How will my kids thrive in a world of AI?
The New Literacies
Skills will expire. These won't.
Eight human capacities that become MORE valuable as AI gets more capable.
Doing
Can they start things and finish them?
Thinking
Will they stay curious and think for themselves?
Being
Will they build real relationships and find their path?
Click any capability to jump to details, or scroll to explore all eight
Why these 8?
There are a million skills I could focus on. Here's why I landed on these:
They get more important as AI advances. These aren't skills AI will replace—they're the ones that matter more when AI handles the routine stuff.
They're grounded in research. Each draws from decades of psychology and child development work. I'm not making this up.
Parents can actually do something with them. You can see these in your kids. You can talk about them. You can help develop them at home.
They don't overlap, and nothing's missing. I've stress-tested this framework. The eight cover different ground, and together they're comprehensive.
Doing
Will they take initiative and keep going when it's hard?
Start → Continue → Adjust
Agency
You can just do things!
Autonomy — freedom to make choices
Self-efficacy — belief you can act effectively
Intentionality — acting with purpose vs. reacting
Ownership — taking responsibility for outcomes
Persistence
Keep going when it gets hard
Focus — sustaining attention on the task
Tolerance — handling the discomfort of difficulty
Drive — the will to continue despite obstacles
Adaptability
Learn, unlearn, learn again
Meta-learning — understanding how you learn
Learning agility — speed of acquiring new skills
Unlearning — letting go of outdated mental models
Transfer — applying learning across domains
Thinking
Will they stay curious and think for themselves?
Seek → Generate → Evaluate
Curiosity
Pull on the thread
Wonder — openness to novelty and surprise
Questions — active inquiry and gap-seeking
Exploration — seeking new experiences
Depth — pursuing understanding, not just answers
Creativity
Make something that didn't exist
Imagination — generating novel possibilities
Expression — bringing ideas into form
Iteration — refining through experimentation
Originality — making it distinctly yours
Judgment
Making good decisions
Evidence — weighing information critically
Reasoning — thinking logically and probabilistically
Values — applying principles (what's right)
Discernment — recognizing quality (what's excellent)
Being
Will they build real relationships and find their path?
Others → Self
Connection
Know others and be known
Empathy — understanding others' experiences
Trust — building reliable relationships
Communication — expressing and listening well
Belonging — being part of something larger
Purpose
Know who you are and why it matters
Self-knowledge — understanding your own nature
Values — knowing what matters to you
Direction — having goals worth pursuing
Contribution — serving something beyond yourself
Explore the Deep Dives
Each capability has an in-depth article exploring the research, why it matters in an AI world, and how to develop it in kids.
Browse all deep dives →