NewKid

Is French school ready for what's ahead? What works well, the challenges and one immediate needed fix.

Mathilde Baillet — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 12:40:22 GMT

Pardon our french 💅🏽

This conversation took place in french, and you have the option to watch it on YouTube 😎 with the [insert your language] subtitles!

tl;dr

Is French school read for what’s ahead? Put it differently : is French school preparing its children for the world they will be living in tomorrow?

Last June 20, during NewKid Days’ 1st edition at Vivatech, we invited four practitioners with singular backgrounds, experiences and opinions to get a sense of where French school stands today: successes, challenges, and the road still ahead.

While this conversation was happening, children were invited to draw “The school of their dreams”, facilitated by Svenia Busson – cofounder of the think tank Education Futures, and Diana-Luz Houdayer-Laborde – graphic facilitator and author of Fragments d’impact. They then shared their wild ideas with the audience!

✨ takeaways :

“AI at school”
- … is mainly AI outside of school (90% of high school students use AI for their homework)
- AI is a major civic priority and an essential vehicle for republican unity (25% of CM2/5th grade have difficulties reading)
- there’s a choice to be made : dominate or be dominated by AI

what works well 🟢
- still the best place to meet others, especially those different than me (no longer the case with social media)
- a place of equality : access to the opportunity to learn and meet others
- up until the 80s, french school was the best in the world : compulsory from a young age in life + clear focus on the core fundamentals: reading, writing, and arithmetic
what needs to be improved 🔴
- no one teaches students how to learn, how to gain confidence, how to deal with failure or self-censorship
- students are unable to picture themselves in the future : they haven’t learnt to connect the dots between who they are, what they have learnt and what they want to do. On average, a 16 year old student knows the existence of about 35 jobs. There are 850 of them (and counting!)
- a critical lack of self-confidence (one in two children doesn’t believe in themselves) ; an interesting thing that was said, and that would later come back in our (soon to be released) interview with MacKenzie Price : the more I feel competent on a task, the more I feel confident, thus affecting the perception of my own competences
what if 🪄 (the one measure you would implement as soon as September)
- make space for more conversations : students, educators, parents ; 1h weekly to talk about the world, about AI, about ourselves. Keep taking care of one another
- clearly define school’s mission & simplify the curriculum : what should school be about? developing soft skills? professional skills? core fundamentals? The many government changes have given no visibility
- school should reconnect with parents : in the US, each parent gives 5 days/ year to assist the teacher. Start of the school year could be a good opportunity for the teacher to involve parents, share their goals, raise awareness on topics like AI, build connection with families
- introspective classes : help students know themselves better : 2h weekly “me and school” : what I’ve learnt this week, what inspires me. Helping them look to the future!

Datapoints

In a France grappling with a teacher recruitment crisis, and where per-pupil spending is 13% below the OECD average, the acceleration of innovation enabled by artificial intelligence offers hope, provided we succeed in scaling it up. (translation)

The guests

Fatma Chouaieb – Cofounder of Hello Charly, committed for 10 years to giving all young people access to the best academic and career guidance

Aude Guéneau – French literature teacher, founder of Plume & president of EdTech France, working on cognitive psychology topics at the intersection of AI and education since 2018

Pierre Amougou – ENS Ulm · Princeton, Workshops facilitator for middle and high school students on cognitive sciences applied to academic & career success, community builder Etudiants.Ambitieux

Nicolas Princen – Entrepreneur and investor in AI and education, host of the YouTube channel “La Meilleure École du Monde” (YouTube)

Moderator: Elise Nebout – Cultural entrepreneur, co-founder and director of Les Mots, 20 000 students and counting.

Timestamps & more

00:00 introducing NewKid and facilitator Elise Nebout, by Mathilde Baillet

02:44 introducing the topic and what’s at stake with a bit of history, by Elise Nebout

05:26 introducing the panelists, by Elise Nebout

06:23 AI at school, a diagnosis

10:46 the good usage of AI at school

12:00 is AI a necessity inside the classroom?

14:05 what school does well, what school struggles with

25:41 if you could change one thing, implement one measure, what would that be?

35:45 are teachers technophobes or technophiles?

41:24 going from “school for all” to “school for each one”? can a system built upon standardisation evolve or should it die? a question from the public

47:46 kids sharing the “school of their dreams”

What should we pass on to our kids? a discussion between a philosopher, an edtech entrepreneur and a digital anthropologist

Mathilde Baillet — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 09:33:48 GMT

Pardon our french 💅🏽

This conversation took place in french, BUT watch it on YouTube 😎 with the [insert your language] subtitles!

tl;dr

As we raise our children today, what is important, really? What skills should we try to equip them with? The timeless ones? The new ones?

Last June 20, during NewKid Days’ 1st edition at Vivatech, we invited three exceptional guests, each with a unique background, for a ‘big picture’ type of discussion. Three angles, three groups:

learning how to learn, led by philosopher (and school founder) Marie Robert
nurturing our soft skills, led by edtech entrepreneur Solenne Bocquillon-Le Goaziou
preserving our privates spaces, led by digital anthropologist Laurent François

A unique format involving the public, brought and animated by the founder of La Maison de la Conversation.

While adults gathered in circles for their conversations, children were invited to run a similar circle, exploring what should AI help their parents do vs where do they need their parents absolutely.

✨ takeaways :

creating rituals as a family

yes, it is hard, there’s always a good excuse to use the phone
being aware of the importance technology takes in a child’s life
what if we could help children auto-regulate their usage?
if AI is pure dopamine : how to replace our conversation with them with something that creates dopamine too, maybe just as simple a involving our children in (more of) our conversations?

cultivating critical thinking & self-confidence

noticing moments that can trigger a discussion : walking by an ad on a billboard, watching a movie together,..
nurturing children’s self confidence (instead of letting them seek for it with an AI) : beyond their school report, what human skill have they improved throughout the year?
helping children go from “I’ll never be able to do it” to “I can’t do it yet”

creating enough space for conversation

AI or not, the history of humanity is a history of conversation
now the challenge is : how do we create enough space to preserve and nurture this conversation
learning otherness through conversation, despite the discomfort

approaching this topic from a human perspective, not just a technological one

creating the conditions for attention : value human exchange, allow boredom
trusting young people, and ourselves : how about setting up unusual indicators of humanity? For example, self-regulation ones?
‘AI has no heart. It can only help us’, as children said. What if the “state of being alive” was in the center of our conversations?

Datapoints

France ranks 62 out of 65 OCDE countries on students self-confidence (PISA, 2018)
A study conducted by Groupe VYV and France’s data protection authority, the CNIL, in four European countries found that nearly 9 in 10 young people in France use conversational AI, and nearly 1 in 2 discuss personal matters with it. As many as 33% even see it as “a therapist.”
According to the Gallup Institute, the initial enthusiasm and hope that AI inspired in 2025 have declined by an average of 10 percentage points, while anger toward AI has surged :

The guests

I had been listening to Marie Robert’s podcast - Philosophy is Sexy (in 🇫🇷) - for a while. Short episodes, all starting with universal questions we probably all ask ourselves regularly (about Attention 🤌). She regularly writes on Substack - and has launched a new podcast series Philosophy is Sexy for kids (in 🇫🇷, 15min each). Marie is the author of five books and counting, and the founder of 7 international schools in Paris, Marseille and now Lyon, gather over 400 families. She explained to me the three pillars in their curriculum : learning by doing (active, project-based); bilingual education and creativity (relearn to create through art workshops, philosophy, writing, film, and more). I am so glad Elise introduced us. Marie’s story is one of resilience, passion and optimism. Also, I am fascinated by couples building companies together!

* * *

Another podcast I’d been listening to : Solenne Bocquillon-le goaziou’s : Géneration Parents. Probably where I heard Mathilde Cerioli first. Solenne also contributed to Amelia Matar’s latest book Les écrans, ça s’apprend. Well you get it, her name was all over! So I reached out. We met for a tea at Printemps Haussmann, she was wearing a blue hat (always does!). She had just closed a 7 year long chapter building Soft Kids, an edtech company that helped children develop essential human skills, such as confidence, resilience, emotional intelligence, collaboration and critical thinking, through games, digital activities and classroom workshops. She told me the story, what a rollercoaster. True grit and passion. Today, Solenne helps parents & professionals navigate this world of AI leveraging on their human skills. Same mission. Different chapter.

* * *

I had been reading Laurent François’ essays sporadically but avidly on Substack : Alive in Social Media (also in French : En Vivance). What I like about Laurent is that he has a sharp yet never condescending look on the latest trends happening in social media. (The exact opposite of an old fart.) He’s genuinely passionate about understanding the dynamics at stake and makes you see them too. No wonder his book “Craquer l’algorithme : réenchanter les réseaux sociaux” is so good. If you’re looking for a history book of the internet culture and its social movements, get your hands on it!

* * *

Xavier Cazard invited me to visit the place he created, La Maison de la Conversation, a space in Paris designed for conversations to happen. We shared a delicious meal and a common mission to bring people together IRL, to gather worlds who do not necessarily talk to each other. He offered to facilitate a special kind of format called ‘perspective’ (“Façon de voir”). If the philosophy resonates, reach out to Xavier!

Timestamps & more

00:00 Introduction by Mathilde Baillet

02:21 Introduction by Xavier Cazard

02:53 Data points, by Laurent François

04:59 Introducing Marie Robert

05:51 From teaching philosophy in university to building 7 international schools

07:12 Introducing Solenne Bocquillon-Le Goaziou

08:00 From being recruited for her soft skills to helping parents nurture them with their children

09:25 Introducing Laurent François

10:09 How being a parent made him question his own technology usage

10:46 Introducing Xavier Cazard & La Maison de la Conversation : learning otherness through conversation

13:50 Back together (after 20" split in three groups)

14:09 Children group : AI doesn't have a heart, AI can help with chores, AI can help but can make us dumb too

15:47 First adult group : about creating rituals as a family

19:21 Second adult group : about noticing moments that trigger critical thinking

24:04 Third adult group : about human transmission and active learning

25:52 Wrapping up (all) : the history of humanity is the history of conversation, inviting children to the conversation, nurturing the state of being alive

33:11 Conclusion by Xavier Cazard & Mathilde Baillet

Links

Watch the full discussions - with English subtitles! - on Youtube :

Follow Marie Robert on Substack :

Follow Solenne Bocquillon-Le Goaziou on Substack :

Follow Laurent François on Substack:

Until next week!

Yours,

Mathilde

LLMs and our children: a discussion between an AI builder, an educator and a neuroscientist

Mathilde Baillet — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 12:57:44 GMT

Pardon our french 💅🏽

This conversation took place in french, BUT watch it on YouTube 😎 and you’ll be able to activate the [insert your language] subtitles!

The guests

Mathilde Cerioli is a mom of four and a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience, the Chief Scientist at everyone.AI and Chief Scientist of the international coalition iRAISE. I had heard Mathilde a couple times in different podcasts last year (Vlan or Generation Parent, both in french) and really appreciated how articulated and clear her message was, always.

I ended up meeting with her professional soulmate Anne-Sophie Seret, a mom of three and the Executive Director at everyone.AI and Program Director of iRAISE, a few months ago in San Francisco. It became so obvious we should do things together! At VivaTech last June, they launched AïA Safety Builder, a tool to help AI developers make their models or applications safer for children. If you see yourself here, reach out to them or ask me for an intro.

Meanwhile, I had heard of KORA’s benchmark and had the pleasure to meet with both cofounders, Stephie Herlin in Paris and Mathilde Collin in San Francisco. Stephie is a mom of three, an Educator, Researcher, and Entrepreneur at the intersection of AI and child development science. She wrote a book for teenagers: “I am stronger than ChatGPT” that should be out soon! KORA is a benchmark that evaluates LLMs based on 26 child-safety risks. It now provides an evaluation of applications too. I really encourage you to explore their methodology and results.

Last but not least, I was delighted to invite to this panel, AI builder Aymeric Roucher, who after prestigious studies (X, Cambridge) joined Hugging Face to launch Smolagents, its agentic library - agents that think in code. He has two younger brothers (still teens) who’d sometime question ‘why should we even study?’. Aymeric wrote a book (Ultra-Intelligence) to make AI knowledge accessible to all. Big questions like: how modern AI models are being built? how far can we go? which impacts on society?

As a mom, here’s what I wanted with this panel : get a good understanding of how genAI works, why a child brain is so special, and the opportunities and risks to give AI to our children. I wanted parents to wrap up this session having learnt enough to make more informed choices : what AI for what age, how to know which LLMs are ‘safe’, what is being done at a macro level too (by companies & governments).

Full episode : Spotify, Youtube, Apple Podcast, Pocket Casts

and if you enjoy it, share it with a friend — or two :)

Timestamps & more

[00:05] introduction by Mathilde Baillet

[01:36] introduction by Anne-Sophie Seret

[02:26] the Youth Manifesto by Nino Shamoyan,

[07:55] meet the panelists by Anne-Sophie Seret

[09:12] What is GenAI and how does it work?

Or the metaphor of the gardener 👨‍🌾

(…) AI engineers are more like gardeners than architects. Their job is to put the right processes in place, like an irrigation system, so that the system grows in the right direction: learning new languages, answering correctly, and avoiding suggestions that could cause harm. There is no such thing like a complete control over the system. Its behaviours must be adjusted continuously, much like pruning a tree
— Aymeric Roucher

[12:59] Why should we treat children differently than adults when it comes to AI?

