Everyone’s Talking About AI. Nobody’s Explaining It to Us.
The newsletter I looked for and couldn’t find, so I built it for us.
The other night my 6-year-old was on the floor with a dry erase board, mapping out every way to get to each number from 0 to 10. He’d learned it in school that week. But on a random Thursday night, totally unprompted, he was going at it on his own.
He kept looking up at me like he’d cracked some kind of code. “Do you SEE the pattern?!”
I loved it. I was so proud of him.
And then my brain did the thing it does. I thought, is this even going to matter? Will he need to know how to add when AI can do this in a millisecond? Is what he’s learning right now actually going to be relevant by the time he’s working?
That thought hit me harder than it should have. Because I work with AI. Every day. I’m not a developer or an engineer, but I use it constantly. I use it to build financial models, stress-test strategies, run scenarios for businesses. It’s my job to figure out how these tools create value.
And I still had no idea what my own kid needs to be ready for.
That’s when I realized, if I’m confused, someone who works in this every single day, what about every other parent out there? The ones who keep hearing “AI is going to change everything” but are getting hit from every direction with information and opinions and noise and honestly have no way to figure out what’s actually relevant to them and their family?
There's no shortage of people talking about AI right now. The problem isn't that no one is explaining it. The problem is that there's SO much out there, and most of it is either too technical, too salesy, or just not written for someone who's trying to raise kids and build a career at the same time — someone who doesn't have endless weekend hours to spend vibe-coding their way through it.
I am constantly thinking about this stuff. Reading about it, testing new models and applications, trying to understand what this shift means for me, my career, my wider family’s careers, what my kids need to learn, how much they should be exposed to, what opportunities are out there, and candidly, what threats.
It can be overwhelming. And I know if it’s overwhelming for me, it’s probably 10x that for parents who aren’t spending hours a week going down this rabbit hole.
So I wanted to build something that takes what I’m learning and shares it in a way that actually makes sense for us. That’s what AI After Carpool is.
It’s the conversation I’m pretty sure a lot of parents are having in their heads after work, off the clock, in the quiet before the after-school chaos starts. The “wait, should I be paying more attention to this?” moment. I want to take that feeling and turn it into something useful you can actually do something with.
Short, honest, no fluff. Just me figuring this out in real time and sharing what I learn so you don’t have to spend the hours I’m spending.
I don’t have all the answers. But I use AI every day for work, I’m raising kids, and I’m figuring this out right alongside you. I just happen to be a few steps ahead on the learning curve.
Here’s what I keep coming back to from that night with my son. Yeah, he was learning to count. But more than that, he was teaching himself how to notice things. How things connect. Where the pattern hides.
The math was how he got there, but the real skill was the curiosity and the willingness to dig in.
And that skill, knowing how to see what’s underneath, is one of the most important things we can have in a world where machines are about to do the surface-level work for us.
That’s the kind of stuff I want to dig into with you. Not only “here’s how AI works.” But “here’s what this means for the people you’re raising and the life you’re building.” Practical. Real. The way I’d explain it if we were standing outside school waiting to grab the kids.
What’s Coming
I’m going to cover a wide range here, from the super basic to the stuff that’s going to make you want to text your group chat immediately. Here’s a taste:
• A cheat sheet I put together that breaks down the most common AI tools, how safe they are for kids, and what they're actually doing with your data, plus what to look for when evaluating any new tool that pops up
• Why Mac Minis are sold out everywhere right now (hint: it involves something called Open Claw and it’s a bigger deal than most people realize)
• Some of the creepy tools your kids might already be exposed to, and what to actually do about it
• How to start using AI yourself and with your kids so you’re not just reading about this world, you’re actually in it
The goal is to make this fun and exciting, not doom and gloom. There is SO much opportunity here and I want us to be ready for it.
Next week, I’m digging into the question I can’t stop asking myself: “Should I actually be worried about this?” No buzzwords, no panic. Just a real answer from someone figuring it out right alongside you.
If you know another parent who’s been quietly wondering the same things, forward this to them. That’s how we build this together.
I’ll see you after carpool.
Danielle