One of the worst things about the public education system is how entirely disconnected it actually is from the real world.
Kids spend thousands of hours memorizing information, completing assignments, and taking tests—but all any of that “work” actually prepares them for is success within academia.
Very little of the 12 years they spend in a classroom is spent preparing them for success outside of school. They learn virtually nothing of incentives, money, entrepreneurship, or real-world decision-making. They certainly don’t learn how to think critically.
And yet those are the things that will actually determine their ability to thrive as adults.
Worse, kids are often punished for mastering the tools that successful people use in the real world.
Artificial intelligence is a great example.
Instead of teaching kids how to master this tool, most schools are trying to ban its use outright.
Students get punished for experimenting with AI the same way earlier generations were punished for sneaking a calculator into a math quiz.
(Sorry Mrs. Jones, but yes… I actually DO have a calculator in my pocket at all times, and it has made my life infinitely better.)
It’s the same pattern we’ve seen over and over again: schools trying to slow down technology that’s already changing everything, all to maintain the status quo—to keep from having to actually prepare students for the world they're inheriting.
The system would rather punish innovation than examine why its methods can’t adapt.
The good news is that parents are under no obligation to participate.
I’ve always been an adopter of emerging technologies. I think one of the best gifts we can give our kids is the curiosity and courage to try new things. History shows that the people who learn to use powerful tools first are usually the ones who shape the future, and I don’t want my kids missing out on that opportunity.
Too many educators seem to place virtue in taking the path of Blockbuster Video, and that’s not the future most of us actually want for our kids!
When institutions refuse to adapt to disruptive technologies, they quickly become irrelevant.
And the public education model repeatedly shows us how determined it is not to be useful in any meaningful way.
But fear not! Because even if your kids attend traditional public schools, you can still dramatically expand their education at home without any expensive curriculum or special tools.
Things like nightly dinner-table conversations, shared hobbies and projects, and weekend trips listening to podcasts and discussing them, all add up to a lifetime of serious parental influence on the way kids learn and think and believe.
Adopting new technologies in your home can make the conversations you’re already having with your kids even more powerful.
Instead of approaching AI like schools do—like something dangerous or immoral or a “cheat”—, parents should be looking at it as a tool for teaching their kids how to think better and ask better questions.
I use it to design thought experiments for mine, and it’s been such a game-changer in our house!
Not only are my kids learning how to use this new tool that is absolutely changing the world, but it’s leveling up the conversations we’re having as a family.
A lot of people my age and older haven’t spent much time using AI for more than social media photo trends or quick lookups. They often even have a negative view of it because of things they’ve read or seen. But I hate to see anyone I can reach ever miss out on learning new skills, or adopting innovative ways of improving their lives, so I put together a quick reference for anyone who wants to try making their pocket robot actually go to work for them.
Here are ten prompts parents can try right now that open the door to some of the most important conversations kids can have about money, freedom, entrepreneurship, and personal responsibility, and if you want to take the lesson further, I’ve connected each prompt to a Tuttle Twins story that helps reinforce the things you’ll be learning!
The Parent AI Toolkit: 10 Prompts That Teach Real-World Thinking
1. The Opportunity Cost Lesson
Prompt:
“Use the concept of opportunity cost to explain a recent choice my child made. Show what was gained and what was given up.”
Follow-up story: The Tuttle Twins and the Search for Atlas
A powerful way for kids to see how incentives and tradeoffs shape the choices people make.
2. The Entrepreneur Origin Story
Prompt:
“Walk me through how to help a child identify a problem in their neighborhood and brainstorm a simple business idea to solve it.”
Follow-up story: The Tuttle Twins and Their Spectacular Show Business
Kids see how entrepreneurs discover opportunities and create value.
3. The Supply and Demand Simulation
Prompt:
“Design a simple at-home activity that teaches my child how supply and demand affect prices.”
Follow-up story: The Tuttle Twins and the Messed Up Market
A great way to explore how markets actually work.
4. The Bad Law Audit
Prompt:
“Give me five examples of laws or regulations that make it harder for kids or teenagers to start small businesses. Explain each simply.”
Follow-up story: The Tuttle Twins and the Food Truck Fiasco
Shows how regulations are sometimes used to block competition.
5. The Federal Reserve Explainer
Prompt:
“Explain what the Federal Reserve does in plain language a 10-year-old could understand, including how it affects everyday prices.”
Follow-up story: The Tuttle Twins and the Creature from Jekyll Island
Kids learn the surprising story behind modern money.
6. The Value Creation Exercise
Prompt:
“Help me design a project where my child creates something valuable and exchanges it with others.”
Follow-up story: The Tuttle Twins and the Miraculous Pencil
A classic explanation of how cooperation and markets create wealth.
7. The Self-Reliance Audit
Prompt:
“List ten practical life skills a teenager should have before leaving home and suggest hands-on ways to learn them outside school.”
Follow-up story: The Tuttle Twins and the Education Vacation
A reminder that real learning happens everywhere—not just classrooms.
8. The Persuasion Workshop
Prompt:
“Teach my child how to make a compelling argument for something they want using honest persuasion.”
Follow-up story: The Tuttle Twins and the Fate of the Future
Explores how ideas—not force—shape the world.
9. The Government Dependency Test
Prompt:
“Walk through how much of daily life involves government programs or subsidies. Help me explain this to a curious kid.”
Follow-up story: The Tuttle Twins and the Leviathan Crisis
Shows how government power often grows during crises.
10. The Risk and Reward Framework
Prompt:
“Use a simple scenario to explain risk and reward to a child. Help them understand why avoiding all risk is itself a form of risk.”
Follow-up story: The Tuttle Twins and the Twelve Rules Bootcamp
How doing hard things makes us better and stronger people. Hardship shouldn’t be avoided—it should be embraced!
None of these conversations requires a classroom, expensive curriculum, or hours of focused “teaching” time.
They just require parents who are willing to sit around and talk to their kids.
That’s something we spend a lot of time and effort trying to make easier with our Tuttle Twins books and resources. We write stories that help families talk about the ideas schools don’t teach: real entrepreneurship, incentives, value creation, personal responsibility, and how the world really works.
Schools ban emerging technologies because they aren’t trying to prepare kids to change the world.
The education system was built to train a compliant population of rule-followers and seekers of permission. It was built to train factory workers. Of course, it isn’t going to encourage the adoption of the tools that will expedite its own irrelevance.
But the families who help their kids master the tools of the future are giving them something far more valuable than a good grade.
They’re teaching them that there actually isn’t any value in making A’s within a system that only awards compliance and mediocrity.
And that’s the kind of lesson I want my kids to learn. I suspect you agree.
— Connor