Or the metaphor of the calculator 🧮

Until approximately the age of 25 (yes, 25!), the brain is constantly learning and developing certain abilities. There are sensitive periods in the brain development. It is still possible to learn new skills after these periods, but learning is generally less efficient.
Skills build on top of one another, so children need solid foundations. These foundations are shaped by their environment and by the adults around them. AI is now becoming part of that environment as well. We want AI to support children and help them become autonomous in developing these skills. It should not do things in their place. If AI does the work instead of the child, the child does not learn.
At what age should children use AI? The answer may be similar to the use of a calculator. Introducing it too early is not so great. Once children reach high school and have acquired the necessary foundations, a machine can help you do massive calculations in no time.
— Mathilde Cerioli

[17:55] About “I am stronger than ChatGPT”, Stephie Herlin’s new book

Stephie reports a lot of anxiety among the youth : what am I here for? why should I even go to school? As a teacher, the idea behind this book was to help them regain a sense of power. Two messages:

AI can be a superpower if you remain in control ; as a rule of thumb : if you want AI to do something, but you do not know how to do it yourself… then do not ask AI to do it!
Cultivate your own uniqueness, acknowledge the different forms of intelligence, cultivate creativity, agency, cherish relationships with human beings and the outside world

[21:50] What is the consensus among researchers, and what solutions could we offer companies?

The main point of consensus is that we must not recreate the mistakes made with social media.
The question we often hear is: where is the proof? But should we really wait until the consequences become serious before taking action, if we already know that something may be harmful from the beginning?
For example, as a researcher, if I wanted to conduct an experiment involving 50 children testing an AI companion, I would have to go through an ethics committee. The committee would require me to review everything we know about brain development. It might conclude that the experiment presents a high level of risk and offers very limited potential benefits. Thus stop me from leading this experiment.
Meanwhile, children are already participating in a much larger, uncontrolled experiment. Around one million toys containing AI have been sold, and some have already been withdrawn from the market because they produced inappropriate content.
The question is how to create an international consensus. This is the purpose of the iRAISE international coalition, which brings together different stakeholders.
As for solutions for companies:
evaluating models and apps thanks to KORA
evaluating your own product thanks to AïA by everyone.AI
— Mathilde Cerioli

[27:30] KORA evaluates LLMs and applications, what should we know?

Breaking news: most AI models aren’t safe for children ! Inviting them to keep secrets, making mental health diagnoses, giving them advice to hit a friend.. altogether chocking AND insidious in the long term.
How does KORA evaluate LLMs? We do dialogue simulations between AIs. Why? Because the real data isn’t available! AI labs won’t share this information. So yes, there’s a massive uncontrolled experiment running on our children.
What AI models do pretty well : mitigate the more obvious risks, dangerous or sexual content.
What AI models don’t do well — where the stronger risks are : cognitive offload, educative integrity (cheating or learning false things) and psycho-social (making us turn away from human relationships)
— Stephie Herlin

[33:04] What solutions could make AI more beneficial for children?

Aymeric reminds us that these risks also apply to adults. He suggests two ideas:

that we all develop the discipline to decide which tasks should remain our own responsibility
that products should be built from the ground up with our safety in mind, a very much needed public debate to avoid letting labs optimise for money and/or strategic relationships (with certain governments for instance..)

[34:43] Which advice would you give to the parents and families here?

Let’s say you want to run a 10k race in 2 months (and you need to prep). There’s a chance you’re going to be tired of running at some point. You could ask a friend:
“could you go run for me?” (will this help you? uh?)
OR
“could you come run with me? give me training advice?”
Let’s choose ‘running with ChatGPT’ instead of ‘ChatGPT running for me’.
— Mathilde Cerioli

There’s only 2-3 years of research on generative AI (= nothing!) but we have 60 years of detailed research on child development. And there is no AI there. A child needs movement, sensorial relationships to the world and to other human beings. These are important for his development.
— Stephie Herlin

[37:54] Q&A with the public

#1 : what’s the interest of an AI flattering you? If we were to remove it, would the answer be less accurate?

Arena is one of the most famous LLM benchmark, rating models on which one is the most accurate. In Arena, humans have been the ones voting, picking up the best of two answers to a question (sort of a blind test). Since humans reacted positively to flattering, slowly, the models became sycophantic.
— Aymeric Roucher

#2 : how do big labs react on these topics? How about politicians?

The international coalition gathers 12 governments, the big AI labs, a large network of researchers, NGOs,.. Our theory is that it’s too easy to let companies develop products on their own for too long, then wait for a regulation to come in. We want to help build with the right approach from the start.
— Mathilde Cerioli

[42:20] Children’s participation, shared by

[43:32] Conclusion

Links

Spotify

Youtube

Until next week!

Yours,

Mathilde

NewKid Days #1 : chosen moments

Mathilde Baillet — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 10:45:23 GMT

A lot can happen in a couple months.

I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that my family attended this premiere : my husband, my children, my parents. Some of my best friends too.

Subscribe now

Again, a HUGE thank you to the many people who made NewKid Days #1 possible : my parents and in-laws who took care of our kids on a regular basis, my beloved for his unconditional support, Omar & his team who captured and edited these moments, for the sound track and inspiration 🤙, the VivaTech team, Anne-Sophie, Mathilde and Linda for being a joy to work with, Kevin, Laurent, Elise, Amelia, Greg, Solenne, David, Margaux, Paul, Amelie, Cedric for your warm intros and more 🫶 and Dust, well, for being my reliable assistant all along.

REPLAY TIME 🍿
starting next week, I’ll be releasing one by one the full content of these discussions below — stay tuned!

Without further ado, I am excited to finally share with you this 3-min recap of the NewKid Days, first edition!

(I know, next time I’ll arrange my hair and make up #noob)

10:00AM. We started early with our first panel : LLMs and our children. A conversation between AI builder Aymeric Roucher (ex Hugging Face, author of “Ultra-Intelligence : Jusqu’où les intelligences artificielles iront-elles ?”), and two of the most knowledgeable AI x child safety experts, Dr Mathilde Cerioli (Chief Scientist at everyone.ai) and Stéphie Herlin (cofounder of KORA), moderated by another AI x child safety expert Anne-Sophie Seret (Executive Director of everyone.ai).

We dug into what’s a Large Language Model (LLM), the stages of development of a child’s brain, and what we know about how generative AI is impacting children.

Most LLMs aren’t safe for children, inviting them to keep secrets, delivering mental health diagnosis or even giving advice to hit a friend (…) what LLMs do relatively well though, is protecting them against sexual images. — Stéphie Herlin

Meanwhile, children and teens got to learn how image recognition works, through a workshop involving drawing dozens of cats, with . Others discussed with the biaises and boundaries of AI in our lives.

11:30AM. The day continued with a special kind of panel, where the public was invited to participate in the conversation : What should we pass on to our children?

Philosopher & school builder Marie Robert (), soft skills advocate & entrepreneur (Etre Parent au 21è siècle) and Internet culture & social media historian (Alive in Social Media) : each of them run its own group of conversation before reuniting and sharing what had been discussed.

Meanwhile, children were invited to answer the question “where can AI help at home?” Pieces of wisdom they later shared:

AI doesn’t have a heart… so it can not really love us — Emmy
AI should do domestic chores, so that we have more time with our parents — Boo

Shoutout to Xavier Cazard and the team at La Maison de la Conversation for this format.

12:45PM. Lunch break? Not for them! Remember the call for startups we launched last May? Nine startups made it to VivaTech for this first edition of the NewKid Days, showcasing their tech-product-for-kids all day.

At noon, they came on stage to pitch their project in no more than 2 minutes - followed by a 2 minutes Q&A. The jury? Two of the most active venture capital funds in Europe: with David Guérin and Kima Ventures with Alexis Robert, France’s largest tech media Maddyness with Paul Bonnet-Witvoet, and renowned safety experts based in Silicon Valley, everyone.ai, with Dr Mathilde Cerioli and Laurent Vernhes.

These founders all did great, that was a tough exercise! (Especially when you’re starving)

Dig deeper:

Jules | 3-10 | a playful learning device ✨ Sandra
Motiv | 12-16 | a voice-first AI cognitive coach ✨ Pauline & Charlotte
Tokidos | 3-8 | a screen-free educational gaming platform ✨ Ralph & Gautier
Bulle | 12+ | an innovative co-mediation app for parents & teens to reconnect ✨ Emmanuel & Julie
Greem | 3-12 | an app for parents & their kids to co-create stories ✨ Yann & Marc
Karri | 4-10 | a screen-free, data-enabled voice communication device ✨ Evelina
Nuri Tales | 3-8 | a story telling app for parents to help deal with emotions ✨ Annemieke
Drimmly | 14+ | an AI career companion to help students discover, find and get their dream job ✨ Alexis
Cantoo Scribe | 6-16+ | an AI-powered inclusive digital schoolbag that removes learning barriers for students with disabilities ✨ Minashe

2:00PM. Third and last panel was a very important topic: is French school ready for what’s ahead? or put it differently : is French school preparing our children for the world they will be living in? A conversation beautifully orchestrated by Elise Nebout, cofounder of Les Mots. Lots of sharp insights and tangible solutions from (Plume & La Réplique), Nicolas Princen (La Meilleure Ecole du Monde), Fatma Chouaieb (Hello Charly) & Pierre Amougou (Etudiants.Ambitieux) that you will soon discover in the full replay… alriiiight, let me spoil a bit:

‘AI at school’ is rather ‘AI outside of school’. 90% of high school students use AI for their homework — Aude Guéneau
(…) 15 years as pupils and no one will ever teach them how to actually learn, how to focus, how to deal with failure, how to overcome self-censorship — Pierre Amougou

Meanwhile, well, children drew their dream school, alongside Diana-Luz Houdayer-Laborde (Fragments d’impact) and (Education Futures). ✨ Gold moments as they shared back with us :

Robots will replace cafeteria ladies. The money robots will earn will go to these (human) ladies, so they can rest and enjoy their time. And with robots, we can also chose what we get to eat! — Aïsha

3:30PM. Last but not least, I had such a good time interviewing , cofounder of Alpha School. She flew in from Austin, TX to share with us parents her vision for education and the future of school. It was my first interview on stage (you could tell 😅). And an eye-opening one!

Snapshot of the many discussions and playful moments that took place throughout the day :

OK so what’s next?!

I guess I’ll see you in San Francisco!!!

OCTOBER 24th, 2026

Save the date, tell your friends.

Yours,

Mathilde

Behind the scenes of the NewKid Days #1

Mathilde Baillet — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 12:35:56 GMT

Last round of video editing. Soon I’ll be able to share with you every single discussion that happened on the main stage, during this 1st edition of the NewKid Days. We’re almost there!

Meanwhile, I thought it would be fun to share the backstage of the past six months. The good, the bad, the ugly.

I crossed data from my good old notebook (what’s been in my mind + ideas), my photos (epic times), my calendar (who I met).

I’d lie if I’d say the journey was easy. But I’d lie if I’d say I didn’t enjoy it all. I have met new people at an incredible pace. People I never thought I would now be friend with.

If you’re new here, welcome! Today’s letter will help you know me ~~better~~ faster 😄

The haha moment

Last Christmas, I suddenly interrupted , as he was pitching me an event he was plann… this is it ! AN EVENT. Everything clicked. The conversation with when we talked about a retreat for families in Thailand one day, my deep love for gathering people and connecting them together (a wedding through a newsletter, three Objet soirées), the lifelong thrill for planning and getting things done, the longing for meeting IRL the smart folks I had been reading online for too long. That. And the future of our kids right in the center.

OK, where should I start?!

January

planting seeds for your future self.

drafted my ikigai : what I LOVE / am GOOD AT / the world NEEDS ; realised the NewKid Days was sitting right in the middle
got out of my comfort zone : met new folks and put the word out. Impostor syndrome, what’s that? (kidding). I had the passion. I lacked the structure. Felt like an half-baked project. Yet with a lot of potential
visited a couple venues, no clue what to do with this information
partied hard and -woww!- how good that felt
got slapped in the face : after I pitched to a well-respected lady in the startup world, she asked “is this going to be a wine-club-for-montessori-stay-at-home-moms?” 👀 OK game’s on, watch me 😈

that same night, I joined & workshop “how to write an unignorable email”. Few things stayed with me.
- 1. the best moment to reach out is now
- 2. reaching out comes at a cost: being open to rejection
- 3. it takes a lot of emotional energy to do this work
- 4. who is making what I am loving? one person leads you to the next
- 5. your email must be : Specific. Generous. Honest. Relevant.
Can’t thank you enough Carly for this was what I needed. That exact day.
the next day, I had a call with the CMO of VivaTech. I just pitched the most amazing event I could envision - yes, the one with a DJ set by Martin Solveig
me. I know.

February

is that all worth it?

lots of downs. First half of Feb was tough. Momentum? Dead. I realised (and wrote that down) that I needed to pitch NewKid at least every other day or else I was starting making up stories

decided I needed a new working environment - signed up for BalladClub, great folks, went for a breakfast, met Sebastien, a Spring Framework master and tech conf’ OG who quickly became my unofficial mentor 🙏
kept exploring new venue options
reconnected to people I had not seen in years ; kept meeting new folks, who introduced me to new folks, who…
finally got full speed with Dust (that would become my new intern) encouraged by 💫

March

looks like momentum, girl, keep pushing

joined a 6-week program for creative founders: Play Into Being (), designed and led by & . JUST what I needed : a peer group of doers showing up, genuine, every week, to share progress
used A LOT of sticky notes : extremely hands on to draft a day and play with sequence!
coffees, dinners, more coffees ; incredible intros starting to unfold (thank you to all of you who did so 🫶)
March 18th : sat down with the team at VivaTech. They thought about my proposition : “how about 380sqm to land NewKid Days 1st edition?” LET’S DO THAT.
reached out to the speakers I had in mind ; looks like momentum is back !
OK and what about bringing in early stage companies building for kids? they would showcase their products, meet their users, get access to media and investors, meet other peers, all in one place? Started designing that call for startups 💫

April

embarking the “people beyond my league”. and wrapping up my 1st triathlon.

