For the past several decades, many parents have tried to prepare their children for success, but the focus has been primarily on academics, such as helping children learn advanced mathematics.
“We’ve been optimizing kids to be more like computers,” Dana Susskind, a pediatric ear, nose and throat specialist, researcher and author of “Human Raised: Nurturing Connection, Curiosity and Lifelong Learning in the Age of AI,” said Wednesday at the Fast Company Innovation Festival.
And while these skills will continue to be useful, she said, in a technology-rich world, AI may handle the types of tasks associated with them in the future.
Instead, what children need to succeed in the future are their unique human skills.
“Connection, critical thinking that allows you to see what’s right and wrong, curiosity, creativity and resilience,” she said, adding that these are “the things that will allow children to thrive in the age of AI.” This is what sets them apart in the world of work.
So how can parents ensure their children are prepared for the future of work? “The best way to prepare your children for a high-tech future is, ironically, to have a low-tech childhood,” she says.
“Make the process as important as the end goal.”
According to Susskind, the following are examples of how parents can foster innate human qualities.
Critical thinking: Inspiring curiosity. If your child asks a question like what is the soil in the backyard made of, encourage them to try to figure it out instead of leaving it up to AI or Google. “Make the process as important as the end goal. That’s the answer,” Susskind told CNBC Make It.Creativity: Scarcity can be a great catalyst for creativity, she says. Cultivating it is as easy as creating a context and playing around with just a few analog items. “Cardboard boxes are probably the most powerful stimulant for creativity,” she says as an example. Empathy: If you’re reading a book with your child, discuss the different characters and their motivations. If your child’s friends are mean to them, check in with them, make them feel seen, and then say something like, “Your friend probably had a really rough day.” Resilience: Similarly, when your child is going through difficult social times, support them through those cycles and let them experience them fully. Try saying something like, “I can be friends with that person, and I don’t have to be friends with them,” says Susskind. “But life goes on and mom and dad love you.”
After all, the best way to be a parent is to make mistakes and model the messiness that comes with being human. Parents’ imperfections, she says, “actually make them perfect.”
