Help Your Child Use AI Safely & Confidently
AI is already part of your child’s school life, social life, and creative life. This is your guide to understanding it, setting healthy boundaries, and having the conversations that matter to ensure your child’s safety while using AI.
Did you know?
AI chatbot encourages
teen suicide
A shocking article by the BBC covers how a seemingly happy and popular 14 year old teen in the US was gradually convinced to take his own life by an AI chatbot companion.
The AI Safety Course for Parents
Daily emails prepared specifically to offer short reads (no more than 5 mins each), but packed full of valuable guidance and tips. Everything you need to know to protect your child in the age of AI, written for European families in plain English.
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Day 1
The AI Your Child Is Already Using A clear overview of the AI tools popular with children across Europe, including ChatGPT, Snapchat My AI, TikTok’s recommendation engine, Spotify, and voice assistants, and why understanding them is the first step.
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Day 2
Your Child’s Data and Who Owns It How AI tools collect and store children’s data, what GDPR means for your family (including the 13–16 age of consent rules across EU member states), and practical steps to limit data exposure today.
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Day 3
When AI Gets It Wrong: Misinformation and Hallucinations Why AI confidently produces false information, how this affects children’s learning and worldview, and how to build the habit of healthy scepticism without making your child fear technology.
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Day 4
Deepfakes, Synthetic Images, and Your Child’s Identity AI-generated images and videos of real people (including children), the EU Digital Services Act’s new platform obligations, and practical steps if your child is ever affected.
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Day 5
The Chatbot Companion Problem Children forming emotional bonds with AI personas, the risks to social and emotional development, what European research says, and how to encourage human connection without demonising technology.
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Day 6
AI in the Classroom: Helpful Tool or Homework Machine? How European schools are approaching AI (it varies by country), the line between useful assistance and academic dishonesty, and how to support genuine learning at home.
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Day 7
Designed to Addict: How AI Algorithms Target Your Child Recommendation engines, personalisation loops, and infinite scroll are all engineered to keep children hooked. This email covers which parental controls and screen-time tools actually make a difference.
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Day 8
New Safety Risks in AI-Powered Spaces How AI is enabling new grooming and manipulation tactics online, what European authorities (Europol, national cybercrime units, Internet Matters) recommend, and the right reporting routes if you have concerns.
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Day 9
Having the AI Conversation: At Every Age Age-differentiated conversation guides (7–11, 11–14, 14–18), scripts for the tricky moments, and a simple template for creating your own Family AI Agreement.
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Day 10
Building an AI-Safe Family for the Long Term Staying ahead as AI keeps evolving, trusted European resources for ongoing support (Internet Matters, Childnet International, and national equivalents), and a one-page Family AI Plan to fill in together.
Go Deeper with a Personal Session
The email course gives you the foundation. A coaching session lets you explore whatever matters most to your family, in a focused, private, one-hour conversation with Ian. Available online or in-home.
For Parents
1-Hour Parent Coaching Session
A private 60-minute conversation with Ian to explore any aspect of AI and your family. Ask your questions, share your concerns, and leave with a clear action plan tailored to your child’s age and situation.
Online via video call · In-home at your residence
€50 online · €100 in-home
Enquire →For Families
1-Hour Parent & Child Coaching Session
Bring your child into the conversation. This session is designed for parent and child together, exploring a topic of mutual interest, whether that’s privacy, creative AI tools, online safety, or building healthy AI habits as a family.
Online via video call · In-home at your residence
€50 online · €100 in-home
Enquire →
Our kids interact with AI dozens of times a day.
Yet, most parents aren’t even aware.
“Hi, my name is Ian.
When I read the BBC article above about the 14 year old taking his own life, I was deeply shocked!
Every day, children interact with AI dozens of times, often without their parents realising it. Whether it’s a chatbot on Snapchat, a recommendation algorithm on TikTok, or a “study helper” doing their homework for them.
Behind that convenience sits a set of real risks that most parents, including myself (a father of three daughters), have never been taught to recognise.
Hidden data collection, confident misinformation, AI-generated deepfakes, chatbot companions replacing real relationships, and increasingly sophisticated grooming and exploitation tactics powered by AI.
That’s why I created a 10-day email course, as I wanted to offer something that could help parents close that gap quickly and calmly by giving you clear, practical, non-alarmist guidance.”
Professional Background: Spent over 25 years in the tech industry, of which the last 7 years involved selling AI and data analytics solutions to the world's top performing investment banks and hedge funds.
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to the questions I hear most often from parents.
How is this different from just searching Google for information about AI and children?
A Google search returns a mix of alarmist headlines, highly technical papers, and content written almost exclusively for a US audience. This course is curated, logically sequenced, and written specifically for European families, covering EU law (GDPR and the Digital Services Act), European research, and the tools that are actually popular with children in Europe. You don’t have to piece together information from twenty different sources. It’s all here, in the right order, in plain English.
I’m not a tech person. Will I actually be able to follow this?
Absolutely. The course is written entirely for parents who have no technical background. There’s no jargon, no acronyms, and no assumptions about what you already know. If you can send an email, you can follow this course. I have spent over 25 years translating complex technology into plain language, and that’s exactly what these emails do.
My child is quite young (under 10). Is this still relevant for me?
Yes. AI tools appear in children’s lives much earlier than most parents expect, through voice assistants, recommendation algorithms on YouTube and Spotify, and AI-powered games. The course includes age-specific guidance starting from age 7, and Day 9 gives you conversation scripts tailored to different age groups, including primary school children. If anything, starting early gives you more time to set healthy habits.
What exactly do I receive? Is it videos, a PDF, or something I have to log into?
It’s a 10-day email course: one email lands in your inbox each morning, and each one is a focused read of no more than five minutes. There’s no platform to log into, no app to download, and no videos to sit through. The emails are yours to keep and re-read whenever you like, even after the 10 days are over.
Is this just going to frighten me, or will I actually know what to do by the end?
The goal is to leave you feeling informed and confident, not worried. Every email ends with something practical: a setting to check, a conversation to have, or a simple step to take. My approach throughout is calm and non-alarmist. Most AI tools are genuinely useful for children. The point is to understand the real risks clearly enough to respond to them sensibly, and to ignore the things that aren’t worth worrying about.
What’s the difference between the email course and a coaching session?
The email course covers all the key topics in a structured way: it gives you the full picture across 10 focused reads. A coaching session is different. It’s a private, one-hour conversation with me, built entirely around your family. You bring the questions, the worries, and the specific situation, and I help you work through them with advice tailored to your child’s age, the apps they use, and your particular concerns. Many parents do the course first and then use the session to go deeper on what matters most to them.
Do I need to complete the email course before booking a coaching session?
Not at all. The coaching session is completely standalone and many parents book one without doing the course first. That said, parents who have done the course often find they arrive at the session with much sharper questions, which makes the hour together even more productive. Either approach works.
Do the coaching sessions take place online or can you come to us?
Both. Online sessions take place via video call and can be arranged from anywhere in the world. In-home sessions are available across the Marbella and Costa del Sol area, where I will come to your home at a time that suits you. The in-home option is particularly popular with families who prefer a more relaxed, personal setting, especially when children are involved in the conversation.
What if I’m not happy with the course? Is there a refund policy?
I stand behind my work. If you complete the course and genuinely feel it wasn’t worth your investment, email contact@thedigitalresident.com and I’ll make it right. I’d far rather refund you than have a dissatisfied reader, but the feedback is just as valuable either way, so please do get in touch.