April 4th : , the founder of Alpha School is in. Flying from Austin, TX to meet with us, crazy parents. DANG. Cold reach out with intention actually works
in a week in San Francisco, I met with Anne-Sophie, Mathieu, Iris, Greg and . Planned and unplanned encounters. All incredibly insightful. Run twice (absolutely unprepared for that triathlon but who cares)
as soon as we landed back, more meetings in Paris
then off to Cannes 🚘 (jetlagged? what’s that) to pick up my bib
🔫 took the starting line! I was already exhausted as I entered the water.. looked at my watch.. girl, it’s only been 150m 🤦🏻‍♀️. So I stared at fishes underneath, imagining what they could be thinking of us humans right now… well anyways that kept me going. In the end I loved it all. Did decent timing (19th in my category 😱). Sucked at transitions though.
“the mom club” ghost kept haunting me
kept postponing the sponsoring work, for I obsessed about closing the best line-up-ever first
designing the day, by area, really helped me get clarity :

“You can’t fake that you love connecting people, what you do is curatorial and relational design” — Dave 🫶

Subscribe now

May

it’s now or never : making everything click.

May really challenged me. I am never sick. Except I was. A bad sinusitis knocked me out for three weeks. 5 doctors appointments, 3 antibiotics treatments and 17 564 tissues later:

took some convincing to get to make space for this crazy idea of mine (to which I will dedicate a whole newsletter soon!) in her packed schedule 🫶
went to hear one of my favorite writers about motherhood, , on stage at the Bliss show festival, with my good friend Lena
got an extra shot of lucidity from our long talks with Kristen & Dave visiting us
felt energised by my weekly calls with these three legends Anne-Sophie Seret, Mathilde Cerioli (everyone.AI) & - as we imagined and designed this ‘brain wall’ exhibition, fine-tuned the call for startups, workshops for kids, LLM panel and more
a lot of back and forth in my head, as I was framing the panels ; it always started with the same question : “Mathilde, what do you wanna learn?” ; then looking for the people I thought would have interesting insights AND different points of view too — oh, and curating moderators felt just as hard!
went through an epic startup selection : from designing the application form to gathering an incredible jury, involving them in the evaluation process and finally interviewing 20+ fabulous founders, all in three weeks

June

surviving spin-dryer mode.

not sick anymore, though lost 6kg in the process (a reminder that the only thing you wish when you’re sick is not a sponsor, is to be healthy)

coped with some roller coaster last minute changes of plans : a sponsor opting out after a verbal commit “oops, I got ‘pause this’ from my CEO, because of the price/fee”, a speaker cancelling “oops, I forgot I had a wedding that day”
… thus rushed to find even-more-exciting-planBs!
organised our kids birthdays in the midst of this chaos ; seemed like a good idea
would not have missed my best friend dance show at Opera de Vichy in the world
danced with VivaTech constraints, and my own too! Lison, Yasmine & Emilie, thanks for bearing with me all along!
designed so many stuff on Canva & jumped back on Figma after years away from it : banner, slides, presentation, exhibition, flyers, bookmarks,.. extremely tight deadlines, OF COURSE, right. Dang, working alone felt good and overwhelming altogether
didn’t sleep much, skipped many meals, overall absolutely excited

W-1

attended many events throughout the week : the iRaise/G7 summit, the OpenAi Forum, an epic dinner organised by ,.. meeting many folks I would probably see again on Saturday! Excitement = through the roof!
received the many orders I had (obviously) ordered last minute : how delighted was I to discover these Mexican restaurant flyers instead of my program 😭🤣 ; the rest was fine, fortunately [sigh!]
had the good idea to visit the lounge three days before, on VivaTech opening day. Realised the space was much more welcoming (colours, wall textures, sofas, lights) that what I had in mind ✨ YET discovered the three exit doors were… curtains?! Mayday‼️ There’s no way kids will not play hide and seek and escape the lounge. Had to find an army of volunteers in no time to watch for these exits. So so sooo grateful for everyone who helped , Maeva, Anne-Sophie.

D-1

almost didn’t get in VivaTech at night, for we didn’t have the appropriate passes (!) ; thank you Clara and Costanza for sneaking us in!
got granted 45min ⏳ to set up everything, Will, the lounge manager was a star. And that team of roadies, well, see for yourself :

The day !! Go enjoy it, girl.

As expected, I was not able to listen to any panels. I felt like running around all day. But I got fuelled by every single one of you occupying the space, discussing, laughing, drawing, hugging, writing, nodding, smiling. This energy was contagious. Conversation must happen. These moments must happen.

I must admit…

After over a decade launching and building companies with the same two irreplaceable cofounders, I needed to prove myself I could build something solo from the ground up.

I did. And for this I am proud.

But I could not have done this by myself. It took convincing strangers and people I admire to believe in this project. And it took friends to believe in me in the first place. , , , , Lena, Kevin, Laura, you’ve been here at times it was damn hard to keep pushing. Merci.

If you made it down here - well thank you :) - but also : a lot can happen in just a couple months. Just reach out to that person who’s ‘out of your league’. And the next.

My work serving childhood has just begun but it is already thrilling.

Now go.

Be brave enough to suck at something new.

(my new motto)

… and see you next week for deep dives on what happened last June 20 at the NewKid Days!

Yours,

Mathilde

June 20, 8pm : these drinks that made it all worth it

Revealing the program of the NewKid Days, 1st edition

Mathilde Baillet — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 10:30:08 GMT

Hi everyone!

Hope you are as excited as I am about your day.

D-8 to the very first edition of the NewKid Days : Saturday, June 20 in the heart of VivaTech, Europe’s largest tech & startup show. I still have to pinch myself to believe so many fabulous people will be in the room - see for yourself!

If you are around : come with your children! I’ve created this day for the intentional moms and dads out there, the curious minds who wants scientific and thoughtful content wrapped in conversations — building bridges between research, startups, education and philosophy. And including the children in the loop, too. Because hey, we’re here to empower them!

This is a space to be inspired, in awe and wonders. I can’t wait to meet you there!

Share with the parents around you!

10:00AM

For the parents : “LLMs and our children” [in FR]

Goal : understand genAI, its impact on our children (backed by research), and the measures to adopt.

Speakers:

Anne Le Hénanff – French Minister Delegate for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Affairs
Mathilde Cerioli – PhD in Cognitive neuroscience, chief scientist at everyone.AI - research, awareness & evaluation tool for tech companies building for children - and chief scientist of the iRAISE global coalition
Stéphie Herlin – Educator, researcher & cofounder of KORA, independent benchmarks to evaluate how safe AI systems are for children and teens.
Aymeric Roucher – Polytechnique, AI engineer ex Hugging Face, author of “Ultra-Intelligence : Jusqu’où les intelligences artificielles iront-elles ?”

Moderator: Anne-Sophie Seret – Executive director of everyone.AI & chief program officer of the iRAISE global coalition

For the children : “What is AI?”

– Cofounder of screen-free coding tools for kids COLORI, author of “Les écrans, ça s’apprend!”
– Author of children’s book “Hello Ruby” published in 40 languages, illustrator, and playground builder

11:30AM

For the parents : “What should we pass on?” [in FR]

Goal : discuss the timeless vs. new skills, what should we pass on to our children to best prepare them for the world of tomorrow. A discussion with the audience!

Marie Robert – Philosopher, author, founder of 7 international schools and host of the substack & podcast - and its kids version too
– Entrepreneur, author, host of the podcast Géneration Parents, on education & AI
– Communication strategist, social media pioneer in Europe, author of “Craquer l’algorithme : réenchanter les réseaux sociaux”, author of

Moderator: – Founder of La Maison de la Conversation, a space designed for conversations to happen.

For the children : “AI myself and I”

Nora Belbachir – Program manager & facilitator at La Maison de la Conversation

12:45PM

For all : AI products for kids : startup pitch session [in EN+FR]

Startups :

Jules | 3-10 | a playful learning device
Motiv | 12-16 | a voice-first AI cognitive coach
Tokidos | 3-8 | a screen-free educational gaming platform
Bulle | 12+ | an innovative co-mediation app for parents & teens to reconnect
Greem | 3-12 | an app for parents & their kids to co-create stories
Karri | 4-10 | a screen-free, data-enabled voice communication device
Nuri Tales | 3-8 | a story telling app for parents to help deal with emotions
Drimmly | 14+ | an AI career companion to help students discover, find and get their dream job
Cantoo Scribe | 6-16+ | an AI-powered inclusive digital schoolbag that removes learning barriers for students with disabilities

Jury:

David Guérin – Partner at
– General partner at
Mathilde Cerioli & Laurent Vernhes – Chief scientist & CTO at everyone.AI
Paul Bonnet-Witvoet – Ecosystems & Operations at French’s largest tech media Maddyness
me :)

2:00PM

For the parents : “Is french school ready?” [in FR]

Goal: take stock of today's successes and challenges, and of the road still ahead.

Speakers:

Fatma Chouaieb – Cofounder of Hello Charly, committed for 10 years to giving all young people access to the best academic and career guidance
– French literature teacher, founder of Plume & president of EdTech France, working on cognitive psychology topics at the intersection of AI and education since 2018
Pierre Amougou – ENS Ulm · Princeton, Workshops facilitator for middle and high school students on cognitive sciences applied to academic & career success, community builder Etudiants.Ambitieux
Nicolas Princen – Entrepreneur and investor in AI and education, host of the YouTube channel “La Meilleure École du Monde” (YouTube)

Moderator: Elise Nebout – Cultural entrepreneur, co-founder and director of Les Mots, 20 000 students and counting

For the children : “The school of my dreams”

– Cofounder of the think tank , exploring the future of education in the age of AI
– Engineer turned graphic facilitator, author of

3:30PM

For all : “The future of school?” [in EN]

A special interview of – Cofounder of Alpha School : academics with AI, life skills with humans

All day long…

🧠 Exhibition: The Neuroscience of GenAI & Kids

Research papers made accessible: scientific data, illustrated creation — and an invitation for kids to participate. A co-creation by everyone.AI x x .

🤖 AI Products for Kids: meet the Founders

Try innovative learning & playful tools and ask your questions directly to the founders.

📚 Book Area

A curated selection of books to understand AI, its impact on youth, and the world we live in.

🎲 Games

Board games and other shareable moments to explore our own use of technology, as a family — with Axelle Desaint & Lunise Marquis, Director and Communication lead from Internet Sans Crainte, Lena Lahor, Parenting coach .

get your ticket !

I am forever grateful to the incredible people listed above, for believing in this project, making intros, accepting to show up on a Saturday, during parents’ busiest month of the year to bring their knowledge and passion to the curious minds out there — this topic is so utterly important.

Let’s do that !!

Mathilde

Looking for 10 (AI) products that are worthy of children, know any?

Mathilde Baillet — Sat, 16 May 2026 14:29:13 GMT

Hello there!

I hope you are having a beautiful weekend.

In 5 weeks, today, the first edition of the NewKid Days will be a real thing. I can’t believe this is happening. I am over the moon and freaking scared altogether, which comforts me in the fact I am exactly where I should be.

There will be panels for adults, workshops for children, a special interview, book signings, an exhibit… and demos!! Yes, demos! How cool is it to be introduced to new ideas AND interact with the founders themselves?

NewKid Days will be a space for conversations to happen, and for brilliant people and ideas to shine.

That’s why I’m partnering with Maddyness (France's #1 tech media), Brighteye Ventures (Europe's leading edtech VC), Kima Ventures (one of the most prolific early-stage investors in Europe) and everyone.AI (researchers advocating for beneficial AI for kids) to launch this call for startups :

We are looking for the 10 projects that will shine!! ✨

an opportunity for early-stage1 companies building products for kids (0-16) to meet thousands of targeted potential customers in one single day, get tremendous media visibility, and a privileged access to top tier VCs. For free.

If you are building something yourself - and are ready to come to VivaTech! -

Apply now (7min)

Or else forward to this builder friend:

Share NewKid

⏳‼️ Applications run until May 20, 11:59PM Paris time.

Thank you for helping share the word ♥️

Yours,

Mathilde

needs to be more than an idea ; your team must be able to put something in the hands of the visitors on site ; if you are already selling this product, awesome

NewKid at VivaTech : Save The Date 🔥

Mathilde Baillet — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 16:21:53 GMT

Hi everyone!

I am so stoked to share the news with you firsthand:

The first edition of the NewKid Days is happening next June 20, in the heart of Europe’s largest tech event : VivaTech 🔥

What will it be like?

A full day, a large space, incredible speakers, addressing the burning topic that will just keep on growing : raising children in the age of AI.

This event will be designed for families - yep, I expect you to come with your children, that’s actually the whole point.

We will:

Learn alongside the most brilliant and passionate practitioners, a mix of public figures and outsiders.
Expand (our horizons) alongside families, educators and schools exploring different paths.
Play alongside experts at crafting unforgettable moments.

Why am I doing this?

Right now, the conversation about AI and children is mainly happening in two places: high-level policy summits, and complex - or else extensive - academic reports. Both are important. None of them truly is accessible to parents nor feels connected to our everyday realities.

