic. An over-controlling fedora's approximation of what good academic parenting looks like. You just want to create your D&D partner. You'll probably succeed lol.

Do you let your kids eat candy for lunch? DO they eat pizza for breakfast ?

If not, why not ? Aren't you managing their food intake ?

So, what's so different from managing their information diet ?

The self-servedness vs intensity of the management of said goal is what is different. Wanting your child to be healthy is good. Steering your child to be a D&D player is questionable.

Not every parent has the time or energy to do so, but i certainly thought i was on the more relaxed end of parenting. I'm glad i appear to be different online! I will take the intensity of my parenting as a compliment.

PD - I never played D&D. If there were any non-RPG games that were extremely plot driven or written, i'd be all over them.

Action games turn out to be heavy on clicking, low on reading.

"I never played D&D"

Im glad you feel enough shame for this bold-faced lie

Children are going to witness or experience violence at some point or ask questions about it. They will probably see some at school. I think it depends when and how you introduce it. For example, there is a heavy focus on refugees in western schools and media, but at some point a child is eventually going to have to ask what refugees are running from. (Torture and violence.) It's hard to avoid discussing violence in the context of history, or even when bullying comes up.

You’re not claiming that most refugees are running from torture are you?

Most are economic refugees running TOWARDS a better economic outcome than is available in their home country.

Economic migrants are not refugees, except if they are fleeing drought or famine.

the EU thinks otherwise

Then Dubai is full of European and Australian refugees.

Children are a lot less fragile than parents think they are.

It's not fragility. Children are very adaptive and keen learners. Leading them to be easily conditioned and flipped.

Naivety is a learning mechanism which is part of human psychology and sociology of living. Where if the wrong conditions are brought to the child at a young age; it won't affect them in their now. The repercussions from the negative conditioning does surface later yet having a detrimental effect later on in their life.

I walk home from work and see toddlers with tablets, a digital nanny while the parents push the stroller as they tap on their own phone themselves. It's unlikely they know what content they're watching.

That is however the prime time where they should be interacting with their child. The child is observing everything around them and you should be engaging there observations.

The current and upcoming generations that grew up with a device in hands are now are discovering that they have range of issues from anxiety, trauma, even disassociation. Attention spans are at a whole new low and AI is exploiting that.

We have no idea nor studies how AI will affect children and if we are already starting to see that constant exposure on mature adults causes "Ai psychosis". How will it be any better for children?

It's not necessarily wrong and could be seen as exciting in many ways. It could reach the child in ways that traditional education does not because teaching is subjective. Some children are academic, some are practical, some are both.

With the unmediated push of current AI, Tablets with AI and negative environmental values; it is going to be horrifically damaging for the child later on in life.

All it takes is a toddler to press a button that spawns Ai to peddle misinformation via enhanced subliminal visuals and sounds as evidenced by current younger generations.

It's no fault of their own and you could argue that all devices have the same effect however the earlier were more tightly mediated for which you could turn off.

Offtopic, but if by "Dragon Wing series" you are referring to the Death Gate Cycle by Weis & Hickman, it has been beloved to me since I read it as a teen in the 90s. I have gone through this entire series at least 3 times despite not usually re-reading books, and I feel like it holds up.

I think it also influenced a lot of work which came afterward.

Dragon Wing is great. It is a high recommend for early book readers.

I got my series mixed up . My intent , was to say WINGS of FIRE, is more adult themed and higher violence. APologies for the confusion

> At some point around age 9,you will need to decide if violence and some adult themes, are tolerable (Dragon Wing series).

I remember playing GTA 4 when I was like 7 or 8. good times... not much books though.

but like... avoid buying due to sarcasm...? what?

Grok?!?!