Little Dove

Happy Tech Thursday!
Somewhere towards the end of elementary, the game changes. Your kid can actually drive the AI now. They can type their own prompts, push back on the answers, notice when something’s off. That’s exactly why this is the age to practice judgment with you nearby, instead of waiting until they’re sixteen and doing it alone.

So the house phrase shifts from “you drive” to this: attempt first, AI second. They take a real swing at the thing themselves, then AI checks, stretches, or unsticks them. Still side by side. Still out loud. Just with more of the keyboard in their hands.

Six great activities for this age:
• AI scavenger hunt! They hunt down answers, then verify each one against a second source.
• Pressure-test an opinion! They argue their side, AI plays the other. See if their case holds up.
• Design a real science-fair test! Hypothesis, variables and what would prove them wrong.
• Co-write a pick your own adventure. They write the plot and AI fills in the details.
• Build a family quiz night! They research and write the questions, then host it.
• Fact check show down! AI makes 5 claims and you child catches which one is wrong.

Notice the trend: in every one, your tween does the thinking and the AI plays teammate. That last one matters most at this age. AI gets confidently wrong, and a 9 year old who’s caught doing that is a 9 year old who won’t blindly trust it at fifteen.

Kristin Kroll | Little Dove Psychology

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My daughter wanted to help market my practice. So, she did what she seen me preach: She started with her own idea on paper, before she touched any keyboard.

She drew two dogs. A bulldog with his ears down saying “I’m relly relly sad daddy.” and beside him a boxer saying “Ok well, let’s go to Little Dove.” Spelling all on her own. That was the whole pitch and it was better than anything i’d have written in a meeting.

Then we sat down at the laptop together and used AI to turn her drawing into a finished cartoon, same two dogs, same speech bubbles, AI just brought it to life. I drove, she directed. She told me what to fix, what color the boxer should be and which dog looked sad enough. The good idea stayed hers. The AI just stretched it.

This is exactly what I mean when I say AI is something you make with your kid, not something they do alone. For the youngest kids, roughly ages 5 to 8, the goal at this age is not independence…it is wonder and supervision. Three ground rules to make it work: you drive, you keep it in a shared space, and you guess first (ask what they think before you ask the AI).

💡 Five fun ideas AI can be used for as a family!:
1. Make up a bedtime story where they are the hero and they supply the pieces.
2. Run a “Guess first” question machine. They guess, you check together, you model “let’s double check that”.
3. Host a family trivia night about something they love.
4. Plan a silly themed dinner. Then actually make it!
5. Write a goofy song about whatever your household battles over and then sing it together!

Attempt first, AI second. A five year old raised inside that pattern becomes a teenager who uses AI to extend their thinking instead of skipping it.

Dr. Kristin Kroll | Little Dove Psychology

We hold space for the Camp Mystic community and everyone whose lives were forever changed. Grief does not follow a timeline and neither does healing. We remember with compassion, honor those we lost, and extend our hearts to all who continue to carry their memories.

Anniversaries can bring back waves of grief, anxiety, sadness or memories that feel just as present as they did a year ago. Whatever you may be feeling today, know that there is no "right" way to grieve, and healing doesn't follow a timeline.

At Little Dove Psychology, our hearts are with everyone impacted by this tragedy. In honor of those affected, Little Dove is offering pro bono therapy services for individuals who were directly impacted by the Camp Mystic floods.

If you or someone you know could benefit from support, please don't hesitate to reach out. You don't have to carry this alone.

Happy 4th of July! 🇺🇸

Today we celebrate freedom, community, and the opportunity to create meaningful moments with those around us.

From everyone at Little Dove Psychology, we wish you a safe and joyful Independence Day! ❤️🤍💙

Most family tech rules die the same way: written in a moment of worry, too vague to enforce, and forgotten by Thursday. "Use AI responsibly" is not a rule. It's a wish. A nine year old can not act on it, and a sixteen year old will argue it into the ground.

I'm a child psychologist, and I've watched a lot of good parents try to tackle this with bans and lectures. The families who actually get it right do something different. They make the rules specific, developmental, and mutual. They place these rules somewhere everyone can see.

If you set one AI rule in your house, make it this: attempt first, AI second. Your kid tries the problem, drafts the paragraph, sits with the hard question then can use AI to check, stretch, or unstick them. That order is everything. It's offloading the tedious parts instead of outsourcing the thinking itself.

A rule set that holds up covers five things:
• Which tools are okay (and which aren't yet)
• Where AI gets used (common spaces beat closed bedroom doors)
• How long, and when it's off (meals, bedtime, homework cutoffs)
• What it's not for (emotional support, secrets, standing in for real friends)
• What the grown-ups agree to, too (the part most families skip)

And it has to fit the age. What's right for a sixteen year old is wrong for a six year old.

Dr. Kristin Kroll | Little Dove Psychology

💛 Please feel free to drop any questions or concerns you may be having in the comments below!

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“Should my kid use AI?” is the wrong question
A helpful question would be: for what, in what way, and how much of the thinking is it doing for them instead of with them?

Here’s how I teach families to sort it out. Picture AI as a squad with three VERY different members:

🦸 The Sidekick runs the busywork. Formatting, cleaning up a rough draft your kid already wrote,
brainstorming a starter list. He is helpful as long as your child does the thinking first!

🧠 The Mentor sharpens their thinking. It quizzes them, asks “why”. Makes them explain how they
got to their conclusion. This is where the real learning happens.

🔥 The Rival pushes them to level up! It pokes holes in their argument, plays devil’s advocate, raises
the bar so they have to bring their best.

One rule ties it all together: attempt first, AI second. The brain has to do the hard part before the
help shows up.

💛 Save this for the next time your child asks to use AI!

Which teammate does your kid use most? Tell me below.

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Your kid is already using AI. That decision got made — not by you, but by the world they're growing up in.

More than half of teens now use AI chatbots for schoolwork. Researchers have found kids as young as 8 using these tools on their own. And 3 in 4 teenagers have talked to an AI companion.

So the real question was never should my child use AI. It's how — and whether anyone with the right training is helping them do it in a way that makes them sharper instead of smaller.

That's what I'm starting on the blog. It's called Tech Thursdays, and every Thursday I'll give you one clear, usable thing: language that works at your kitchen table, the difference between AI use that builds a developing mind and the kind that quietly erodes it, and tools you can use tonight. No fear. No jargon. No lectures about how everything was better before the phones.

A little about why me: I'm a licensed child psychologist, and I've also trained and evaluated major AI chatbot models from the inside. I'm not a tech evangelist and I'm not a doomsayer. AI is neither a miracle nor a monster — it's a tool that can build a child's mind or bypass it, depending on how it's used. Helping you tell the difference is the whole point.

Read the full launch post and grab two free tools — a 2-minute parent AI check-in and a one-page Family AI Agreement for your fridge:

👉 https://littledovepsychology.com/ai
— Dr. Kristin Kroll, Little Dove Psychology