The opportunities to genuinely engage with these questions are scarce, and the questions themselves could not be more important. We are raising the next generation of citizens and decision-makers. Who do we want them to be? What role should technology play in shaping them?

I want to create an unforgettable time for families : I want them to feel welcome (at any age), present, listened to, empowered to build tomorrow. I want parents to feel connected with their children and vice versa. I want to help shift the mindset from passive to active, I want them to bring back pieces of that event back home.

Meanwhile, I want to create an unforgettable time for speakers, too : I want them to come with their families, stay and hang out for a while, connect with one another and with the public.

There will be insights, emotions, connections, all at once.

Will you be there too? ♥️

ASKs

🎤 know an audacious, wise and optimistic voice on this topic? I would love to meet them, send them my way!

✨ know a company, organisation, foundation, person willing to support this event? I’d love to speak to them!

👋 want to contribute / help in one way or another? reach out!

I am so beyond excited to see this idea coming to life in no time.

Taking this new catalyst role of mine damn seriously. Stay tuned.

Yours,

Mathilde

What are the NewKid Days?

Mathilde Baillet — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:28:00 GMT

Raising kids in the age of AI, 1st edition
June 20, 2026 at VivaTech, Paris

stay tuned:

Some conversations are too important to stay online. Which is why the NewKid Days exist: a biannual gathering - Paris | San Francisco - at the crossroads of parenting, education, and AI, designed for those who want to think more deeply and act more intentionally about how we are raising our children.

NewKid Days’ first edition will be the biggest event about raising children in the age of AI - a burning topic that will just keep on growing, and without much offer yet. 350m2 at VivaTech on June 20, 2026 organised by serial-entrepreneur Mathilde (and mom of 2!), with amazing guest speakers from around the world.

The mission

A unique positioning

This is an event celebrating children : where they are seen, heard and empowered.

Some activities will be done as a family, others: adults and children will have their own unique space, invited into the same conversations, just through their own unique lens.

Thus creating an unforgettable family experience to (re)connect and leave the day (re)enchanted to build the future we are dreaming about.

Three pillars

Learn alongside the most brilliant and passionate practitioners, a mix of public figures and outsiders.
Format ⇒ keynotes and panels for adults exploring topics like “apprendre à apprendre”, “moi et les autres” or “the role of the teacher”. Meanwhile children will have their own discussion circles — thus learning how to phrase what’s important for them and collaborating with others — and then share back together.
Expand (your horizons) alongside families, educators and schools exploring different paths.
Format ⇒ video & IRL testimonials to inspire [building a plane - wait, what?], open the mind, expand the possibilities of what raising children could be.
Play alongside experts at crafting unforgettable moments.
Format ⇒ AI exploration activities, awareness workshops, book signings, a writing workshop, a rave party.

The promise

Meanwhile, I want to create an unforgettable time for speakers, too : I want them to come with their families, stay and hang out for a while, connect with one another and with the public.

There will be insights, emotions, connections, all at once.

Get Involved

NewKid’s first edition is taking place at VivaTech, on June 20, 2026. I will have a 350m2 dedicated space to make it happen, expecting hundreds of families - I am beyond excited to share this opportunity, so that you too can be a part of it !

More about VivaTech

Europe’s Largest Startup & Tech Event 180 000 attendees | 4 000 exhibitors | 450 speakers | 14 000 start ups
celebrating their 10 year anniversary

More about Saturday, June 20 (VivaTech’s 4th day and grand final)

dedicated to the general public
9am to 6pm
profiles : tech enthusiasts, builders and families

NewKid

350 m2 dedicated lounge
9am to 6pm
French speaking, with ~30% of world-star speakers in English
4 panels + Q&A [ask me for details],
a program gathering
- world class speakers : practitioners and people who gather knowledge (podcast, book, research) about education and AI
- participative sessions for parents AND children
- unique, immersive experiences
- book signings
- a closing party, ofc!

👪 👉 If you’re a parent, educator, or just a curious mind excited to follow the NewKid journey :

🎤 👉 If you are, or know any audacious, wise and optimistic voice on this topic, reach out!

🏢 👉 If you are a company, foundation or person willing to sponsor this event, whether you feel that it’s an absolute match ✨ or have specific questions — let’s talk!

when AI fully performs most of our work, what is left for us to mean?

Mathilde Baillet — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 09:27:18 GMT

hello!

I’ve been absorbed in two things lately, a never-ending “inbound” of articles and podcasts (I made a selection for you below), as well as meeting new folks at an exponential pace for the Paris event I am preparing: “Parenting and Education in this AI era”. It is thrilling and I’ll tell you more below!

OK, on to the favorite content I digested lately:

tl;dr

what’s left for human beings in this AI world? and the role of education - and teachers - in that matter
meet the critical thinking bot that helps you sharpen your arguments
ever heard about the “algorithmic agnotology” framework?
slice of my parenting journey 👋
- should we keep drawing cringe animals for our kids, or outsource this to an AI?
- are you on the self-served dictionary team or need-parent AI bot team - or a mix of both - when it comes to your child seeking knowledge?

what’s left for human beings in this AI world : the crucial role of education

The Displacement of Purpose is the best article I’ve read recently and that I discovered in the excellent Dense Discovery newsletter.

The author, Peter Adam Boeckel, claims that in a world driven by three simple principles - speed, time and money - AI is not a curse but a “dream come true”. When AI fully performs most of our work, what is left for us to mean?

Education might be the guardian of our humanity, though will have to radically evolve when knowledge is free and purpose no longer found in employment.

***

A few snapshots to tease you a bit (but really, read the full article):

The response must begin where all transformation begins: in education. If work once taught us rhythm, learning must now teach us coherence. The systems we build to instruct the next generation will determine whether the age of hyperautomation leads to collapse—or evolution.

…

If automation dismantles the architecture of work, education must become the architecture of meaning. The challenge is no longer how to prepare people for jobs that may soon vanish, but how to prepare them for a life where purpose is not delivered by employment. The future classroom will not exist to transmit knowledge but to cultivate orientation—to teach people how to stay coherent as the ground beneath them shifts.

…

Critical thinking, creativity, and emotional intelligence—once considered supplementary—will become the new core curriculum. Yet even these are not ends in themselves; they are the training ground for something deeper: the capacity to stay human in an increasingly synthetic world.

…

When knowledge is free, presence becomes priceless. And perhaps that is the paradoxical gift of automation: by taking over everything that can be taught without us, it forces us to rediscover the things that can only be learned together.

…

The next generation will not ask, “Where did you study?” but “From whom did you learn?”

…

The role of the teacher will shift from dispenser of truth to curator of experience—to hold the space where insight might occur.

the critical thinking bot…

is one of my favorite writers these days. She’s obsessed with helping humans cultivate agency and critical thinking in the age of AI. She has developed the Critical Thinking Bot, a free tool to help you play with your thoughts:

particularly relevant to challenge a concept you think you know, or simply before a dinner with a friend who loves a good debate 😄 (love you Vinz)

… and the algorithmic agnotology playbook

Shae recently attended the International Association for Safe & Ethical AI summit in Paris, and generously shared a 17min resume here. She reports a thought-provoking concept called the “algorithmic agnotology” playbook. According to some, a game of power played by the AI labs?

fyi, agnotology is the study of (the deliberate production of) ignorance.

It consists of 3 core mechanisms:

design opacity (the undisclosed training data) as a shield against accountability
generated uncertainty (hallucinations are due to AI systems being deployed before they’re ready), that positions the companies as both the problem creator and the only solution
claims of unknowability : big tech playing the game of either epistemic uncertainty (= we don’t know yet but we could with more time, research,..) when seeking investment, or stochastic uncertainty (= the system is fundamentally probabilistic) when facing accountability

Inscrutability is a choice, not a necessity. And this is a power problem.
Are we interrogating opacity or are we legitimising it? - Dr A. Nelson

I invite you to hear Shae’s recap of day 1 too (about “a race that nobody actually agreed to run”), and follow her work on Substack and Youtube.

✨ The NewKid Days ✨

1st edition : Paris, June 2026 [dates tbc]

What is it? A pause in the tumult. Two distinct moments to question, think and connect around the most important topic of our time : how do we raise the next generation of human beings in this AI era?

Also, here’s how you can help:

📌 who is the most passionate, insightful person you’ve heard on that topic, that should absolutely participate as a speaker? whether they’re in France or not

📌 know any specific foundations or companies looking to support this movement? (either as their core mission or for employer branding purposes)

Merci! I am so beyond excited to get this in motion!! Stay tuned.

Parenting in 2026

keep drawing?

I don’t know about you, but this week again, I’ve been ~~asked~~ ordered to draw characters in a homemade colouring book. Because ‘all colouring books are lame’, and because ‘we suck at drawing’ (and you don’t, mum). While the later could absolutely be discussed, here I am, inventing wild animals for them to colour.

Meanwhile, I came across this new tool that consists of prompting a box out-loud and it instantly prints a sticker ready to be coloured. Fantastic, right?

Meet Stickerbox. After going viral on tik tok, they are back with preorders.

Stickerbox is the AI for kids that doesn’t talk back. Its founders claim that AI should be designed for kids from scratch, instead of built-for-adult first, like most AI toys today, consisting of “wrapping ChatGPT in fur.”

While I must admit this idea-to-sticker-in-a-second is pretty irresistible, I can’t help but wonder: what learning opportunity are we taking from them, as we hand over this apparently harmless toy? (it only listens when the top button is pressed)

drawing skills => if you can press and prompt, instead of sitting down with your pen and your imagination, how will you improve your drawing over time? (And should we even care about this at all? I am drawing for them now, after all.)

precise intentions => maybe the child had a really sharp idea of what they wanted to draw, but the AI doesn’t get it, it has its own biaises. Should they accept and conform? Prompt better? Leave the box behind and embrace the fuzzy attempts to make their hand clumsily draw the exact thing that was in their mind, at all cost?

relationship => the need, expressed by my child, for me to come and sit next to him. Cause maybe, the drawing is just an excuse for bonding, and I am not seeing this.

What should we celebrate as parents? The imperfect drawing? And the following, slightly better versions? The accurate vocabulary used to prompt? Them refining their prompting skills, one attempt after the other?

I am growing convinced that we should celebrate friction more. I also know that if we adults do not embody it, well, good luck passing it down to the kids.

What I can see here though, is yet another tool to remove friction - for the child, and let’s be honest, for the parent, too.

What do you think?

Le Robert vs Perplexity

Last week, we bought our kids a dictionary.

Who cares, right? Well, our kids probably. Their growing sense of autonomy. Starting now, they will be able to look up through the 1532 analog pages of this huge book full of words to decipher, instead of asking us to get our phone and ‘ask Perplexity, she knows’.

Our 7 y/o son’s teacher actually raised the point when she asked me and Kev, during our quarterly meeting “he absolutely loves to go check the dictionary, I bet he does the same at home”. Ah? We looked at each other, confused.

I could shame ourselves but what’s the point. We’ve moved in and out so often in our lives that clearly, a 3kg book which content you can find online in a second didn’t make any sense to carry around.

Now it’s different. Both our children can read. Both are old enough to go seek information on their own. Welcome home, Le Robert Junior 🥂

Bonus : toys rebelling against AI companions

Get ready for Toy Story 5, mid June, where Bonnie meets Lilypad, the AI friend. And disposes the good ol’ toys. If the concern isn’t here already, what is it?

Yours,

Mathilde

2026 onwards!

Mathilde Baillet — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 10:11:30 GMT

Happy New Year, dear parents.

I wish you thousands of opportunities to learn alongside your children, to learn from your children, and to grow and blossom as a person, a parent, a partner.

I am starting this year reinvigorated, excited and determined to be this person myself.

Highlights of 2025

💃🏻🕺🏻 Kev and I got officially married (like you know, the paperwork), a great excuse to gather four of our best friends, share meals and embark on a dancing journey that keeps on calling us. This is so damn good. Dancing (again) has made us closer as a couple.

🎂 We also celebrated 20 years of loving each other!

🎙️ I kickstarted NewKid and enjoyed every minute of it. I published 7 episodes. Digging deep into education choices with 14 thoughtful parents, which I now feel close to, in a pretty unique way. How grateful.

Sandra, Yotam, Eamon, , Lindl, , Carina, , Natasha, , , Simon, Lydia,

🚅 For the first time since our kids were born, we parted ways, work wise, and physically, too. Kev spent most weeks in Paris, travelled 3 times 2 weeks+ to the US on his own. It’s been - and still is - weird to introduce each other separately or to kiss the kids goodbye on Monday night. We stretched our family balance, but nothing broke.

🏆 Wins as a parent:

we held steady on two things our boys really fought against : holiday camps every six weeks (for both) and first extra curricular activity, capoeira (for the eldest). They said they didn’t want to go. They cried. They hold our arms. My mom brain was screaming “take them back home, you horrible prick of a mom”. But just like we sleep trained them a few years back, we endured the process, repeating to ourselves “we are teaching them a skill, a very important one” : ~~surviving~~ thriving in a brand new environment. Every single time we picked them up: the largest smile on earth, already excited to go back. (For whatever reason they had forgotten the following morning…)
we dug deeper into Maria Montessori’s texts and grew convince that their school was a fit for us/them now, two things particularly: the mixed-age group effect (our eldest is now the youngest of a group of kids aged 6 to 12), and the fact that a teacher will not stop a kid from learning something even if commonly labelled for an older age group (there is no such thing like “within program”)
we built LEGO countless times with our kids (yes, I do enjoy that, haha!): watching the youngest in his highest state of concentration, building brick over brick while the oldest carefully organises the characters, their outfits and accessories, and works through the scenario
I stood up for my boys in a way I thought my well educated self would never dare doing (by design, I am the ‘whatever 🙄’ type): telling an old bitch to mind her own business and speak decently to children for god sake. It felt liberating. And the astonishment in my boys eyes made it all worth it

🤯 Still struggling here: addressing our kids bursts of anger without getting angry ourselves, helping them manage frustration without the whining, sulking and insulting (yes they’re learning that quickly). It’s hard.

📚 I’ve read books that moved me. My favorite (among many good ones): Free Range Kids by ; a damn serious topic (empowering our children) in a not so serious tone.

🎵 (I will probably regret sharing this) Did my Spotify wrap. Turns out I am 65 years old. F*** it, 80s were the best. Fado #1❤️ (told ya)

🏡 We now have routines that stick ; Wednesday afternoons between my mom and one boy, Friday nights out for Kev and I, Saturday movie nights at home with the kids. As much as we embrace (and somehow thrive in) chaos, I will not emphasise enough on the peace of mind rituals are to a family.

🏃🏻‍♀️ I ran my first marathon. Conditions were ideal : sunny autumn whether in France, children, husband, parents and friends cheering for you and even running by your sides during crucial moments. 4h37 of pure ~~pain~~ joy. 2026 will be the year of my first triathlon!

a proud, lucky mom <3

📰 I’ve (re)discovered the work of inspiring people who make me think, avidly opening every one of their newsletters / episodes, in no particular order : , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

🫶 I was interviewed by the most gracious host : . Thank you for this opportunity, for helping me make time to think and write about inspirations, happiness, family.

💫 Last but not least, it seems that I wrapped up 2025 knowing where I wanted to go make an impact. Somehow it showed up in front of me, crystal clear, obvious, as Kev and I were talking about (his) work.👇

So yeah, there is this nagging question in the back of my head:

Where can we talk about raising children?

I mean, not only by reaction. But by looking ahead and forward, teaming up to stand for things that we care about.

Not by rejection either. Not by withdrawing into ourselves but by sparking possibilities.

Yes, there is Substack. I met 4/7 of my guests here.

How about gathering IRL? Making it a moment we all look forward to join.

I crave this. Do you?

2026 announcement: The NewKid Days.

🇫🇷 Paris, June 2026
🇺🇸 San Francisco, December 2026 (👋 friends at !)

Real moments with real people. You know, awkward introductions followed by ‘aha’ moments, laughs and astonishment.

I am fascinated by what’s happening, tech wise. Fascinated, skeptical, optimistic, lost, curious, confident, fearful.

I am no expert. But I believe in the magic that can happen when well intentioned, thoughtful people gather. Experts and beginners. Enthusiasts.

Donc voilà.

I will enable these conversations.

I want to learn from the terrific thinkers x doers out there, parents, educators, tech entrepreneurs, researchers,..

I want (our) children to witness and participate to this effervescence, too.

We’re all in this together.

☎️ This is a call to all the energies out there, if you want to get involved somehow! Share ideas, introduce me to someone. Let’s do this!

Let's talk ☎️

Thanks for reading NewKid! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Dear Mathilde, in 2026, please make sure to:

keep meeting new, exceptional people (methodically inspired by ), learn from them, grow your antennas
gather people, act as a catalyst, savour these new sparks
burry that imposteur syndrome deep enough (and for good, how about that)
trust parents around you, rely more on each other, nurture that village (shoutout to Lena, Flo, , Eamon)
trust your kids
dance!!

Bonne année!

Yours,
Mathilde

ep7 | Using AI to Help Their 3 & 5 y/o Kids Learn

Mathilde Baillet — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 14:42:31 GMT

Hi there, I am so glad you are here. It means a lot to be sharing this last episode of 2025 with you.

Let me introduce you to Lydia and . Their energy, their relentless desire to turn ideas into experiments into products, together, is an inspiration.

Lydia’s a math & English tutor, Kevon’s worked at the crossroad of tech and education for years.

She’s the determined, achieving mother passionate about how to get students - including her own kids - cultivate interest in learning ; he’s the creative, tinkerer dad exploring how the latest tech tools can enhance learning possibilities, spicing up what school provides (or else lack of), now empowering 12-16 years old to get out there with their unique projects.

They are the parents of two daughters, 5 years old Avery and 3 years old Audrey.

August 13th, France meets Hong Kong

I got carried away by their eagerness to play with technology, create new tools from scratch, test them for real with their daughters, and ultimately share them to the outside world. Check for yourself:

FunSheets, a worksheet generator to help kids learn maths, Chinese and English (best suited for Chinese speaking children)

Chatty Bestie, to improve communication in English and get your kids ready for school interview questions (yes, that’s a thing!) or chat about a topic they love ; in a word: a tool where the parent acts as a facilitator, not a teacher

trying it with my 6.5 y/o.. who’s not so keen to speak english 🙃

Lydia and Kevon are the living example of exploring what you enjoy - and vice versa - ; of building the missing piece, too.

Along the conversation, there were things that definitely surprised me, like crafting your five y/o’s resume and prep’ing her for an interview... A real thing in Hong Kong (and well in Paris too, friends told me)

Finally, I related a lot to their eagerness to meet with other parents. They will be gathering up to 6 families from various places in the world for a Summer Worldschooling: a full week of encounters, parent-led workshops and fun! If that sounds like your dream plan (2026: Thailand), and if your kids are between 3 and 6 y/o, reach out to them!

Listen to the episode here, or else on:
Spotify • Apple Podcast • Pocket Casts • Youtube

tl;dr

a discussion about

navigating between creative learning and the school system learning
children meltdown and the Whole Brain Child
homeschooling vs “semi-homeschooling”, making time to bond with your kids
local vs international schools in Hong Kong, homework and the pressure to perform
knowing what you love and pursue it, teaching girls toughness
what makes a good partner and teammate : enforcing what you said, being on the same side, (then) talking, taking responsibilities over
Alpha School, reimagining the teacher’s role
AI x kids : carefully embracing AI to enhance learning

I would not expose kids under 10 years old to the AI superpower … cause they don’t have the right skills and judgment to know how to use it.(…) AI is a tool, but you need your craftsmanship, you need your expertise first. - Kevon
If kids don’t have the knowledge of those academic subjects yet, how do they judge whether the things that AI is giving them is correct? - Lydia
AI powering the experience, making recommendations: I am quite fine with this [Alpha school] - Kevon

If you haven’t already, today’s the day to sign up to Kevon’s newsletter✨ :

more about my guests

words from them.

Lydia (Instagram)

Lydia is a proud mother of two girls. She likes to call herself a “part-time mum” because she cares deeply about balancing her family responsibilities and professional commitments. When she got married in 2019, she sought a more flexible career path and became a tutor of English and Maths for primary and secondary school students. She loves “play and learn” and makes that her unique tutoring style. She went on to write a unique children’s book, Quacky, that invites young readers to use stickers to personalize their story, becoming the co-author of their own adventure. At home, she works with Kevon to continuously experiment with ways to help our daughters become self-motivated, because that’s where the best learning truly sparks. In her free time, she enjoys a “me-time” yoga session, emerging recharged like a zen warrior ready for the next family quest.

Kevon (KevonCheung.com) | Instagram)

Kevon often jokes that Lydia was “the wife at first sight” love. He is an educator, builder, and a proud GirlDad. He has spent his whole career connecting the dots between technology and education. He started as a software engineer, then operated a kids’ coding school across Asia. During the pandemic, with all that unexpected time at home, Kevon started writing and sharing online. That’s when he taught and coached entrepreneurs on how to “build in public” and build a personal brand. With AI on the rise, he now spends most of his time coaching 12-16 year-old on building and launching creative projects, like books, websites, apps, and podcast series. He believes the best way for these kids to thrive in the future is to build, iterate, improve, and repeat like tiny inventors forging their own paths. His audacious goal is to help 500 curious kids unleash their proud creative projects into the world.

dig deeper

(after fact checking a couple things)

homeschooling in Hong Kong

While precise percentages aren’t available, homeschooling remains a very small minority in Hong Kong - likely representing less than 0.1% of school-age children. The practice operates in a legal gray area with minimal government support, though growing pandemic-era acceptance suggests numbers may be slowly increasing.
The lack of official statistics itself reflects Hong Kong’s ambiguous stance on homeschooling - neither fully prohibited nor officially recognized or supported.
Why Numbers Are Uncertain:
“Don’t ask, don’t tell” culture - Many families don’t report to authorities
No mandatory registration - Parents aren’t required to officially register as homeschoolers
Fear of scrutiny - Families avoid disclosure due to concerns about EDB visits
Misconception about legality - 50% of survey respondents incorrectly believe homeschooling is illegal

homeschooling in the US

~3.7 million homeschooled students (2024-2025). Approximately 6% of all K-12 students are homeschooled. Homeschooling is legal in all 50 states, but regulations vary significantly
30 states require annual reporting to authorities
21 states do not track homeschoolers
Regulations range from minimal oversight to detailed curriculum requirements
Homeschooling in the United States has evolved from a fringe alternative to an increasingly mainstream educational choice. The 6% rate represents approximately 3.7 million students and continues growing at triple the pre-pandemic rate. The movement is diverse, spans all demographics, and produces strong academic outcomes. Most significantly, recent data shows this is not temporary pandemic-related behavior but rather a fundamental shift in how American families approach education.

homework rules in France

For Elementary School (École Primaire):
According to the official French government position:
Teachers CAN give students homework to do at home
Teachers CANNOT give students written work to do outside of class
Allowed homework includes:
Oral work (reading aloud)
Lessons to learn/memorize
Research activities
Reading assignments
For Secondary School (Collège & Lycée):
Teachers CAN give written homework
Students are obligated to complete written and oral assignments given by teachers
In short
France has maintained an official ban on written homework for elementary school since 1956, repeatedly reaffirmed through 2013. However, this regulation exists in a gray area where:
The legal justification (in-school study time) no longer exists
All teachers give homework anyway
The distinction between “written work” and “lessons to learn” has never been clearly defined
Everyone (teachers, parents, inspectors) agrees some homework is necessary
The result is a system where teachers give homework but must navigate unclear rules, leading to calls for regulatory clarity that may come as soon as 2025.

things we discussed:

approaching music differently
how Alpha School works, by founder

The Anxious Generation, by

Brave New Words, How AI Will Revolutionize Education (and Why That’s a Good Thing), a book by Salman Khan, founder of Khanmigo and the Khan Academy

The Whole-Brain Child, a book by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson

The Disengaged Teen, by and

That’s all for today, dear parents 🫶

Enjoy the episode, and I wish you all joyful, peaceful holidays!

See you next year, rested and energised ✨

Yours,

Mathilde

ep6 | It Is Enough Because We Care And We Try, with Sam and Simon

Mathilde Baillet — Thu, 30 Oct 2025 16:38:28 GMT

Hello hello.

I’ve been awfully quiet the past few weeks ; dealing with a resistant form of procrastination that wouldn’t leave me alone.

And with a mirror right in my face, it’s had much to do with imposteur syndrome and excessive perfectionism.

Amplified by going solo.

I am working on it.

Early August, though, the day I woke up at 4am while still jet-lagged (SF>Paris) to record this conversation, my energy level was through the roof.

I had a million questions prepared and enjoyed every minute of it, I didn’t even notice the day rising behind me. (You will, if you watch the video until the end 😜).

I was excited to talk with an entrepreneur in the parenting space, who had not only built six-figure large communities of parents, but one of the largest media platform for parenting content, and a documentary too. I was just as excited to meet the husband behind this successful mom, thus closing the loop.

When we hung up, after two hours, I felt that deep wave of gratitude and plenitude, walking in the quiet streets of Paris, grabbing warm croissants for our boys and grandma, still asleep. The day had just started yet it felt full already. As we walked through le Marais, I couldn’t help but spoil Kev with the excerpts I had enjoyed most. I didn’t care if he’d stop me (he did not), this was way too exciting.

Here I am, now. Delighted to introduce you to Sam and Simon, the most experienced parents I’ve received on the podcast so far.

Seventeen years of parenting, and counting.

I think you will notice their wisdom.

Is it just a matter of years? After all, there is no shortcut to 17 years of discussions, adjustments, crisis, alignement, healing, acceptance.

Or is it their work, as a teacher? as a mental health advocate? as a founder creating content for parents, gathering parents?

Probably a mix of it all.

Sam and Simon came to this conversation as they are, with no fuss. They interrupt each other, get intense, admit they have no fucking clue when they do… just as you would imagine they’d be at their kitchen counter, at home.

I am grateful and honoured to share this intimate, universal discussion with you.

So yes, I’m good and it’s enough because I care and I try, the outcome doesn’t actually matter.

After my conversation with Sandra and Yotam, I had watched Seen.

It made me feel :

Empathetic for the error we’ve made as parents and the ones our parents made with us
Grateful in our capacity to forgive others
Hopeful one can change (plasticity of the brain)

And quite honestly the monkeys experiment showing how little ones will inevitably choose connexion / love over food struck me!

Then I reached out to Sam.

The rest is ~~history~~ in this episode.

🎧 Listen on Substack 👆

or on Spotify - Apple Podcast - Pocket Casts - YouTube

tl;dr

this is a story about

- their evolving roles over the years

- the pain of being successful

- connection above anything else

- the masculine archetype

- the children voice (while parents are in the lead)

- expectations with regards to school and sports

It was never about the sport. It was about the community and connection and being a part of something

- performative kids < curiosity < boredom

It’s just really fascinating for me, I feel like everybody’s working so hard to try and do all the right things to get their kids to be something. And I laugh and think about my parents and I’m like, they did nothing!

- commitment to one another

One of the best piece of advice I’ve ever heard for parenting was about the best thing you can do for your kids is to love their mother

- embodying what we want to pass on to our children

We can’t give those to our children, if we haven’t gone on the journey of giving that to ourselves

- healing from our own trauma

So trauma isn’t just what happens to you. Trauma can be what didn’t happen

- the need to go through hard stuff, together as a couple

- the messy middle of navigating tech at home

One parent is consistent, the other isn’t. One parent can handle children’ feelings, the other less so.

- their own recipe for tech use at home

Making sure they’re being loved and listened to

But if we are not in love with our children, not just, I love my children, but in love with our children, they are looking for an adult or someone to be in love with them. In that like, I see you and I think you’re amazing. And so if they are desperate for that, they will be vulnerable

Educating our kids about the risks

I actually think all-or-nothing approaches, this is my opinion, is not healthy. We have to learn to live in the messy middle of it. And I’m like, if you want this, then you have to sit and have this conversation with me. Like, that’s the agreement

Helping them fill their life with exciting, IRL things to do

It’s not just how much time my kids are spending online, it’s what else? The online stuff is the opportunity cost. Like that time is coming at an opportunity cost of other things that they’re not doing, and therefore those skills are not being built

Because the truth is that underneath that I actually have no idea and I am worried and there are no answers here.

(…)

I am choosing to believe and trust that my kids are gonna be okay and I’m gonna act like that’s true, and if I do that, it will become true.

(…)

I still feel a little bit of terror about the whole situation. When it comes to witnessing my children on these devices, my son, I freak out and I have to resist letting that lead.

‘cause then I will start leading from fear and panic.

And that’s not good for anybody. And I just have to choose love and I have to choose trust, and I have to choose that I have tried and that I have cared and that my kids are gonna be okay and I’m gonna believe that.

(…)

So I’m a really big believer in the energy that we bring to this needs to be: We’ve got you. We can help you. You’ve got you. It’s messy. We’re in it together. Let’s not panic. You’ve got everything you need to be a successful adult. It’s gonna be a bit messy, but we will get there. And you’re not on your own in this.

more about my guests

“Both Simon and I are kind of helpers to a degree and have always kind of worked and lived in service to other people.” - Sam

| linkedIn

Sam Jockel is an award-winning entrepreneur and content producer known for founding ParentTV, an innovative parenting platform, and building ALDI Mum and School Mum, online communities with over 650,000 members.
Recognized by the World Summit Awards Globally winning the Learning and Education category for the Quality Education SDG, she has also taken on the role of producer tackling the tricky topic of parenting in modern times with the documentary Seen.

Simon Jockel

Simon is a primary school teacher and the Blackall region lead at Outback Futures, a not-for-profit providing mental health and wellbeing services for kids, youth, adults, families and communities.

dig deeper

The Social Dilemma:

Embrace Kids:

Circle of Security, an 8-week program:

Enjoy this episode!

Until next time 🌺

Mathilde

ep5 | Bonding through Building (a Plane), with Natasha & Latham

Mathilde Baillet — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 10:37:25 GMT

Hi! I am so very delighted to introduce you to Natasha and Latham.

They’ve been together since high school, the dinosaur kind, you know, that species no one thought it would still exist nowadays -turns out it does ( , we’re not alone 🙌 20 years this October 😱🤩)

Natasha and Latham served 10+ years in the Navy, she as a Flight Test Engineer and he was a Test Pilot and Naval Aviator. High technical, high risk jobs. They both transitioned to (the Silicon Valley type of) tech a couple years ago, and now live in Bozeman, Montana, with their two children: Camden (9) and Addie (7).

A year and a half ago, they started an incredible family journey, unschooling their son, first, now their daughter too, and… making space for dreams to exist. Yes, altogether, they are building an airplane!

If you hang out on Substack and are interested in extra-ordinary education paths, you might have heard about already. I have been reading his newsletter for months, and was thrilled to uncover the complete picture of what their life could be, with the help of his wife Natasha.

Thank you both for entrusting me with this conversation, I so much enjoyed our time together - and listening to it again (and again)!

Listen here, or on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Pocket Casts or YouTube :)

tl;dr

this is a story about

- team work

having each other’s back

Natasha not only brings an income, she’s the family coach too, for the children (personally, martial art classes..) and for Latham, worrying about his own mental health and professional ambition.

Latham is the home educator, mastering dedication, patience, creativity and determination, overcoming doubts, pursuing obsessions.

- adversity

turning life challenges into a family adventure

It started at as a sacrifice and it’s kind of become a new passion - Latham
I t's been remarkable, I think, for both of them. Watching both of them grow together has been really, really great. They push each other, like the two of them will push each other for better or for worse. I think it's for better - Natasha

- resilience

the power of iteration

, going from a very “well-trained mind classical curriculum” to completely student-led and project-led (anything in the morning, assignments in the afternoon), and then now breaking the day into 2-hour chunks [which is funny is how Maria Montessori splits the day, too]

, going from metrics and bucket lists of to dos to… “no need for KPIs for me to know he’s learning”.

- dreams

I want both of my kids to believe that they can do completely unreasonable things and not be surprised when somebody wants to support them or help them or do things - Latham
They deserve to be able to dream way bigger than, I don't know, than I ever felt like I could - Latham
If you're willing to put in the work for something, you can achieve it - Natasha

- togetherness

building the relation

I think that the reason that it works so well for him is because he and I are doing it together - Latham
The relationship that I have with my kids now is far and away the best thing I've ever done. - Latham

- identity

the challenge of finding oneself as a parent

What do I look like when this is all done?
Am I maintaining enough of myself where I'm gonna know who I still am when I'm not full-time parent and their full-time teacher?
The biggest challenge for me has been continuing to find myself, I think, in that.
-Latham

OK now, make sure to Latham’s journey here 👇😎

more about my guests

words from them

Natasha

Natasha is Latham’s wife of 17 years (and counting) and working mom to their 2 kids. With foundations in mechanical engineering, she started her career as a Flight Test engineer for the Navy, spending 11 years executing high risk tests on fighter aircraft. When Latham separated from the Navy, she also made a career transition, moving into tech as a Technical Program Manager where she’s been for the last 8 years. When she finds some free time, you can find her working on her photography, trying a new recipe, or training jiu jitsu. While she never saw homeschooling as a part of her family’s plan, mom life has taught her that plans change as soon as you make them and she’s seen how remarkable it can be.

💌 nperis@gmail.com

Latham

In 2024, Latham Turner decided to take over his son's education. After careers as a Naval Aviator, Test Pilot, technology leader, and early stage investor, taking over his son's education felt like a pause, a necessary sacrifice. What he found instead was a new purpose. Six months into home education, when his son asked if they could build an airplane for school, he realized he was onto something special. He now spends his time educating his children while trying to design educations to unleash the next 1,000 childhood geniuses.

LinkedIn and 💌 lhturner06@gmail.com

dig deeper

references that came out from our discussion:

a school for kids who love maths: Proof School, in the Bay Area
greek mythology, for kids : the National Geographics “Greeking Out” podcast:

Latham’s favorite book about education : The Extended Mind, by Annie Murphy Paul

That book has single handedly changed the way that I think about how to create a great opportunity for them to learn and be in the world. I think I've read that book five times already.

GoNoodle videos, a free digital platform that uses short, interactive videos and activities to get children moving, primarily targeting ages 4–10 and designed for use in homes and K–5 classrooms
’s Socratic Experience (online) school, an innovative online K–12 school rooted in Socratic dialogue and personalized learning. The model combines classical education with self-directed inquiry, guiding students through challenging texts, structured essays, and intellectual problem-solving while supporting personal projects and one-on-one mentoring.
and of course, Latham’s newsletter, that I encourage you to discover through this beautiful piece and manifesto:
Building the Plane
An Education of His Own
I took over my son’s education in January of this year. I took it over because I saw my brown-eyed lanky boy (my boy who felt everything so intensely it filled me with awe) smiling less and hurting more, and because I was tired of my boy failing to meet his potential in a system that didn’t really want to help. What I wanted was to make everyone care as…
Read more
2 years ago · 169 likes · 67 comments · Latham Turner

Enjoy this discussion!!

Bisous,

Mathilde

"I did it myself!"

Mathilde Baillet — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 19:38:33 GMT

Hi, everyone!

I hope you’re doing great 😊

I’ve made the -big- decision to not overthink these newsletters, for falling into the ‘perfect one’ mindset makes me… not share anything at all. Not even the one gem I wanted to share in the first place.

Today I’d love to share this recent TED talk from the founder of the Let Grow initiative [When Adults Step Back, Kids Step Up] ; you might know her already? I think you should absolutely watch this. Believe me, it will raise questions 🙃

Think about it:

we are spending way more time with our kids than our parents spent with us, usually helping them do things that they could do on their own.

Ouch.

Question for you, now 😎👉

would you let your kid go [enter a familiar spot] on his/her own?

* * *

Yeah cause it’s usually easy to buy the theory (personally, I am sold!), but actually playing cool as we let them go for the first time is a whole other story.

As you can imagine, this triggered a very passionate conversation between and I, especially since our eldest (who is 6.5 y/o now):

vividly remembers that one -and only- time staying at home on his own for 10 minutes as one of us was running an errand ; ask him, he is damn proud of this moment ‘surviving’ without us
regularly asks us whether he could go to school on his own : 1.3km (0.8 miles), the whole time on the sidewalk, still: crossing a road, a bridge and two more roads in the end.

Kev (his dad) walked the streets on his own very early on, at around this age, 6. A few years later, at about 10, he was walking his little brother (aged 5) to school. The deep, natural confidence he has in himself, and that I admire so much, most certainly has roots in this big chunk of responsibilities he was given in his early childhood. He wrote a beautiful piece here: Kids Protection Gone Too Far.

👆 ‘Old Enough’ : a Japanese TV show - now on Netflix - featuring children aged 3 to 6, running errands on their own

OK, back to our kids, our decision. Haha, less easy, uh!

Kev and I ended up with this idea : a checklist of “the things you must master before running your first errand”, that we would draft, pin on the wall? A quest game for them, and a reminder for ourselves, that if everything is checked, then it is time to let go. (Not to add more bullet points 😛)

Things such as :

knowing your name and family name
knowing your address
knowing mom or dad’s phone number without hesitation
…

And a few basic rules such as:

safely cross a road
enter a store to ask for help
…

Now about the trend: look at what a child aged 8 is allowed to walk on his own, vs his mother, grand-father and great grand-father.

Also, about abduction (cause this is always the next question):

If for some reason you WANTED them to be snatched off the street by a stranger, statistically, how long would you have to keep them outside?
…
750 000 years

More about the risk of being kidnapped by a stranger.

Did you know?

Florida just became the 11^th state where Let Grow helped pass a Reasonable Childhood Independence law. It clarifies that “neglect” is when you put your child in obvious, serious danger – not anytime you take your eyes off them.

What’s your take on this?

What is it like in your country / culture?

What have you tried with your child(ren)?

Cheers,

Mathilde

ep4 | Nurturing Freedom, with Carina & Franco

Mathilde Baillet — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 13:56:53 GMT

Hello hello!

I hope you’ve had a lovely summertime, filled with slow-down moments, fewer phone distractions, deep connections.

🌼 🌸 🌺

Today is our children’s second day back to school! Our youngest returned to his well-known 3-6 teacher, but his best friend moved to Singapore. Ouch. Our eldest stepped up to class 6-12 and now finds himself being the young one, a whole new world. Fortunately, his bestie is moving up as well.

Yesterday, as we picked them up, they jumped around, thrilled. I am grateful they’re loving school (although at times they want to ‘destroy it’ 🙄🤷🏻‍♀️).

🌸 🌺 🌼

I am excited to share with you a conversation I had with Carina and recently. They’re the parents of two children aged 4.5 and 3. They’re back in Hong Kong after two years in London and stand out for giving their kids a fair amount of freedom.

I’ve been following Franco’s writing on Substack for quite some time now. He has a very unique way to question society through personal questions, to present unexpected yet thoughtful challenges like the 1 Thing 10 Years, to ask profound questions in the interview series he’s running. When I saw he was launching What’s Dad, I knew the time had come to have a conversation!

Here we are. Enjoy.

forward this to a parent friend ✨😎

If you’re new here, welcome! NewKid is a podcast where I sit down with parents and explore what it means to raise our children today. Technology changed us. AI will change our children. How could we make sure -as parents but then, as a society- that it will be for the better?

Subscribe now

previous episodes:

ep3: unwrapping unlimited screen time
ep2: treating children as whole people
ep1: raising a trilingual, equanimous and social child

tl;dr

standing against the stream in Hong Kong by giving their children unusual levels of freedom, like letting them go barefoot or resolve their own conflicts
intentionally limiting extracurricular activities, from the usual 7-8 to just one or two, prioritising free play and family time instead
picking up schools, based on happiness and strong teacher-student bonds, rather than academic pressure
share about sibling rivalry, balancing love between two kids, and the challenges of returning to Hong Kong after living in London
exploring the influence of their own education, the impact of their parents and inspiring teachers, and how they hope to pass on self-confidence, self-acceptance, adaptability and strong family connections to their children.

more about my guests

Carina

Parent • Interior Designer • Student of Motherhood
I'm navigating the wonderful chaos of raising little humans — sometimes gracefully, often learning through the stumbles. Each day brings new lessons, but the greatest reward is the laughter we share along the way.
My designer's eye can't help but find beauty in life's details: the poetry of everyday spaces, the stories architecture whispers, the quiet dialogue of art.
I've come to see that both parenting and design thrive on patience, creativity, and finding joy in the imperfect.

Franco

Hello, I am Franco, a dad with two kids from Hong Kong.
I love playing football, hiking, and reading the same books over and over again. I like to think about how to devote my time to what really matters over long term - my marriage, friendship, and health. Good things in life come naturally as they compound.
I grew up in a family that practiced Nichiren Buddhism (a branch originated in Japan in the 1920s). As I encountered more philosophies and got older, I keep noticing how the Stoics rhymes with Buddhists: understand our emotions, define what's within our control, avoid being drowned by our desires, face our worst fears, let go. My practice these days is to take what works and resonates with me and just run with them in my daily life.
I write on Substack, and made a guide for other dads called "What's Dad":
Franco's Newsletter
This is a mountain hut deep inside my soul. I'm glad you have found it.
By Franco Wong

about next episode…

have you ever dreamt of building something crazy as a child? a skyrocket, a.. plane?! well, stay tuned for a rather unconventional parenting journey, with Natasha and Latham, who have turned life challenges into a unique, inspiring, demanding, beautiful family adventure.

Until next time!

Mathilde

that AI exhibition was a lot of fun

Mathilde Baillet — Mon, 11 Aug 2025 13:29:03 GMT

Hey parents!

A few weeks ago, I spotted this AI ‘after dark’ exhibition called “Adventures in AI” - supported by Anthropic, Claude’s parent. I bought a ticket without thinking much. I am not sure what got me, adventures or AI. I was altogether pumped to spend time with myself (I am of very good company!), excited to dig into the eye of the storm, and trying not to expect much, as most previous exhibitions I went to disappointed me for being so flat and boring.

Turns out my old time buddy joined me last minute. We landed there at 6pm when the doors opened, and ~~left~~ got kicked out at 10pm, in high spirits. I had not played x felt amazed at an exhibition for ages.

I think we need more of this. Adults, children, all of us.

👆 Max and I playing with a freaking impenetrable mirror

👆 Max and I brainstorming with a friendly philosopher from the Santa Cruz University whether it is OK to use AI to write a love letter? Is it?
Fun fact: he told us ‘philosophy’ is not a very popular word in schools and universities in the US, they’d rather use ‘ideas’ to describe these moments of questioning oneself. Interesting 🙃

👆 my scrunchie is a donut. You have four hours.

👆 music grouping exploration was extremely exciting: see that map made of thousands of dots? each of them is a song or music, and they’re gathered in nods of similar genres. Such an unusual way to explore music, I’d love to have his at home!

👆 me voice-prompting (in french, had to see if it worked with other languages too!) “Il était une fois, dans une forêt d’ananas, un immense oiseau bleu” ; and then it appeared on the screen, that immense blue bird in a pineapple forest. I also printed a ticket as a souvenir. Artistic co-creation 🪄

👆 should I admit I got completely addicted here? “Think like a computer” was the most thrilling (and frustrating!) part of the exhibition. Do you play that game with your children : think about something, and with only yes or no questions, I will find what it is? That is the game. Except animals only. For each submission, the machine gives you a % of how close you are to spotting the right animal. Simple, right? It is FREAKING IMPOSSIBLE to think in vectors like machines do. If you don’t believe me, make a guess with what you know above, I’ll see you in the notes to share the answer 😎

👆 another hilarious one : humans against the machine. See Pictionary game? This time against the machine. Four human participants: one draws, three must guess. The machine plays too: if it guesses right, humans lose. So fun!

***

AI doesn’t always have to be heavy. Understanding technology is often more persistant, stickier, through play. I found this exhibition to be a very smart, whole-body, immersive experience to connect with and to question AI.

Play makes you feel alive, connected, energised. It was such a singular moment, shared with a good friend, too.

If you are in San Francisco, run for it! Shows continues until September 14th! 🚀👇

check it out if you're in SF!

what’s up with your podcast

After a few weeks crossing the desert of faith in June, the engine slowly started in July and I am grateful I got to hear (and record, don’t you worry 🔴😎) the journeys of three enthralling couples this past month!

I can feel the momentum is back, and this, believe me, is an immense source of joy, excitement - and fear to lose it, too!

🎙️ Don’t miss the next episode, coming out this Thursday, with Carina and , two marvellous parents I came across here, on Substack.

👋 if you landed here inadvertently and are wondering what's happening -- well, we're a bunch of intentional parents exploring what's best for our kids.

episode 3 • unlimited screen time, with Lindl &

episode 2 • treating children as whole people, embracing loneliness and the growth mindset, with & Eamon

episode 1 • raising a trilingual, equanimous and social child, with Sandra & Yotam

discussion with people around the world… and the need for IRL, too!

Digital-wise, you know, I have Substack ❤️

On my last evening in San Francisco, I think I found my physical crowd.

I got kindly invited to join ’s community dinner, where , and Michael Li gathered club builders to celebrates wins, hang out with one another, dance, and share their own progress and next launches. If you are thinking about gathering people physically, regularly, around a specific theme, check out what they’re building.

AI x children

🐣 baby grok

heard about Baby Grok, Elon’s recent move on AI? what does it say about how interesting our children’ attention is? what is this new model built for exactly? what use cases?

👥 meet Chat-GPT’s new ‘study mode’

get help with homework or test prep… you can now dig into a problem, step by step instead of just getting the answer. OpenAI built this study mode with college students in mind, to answer the recurring question (who said fear) :

how do we ensure [Chat-GPT] is used to support real learning, and doesn’t just offer solutions without helping students make sense of them?

study mode is available to logged in users on Free, Plus, Pro, Team, with availability in ChatGPT Edu coming in the next few weeks.

next for me 👉 investigate what’s cooking up at the SCALE Initiative at Stanford University’s Accelerator for Learning⁠, where experts study and share how AI tools influence learning outcomes in areas like K-12 education (an initiative supported by OpenAI)

📚 also, too many inspiring talks made me do a tiny bit of shopping. oops.

See ya on Thursday!

Mathilde

ep3 | Unwrapping Unlimited Screen Time, with Lindl & Steyn

Mathilde Baillet — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 18:13:19 GMT

Hi there!

Come meet Lindl and Steyn!

I am thrilled to share this third episode with you, where we explore, among many compelling topics, one that probably every parent who’s not living like Captain Fantastic (a great movie, btw) is thinking about, probably every single day : how do you deal with screen time?

For Lindl and Steyn, who’ve been very much inspired by the Taking Children Seriously approach to parenting, aka treating children like whole people (see more below) it goes like this : no screen time limit. Period.

Their kids are 6 and 4 years old, same as ours. Honestly, as much as I love the idea of a non-coercive type of education, duh. It felt off. Like, beyond my limits.

But given how thoughtful, intelligent and articulated these two parents are, a discussion was much needed. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did!

Also available on : Apple Podcast | Youtube

Subscribe now

tl;dr

on their way from a Montessori school to a mix of homeschooling and Montessori tutoring
crafting their kids education from their own experiences: Lindl was homeschooled, Steyn in a traditional school
what makes an exceptional tutor : about connexion and trust
on the importance of teaching kids how to feel and sense to better solve problems “no AI or robot standing in a queue will know what it feels like to wait for something”; also on how to be true to yourself
asking your kids “how do you feel about [xyz]” and helping them identify their emotions
the non-coercive approach is about asking yourself : how do you make other people feel?
unlimited screen time :
- changing the paradigm, from putting restrictions to crafting the environment where kids can flourish (outside of screens)
- kids are learning from our own behaviours…
- dealing with inappropriate content
- what works: engage with your kids x create a safe environment (curate content - with them!)
- it’s hard to not operate out of that fear but rather to trust the process ; but one needs to learn by experience
introducing young kids to AI : from fact-checking using ChatGPT / Sky voice to raising awareness on fake video generation
with the rise of AIs in our lives, don't know what can be more important in life than how we make other people feel ; it then become easier to raise your kid in a non coercive way
being able to tell your kids ‘I am sorry’ is paramount

more about my guests

Steyn

viljoen.space | x.com/steynviljoen

I’m a senior product designer living in Cape Town, South Africa. I care deeply about designing tools that feel humane—products that make sense, respect the people using them, and have some staying power in the world.
I’m also a dad to two kids, and raising them has shaped the way I think about everything. We follow the Taking Children Seriously approach at home, which means we treat each other like real people.
I love running, gardening, building things and reading on a wide variety of topics. Some of the ideas that have stuck with me come from David Deutsch, Carl Rogers, and Christopher Alexander. I love systems, slow growth, and things that are built to last.
Here are some keywords that attempt to capture who I'm about: gardening, plants, pots, dad, taking children seriously, philosophy, alexander technique, internal family systems, optimism, taoism, god, critical rationalism, reading, running, startups, making, building, ant farm, bug hotel, quiet afternoon, home, lawn, play, reflect, laugh

Lindl

I’m Lindl, I work in payroll at a small, close-knit accounting firm where we handle clients’ monthly payroll needs with care and precision. I grew up in the small town of Patensie and moved to Cape Town straight after school, where I took a gap year (or two!) and found my feet in the city. It was also where I met my husband, Steyn, about 14–15 years ago. We got married in 2014 and now have two wonderful boys, aged 4 and 6, who keep us on our toes.
I’ve always loved entertaining. Nothing makes me happier than cooking or baking for friends and family and seeing them enjoy what I’ve made. I’m naturally creative and enjoy all things hands-on: arts and crafts, sewing, and making our home a beautiful, welcoming space. I’m more of a practical person than a bookworm. I’d much rather be doing than reading about it!

dig deeper

materials that we discussed in the pod, and more:

the Taking Children Seriously approach to raising children:
Children have as much right to control their lives as we adults have to control ours. They are fallible (make mistakes)—but so are we adults. They are not omniscient (they do not know everything) but neither are we adults.
The Sovereign Child, by Aaron Stupple
The Beginning of Infinity, by David Deutsch
humans and robots On Arrival, A Bouquet, by Antoine Valot here’s an excerpt:
His mind is limited, slow, faulty, but uses a clever hack called imagination, that fills in the gaps with invented facts… and he’s a master at it. A lifetime of reinventing his memories has given him something greater than satisfaction. It’s given him what humans calls bliss.
Each memory for him is an alternate world, in which he lives an ageless life. There he can sing with a full voice, watch his companion’s body dancing with love and wild abandon. There, he feels free.
Since my goal is to optimize his well-being, I need to understand bliss. I’ve begun modeling a new mind for myself, to mirror his.
Michael Ashcraft’s article on Alexander Technique is a great place to start
pieces from Steyn that really resonated
- Disobedience
  David Deutsch says it well, “Disobedience is man's original virtue.”
  Fundamentally, without disobedience, we can’t have creativity, and without creativity we can’t make progress.
  It’s a bit sticky: Zero tolerance leads to a static society, but too much of it leads to chaos. Both can cause societal collapse. Or, as the historian Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy explained:
  “Every form of civilization is a wise equilibrium between firm substructure and soaring liberty.”
  Or simply, all civilisations move on a spectrum between absolute obedience and complete anarchy.
- Screen time : unask the question
  “Should kids have screen time limits?”, is a fundamentally flawed question.
  Mu. Unask the question. Ask a different one.
  Here’s one alternative: How can we connect better with our kids?

notes for myself

momentum is the most powerful yet fragile ingredient to make any project go from 0 to 1 (and further) ; when it’s here, you’re flying to the moon (April, July), when it’s not (June), it’s damn hard to keep the faith intact - onwards.
bear with me the countless “mmmh” that I can’t help but make while guests are talking - this is just a nightmare to edit (!). So yeah Mathilde, stop that. And accept silences too.

That’s it for today!

Listen, reach out, and enjoy the week ahead.

Bisous,

Mathilde

discoveries #4

Mathilde Baillet — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 15:32:45 GMT

Hello parents and what not!

If you’re new here, welcome! NewKid is a podcast where I sit down with parents and talk about the singular choices we make raising our children today: what we would love to nurture, and how could technology serve us on this mission.

Subscribe now

Interesting stuff from previous weeks:

hi Barbie, how was your day?

OpenAI recently announced a partnership with Mattel, its first ever with a toymaker. As you know, Mattel makes toys, a LOT of different toys, from Barbie dolls to Polly Pocket to Hot Wheels cars ;

The two expect to announce their first “AI-powered product” later this year, with the goal of enhancing “fan engagement in a safe, thoughtful, and responsible way.”

Well, well, I am certainly intrigued by this first iteration of “safe, thoughtful, and responsible” AI toys.

raise your hand if you don’t have Mattel stuff at home… ha!

should robots be our kids’ best friends?

- or the anthropomorphism trap.

In a recent interview (in French) and in the episode below (in English), neuroscientist Dr. Mathilde Cerioli, who studies the intersection of child development and artificial intelligence, reminds us that early and frequent interactions with AI-powered or anthropomorphic technologies (like conversational toys) can distort children’s understanding of attachment and trust, especially at a young age.

Imagine your 4 y/o getting used to playing with an AI toy that sounds just like you (your voice)… just more… perfect : always patient, never angry or tired. How does it feel? What will your child learn about social interactions?

Teenagers brain development is also critical. They are going through a neurologic crisis: their reward system (called limbic system) is incredibly sensitive WHILE their control system, the front part of the brain (the frontal cortex) has yet to develop, until 25 y/o. They’re going through an intense emotional shift as they need to connect with other people than their parents, learn social anxiety, how to adjust… in a world where anything can be recorded - which makes this phase even more stressful.

Getting immediate rewards without thinking of the consequences and not fearing any judgment = no wonder why AI chatbots are so appealing to teenagers.

Parents 👇

Share with them what we do on our phones ; share them how much we struggle, too ;
We have to become role models ; think about this, called technoference: 80% of teens report feeling lonely with their parents because of how much they’re on their phones. 80% ;
Delay as much as you can the use of AI tools for children ;
When children do ask to use AI, develop literacy ; for instance teach them how to not ask an AI one answer but multiple ones (having a choice!) ;
Last but not least : what you do outside of any digital world matters as much as what you do when you’re engaging online !! So get out there, connect and play. (Yeah, you too, parent)

At school 👇

We need to fall in love with the learning process, not just the result. Kids do that naturally. Until they understand how the grading system works. AI might be the opportunity to rethink about education.

If school keeps praising for results only (todays’s reward), AI will do - does already - a better job.

So! How do we encourage kids to love the process (again), how do we encourage them to dig into what excites them? Because, and I so much agree, these, are the teachers you will remember your whole life!

AI x school 👇

connect, first! Show that you care (“tell me about this”: process - instead of just a “good job”: result)
imagine a new grading system, for instance a role-play discussion panel (yep children could use AI to prep but they’d run the show IRL, on their own)
bring on AI literacy ; how to prompt (the more you use AI the more you should be able to use it properly ; “show me your prompts”…)

Are you a parent in San Francisco?
I’ll be there the whole month 👋 let’s meet!

risky play, please

Following this interview, I have been reading The Anxious Generation from . I am finding it particularly helpful to understand the context in which GenZ grew up as teens, and what we could (= absolutely must) do better for the coming generations. One thing that stands out is the absolute need for kids to have outside free play, A LOT of free play. Meaning no adult supervision ;

“keep them as safe as necessary, not as safe as possible” -

Kids naturally seek out risky play: “thrilling and exciting forms of play that involve a risk of physical injury”.

They are in need to “master their fears. As they do so, their fears turn into thrill and triumph”. How would you take that from them, uh? (Mathilde I am talking to you). Usually risky plays fall into six different forms:

heights (eg climbing)
high speed (eg swinging, fast slides,..)
dangerous tools (eg hammers and drills)
dangerous elements (eg experiment with fire)
rough-and-tumble play (eg wrestling)
and the least fun of all : disappearing

Only in such environments will they be able to develop their social and emotional skills, go full speed on the discover mode, an abundance mindset and thus a healthier life.

what kids are you raising?

And nope, free play does not apply online, where small mistakes can have huge consequences:

Children did not evolve to handle the virality, anonymity, instability, and potential for large-scale public shaming of the virtual world.

re-engaging teens : AI x school

In this episode, & , co-author of The Disengaged Teen, discuss about the future of education, especially in schools.

She emphasises on how the teacher’s mission is “damn near impossible”, since they have to, altogether:

master certain subject
do class for kids with different grade levels
manage a classroom dynamic
be social workers
be relationship managers

One of these hats could be taken by an AI tutor, but since “we don’t understand AI at all”, there’s inevitably going to have years trying.

The years 2010-2015, or the Great Rewiring - a term used by to describe the transition from the play-based childhood to the phone-based childhood - were a massive uncontrolled experiment where children were the guinea pigs.

Here’s how to avoid taking that path again with AI, according to her:

Do not use AGI unless you know what you’re using it for, aka there’s a real problem to solve ; don’t get trapped in the FOMO (as a parent, an educator)
Do give AI to the adults in the school building ; help them figure out how it will help them today ; then give it to school leader to work on ideas to implement
Any company that wants to work with kids and school should be a benefit corporation (= a type of for-profit corporate entity that, in addition to seeking profit, is legally required to pursue a material positive impact on society and the environment)
Build AI literacy at school when kids get older = what is this? How is it made? Risks and benefits? Ethics?
Gouvernement should step in to regulate ; labs are racing to get allegiance of young kids and it’s terrible because these products are not designed for young kids ; AI Labs should create AI product designed for kids, which means not as seductive. Ultimately you want the kids to be fluent in the new technology without being seduced by it.

The Disengaged Teen profiles : at school, which one were you?

Open questions

At a time when AI is entering schools, should schools resist and become the place to retreat? The place to learn how to become as human as possible? The place where you’d be reading the great books and thinking about them, writing long essays,… well, developing specific human faculties?
Shouldn’t we do anything we can to ensure kids are developing the following muscles : reflection and meaning making?
Schools are not designed to give kids agency, they’re designed to make kids comply. Hence the importance of asking ourselves this question : is my kid developing agency (rather than grades and behaviours)? This, is probably becoming the next core skill.
How do I make sure my kids are learning to interact with other human beings? What moments to I engineer, what spaces do I give them?
Listening and speaking - oracy skills - will be paramount in an AI world ; what can I do to prepare them for this?

will AI damage our brains?

A very interesting answer to this question, by , a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania “I study entrepreneurship & innovation and AI. I am trying to understand what our new AI-haunted era means for work and education”. - thanks for sharing this piece!

The problem is not just cheating, though AI certainly makes that easier. The problem is that even honest attempts to use AI for help can backfire because the default mode of AI is to do the work for you, not with you.

(…)

Ultimately, it is how you use AI, rather than use of AI at all, that determines whether it helps or hurts your brain when learning. Moving away from asking the AI to help you with homework to helping you learn as a tutor is a useful step.
Unfortunately, the default version of most AI models wants to give you the answer, rather than tutor you on a topic, so you might want to use a specialized prompt. While no one has developed the perfect tutor prompt, we have one that has been used in some education studies, and which may be useful to you and you can find more in the Wharton Generative AI Lab prompt library. Feel free to modify it (it is licensed under Creative Commons).
If you are a parent, you can also act as the tutor yourself, prompting the AI “explain the answer to this question in a way I can teach my child, who is in X grade.”

(…) while AI is more creative than most individuals, it lacks the diversity that comes from multiple perspectives.
Always generate your own ideas before turning to AI. Write them down, no matter how rough. Just as group brainstorming works best when people think individually first, you need to capture your unique perspective before AI's suggestions can anchor you. Then use AI to push ideas further: “Combine ideas #3 and #7 in an extreme way,” “Even more extreme,” “Give me 10 more ideas like #42,” “User superheroes as inspiration to make the idea even more interesting.”

(…)

Our fear of AI “damaging our brains” is actually a fear of our own laziness. The technology offers an easy out from the hard work of thinking, and we worry we'll take it. We should worry. But we should also remember that we have a choice.
Your brain is safe. Your thinking, however, is up to you.

That’s all for today!

As always, I am happy to keep chatting in the comments, notes or messages ; don’t be a stranger 😎

Mathilde

discoveries #3

Mathilde Baillet — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 10:01:43 GMT

Happy Friday, y’all!

unLLMable, or the (human) power of taste

‘s intervention at Sana AI Summit 2025 adresses the big, bold - who said cliché - question : will AI replace us humans? - unwrapping what it feels like to be human. She’s the founder of Sublime, “the knowledge tool that sparks creativity” and a very thoughtful human being.

She makes a point saying we have a language problem with the word Artificial Intelligence, and instead talks about Collective Intelligence.

If you strip LLMs to their pure essence, they’re just a much better way of using statistics to aggregate human intelligence and connect all of the things we’ve done together so we can get more use of them.

The bottleneck to great work is not knowledge, is not information it’s not even intelligence, it’s that intangible quality - call it taste, creativity, judgment, courage, intuition, agency.

Her conclusion:

Will AI replace us? Yes. But fearing that AI will replace us is like fearing that our children will replace us. Yes, they will replace us, because that is why we created them. But also, they depend on us, and they are us, and they can improve us, and free us from becoming machines, so that we can reclaim the things that machines can’t touch.

🤯 a sci-fi novel? a research paper? a mix?

what could our world with AI look like in 2027?

Written by and acclaimed by worldwide AI experts, this scenario is the closest to a forecast on how AI could transform the world in the coming years - it particularly emphasises on the use of AI to speed up AI research, the increasing tensions between the US and China, an ever evolving job market, and even on how we socialise:

10% of Americans, mostly young people, consider an AI “a close friend”

Two possible endings:
[summary by Perplexity]

a "slowdown," where progress is managed more cautiously, and a "race," where competition drives rapid, perhaps reckless, deployment. The authors stress that this is not a recommendation, but an attempt to spark debate and encourage others to consider how we might steer toward positive futures. They highlight the urgent need for broad public discussion, robust safety research, and careful governance to ensure that the rise of superintelligent AI benefits humanity as a whole.

AI tutors to replace academic teachers

Like you, probably, I had heard of the Alpha School in the news : “Alpha School: Using AI To Unleash Students And Transform Teaching”. A recent conversation with friends made me dig into the 2Hour Learning program and its flagship campus in Texas.

In short, here’s how they’re helping kids become ‘self-driven learners’: compress the academics down to 2 hours a day to leave space for real life, passion-driven experiments.

learn academics with an AI tutor, at their own pace, for 2h a day

learn motivational and emotional skills with (human) “guides”, to pursue their interests, for the rest of the day

Here’s the thing about an AI tutor : it doesn’t care if the student is white, black or brown ; it doesn’t care if the student is rich or poor ; it doesn’t care if he is in the 15th percentile or the 85th percentile. It is indefinitely patient.
- Mackenzie Price, founder of the 2 Hour Learning

The first school opened in 2014 and they are proudly sharing that their classes score in the the top 1-2% nationally, with students learning twice as fast as in traditional schools. But aside from the results, I find Alpha to be a very interesting approach to education: making sure a child understands the concepts before moving to the next level* (with the individualised AI-powered learning) together with learning real-life social skills: collaboration, public-speaking, leadership,..

Watch this and tell me : would you consider this for your kids? what limits do you see?

*although not AI-powered (yet :)), the montessori approach also makes it so that a child can’t really move forward without having understood the basic, and will thus spend as much time as s.he needs to get the concept right.

towards less coercion

Shoutouts to who recommended me ’s book - The Sovereign Child - and the following discussion he’s having with Tim Ferris and Naval Ravikant: How to Raise a Sovereign Child.

like other groups of human beings, children are people, not pets, prisoners or property. Full people whose lives are their own, not a different kind of person who can be coerced, enslaved or discriminated against. Full, equal humans, not inferior.
(…)
Children have as much right to control their lives as we adults have to control ours. They are fallible (make mistakes)—but so are we adults. They are not omniscient (they do not know everything) but neither are we adults.

Also, as much as I enjoyed this discussion with pretty radical points of view, can someone please, please, please, bring the wives on the pod, too?!

Alright, that’s it for today, friends. Enjoy the weekend!

Yours,

Mathilde

NewKid

Is French school ready for what's ahead? What works well, the challenges and one immediate needed fix.

tl;dr

✨ takeaways :

Datapoints

The guests

Timestamps & more

Links

Dig deeper, friend 👇

What should we pass on to our kids? a discussion between a philosopher, an edtech entrepreneur and a digital anthropologist

tl;dr

✨ takeaways :

Datapoints

The guests

Timestamps & more

Links

LLMs and our children: a discussion between an AI builder, an educator and a neuroscientist

The guests

Timestamps & more

[09:12] What is GenAI and how does it work?

[12:59] Why should we treat children differently than adults when it comes to AI?

[17:55] About “I am stronger than ChatGPT”, Stephie Herlin’s new book

[21:50] What is the consensus among researchers, and what solutions could we offer companies?

[27:30] KORA evaluates LLMs and applications, what should we know?

[33:04] What solutions could make AI more beneficial for children?

[34:43] Which advice would you give to the parents and families here?

[37:54] Q&A with the public

#1 : what’s the interest of an AI flattering you? If we were to remove it, would the answer be less accurate?

#2 : how do big labs react on these topics? How about politicians?

Links

NewKid Days #1 : chosen moments

(I know, next time I’ll arrange my hair and make up #noob)

OK so what’s next?!

Behind the scenes of the NewKid Days #1

The haha moment

January

planting seeds for your future self.

February

is that all worth it?

March

looks like momentum, girl, keep pushing

April

embarking the “people beyond my league”. and wrapping up my 1st triathlon.

May

it’s now or never : making everything click.

June

surviving spin-dryer mode.

W-1

D-1

The day !! Go enjoy it, girl.

Revealing the program of the NewKid Days, 1st edition

A unique format : panels for parents, workshops for kids (5 to 15)

10:00AM

For the parents : “LLMs and our children” [in FR]

For the children : “What is AI?”

11:30AM

For the parents : “What should we pass on?” [in FR]

For the children : “AI myself and I”

12:45PM

For all : AI products for kids : startup pitch session [in EN+FR]

2:00PM

For the parents : “Is french school ready?” [in FR]

For the children : “The school of my dreams”

3:30PM

For all : “The future of school?” [in EN]

All day long…

🧠 Exhibition: The Neuroscience of GenAI & Kids

🤖 AI Products for Kids: meet the Founders

📚 Book Area

🎲 Games

Looking for 10 (AI) products that are worthy of children, know any?

NewKid at VivaTech : Save The Date 🔥

What will it be like?

Why am I doing this?

ASKs

What are the NewKid Days?

The mission

A unique positioning

Three pillars

The promise