I'm David Schmidt, a high school history teacher and father of two in Denver. Last winter, I was grading Leo's social studies essay when something felt off. The sentences were too polished, the vocabulary way above his level, but the facts were dead wrong. Leo was 13, finishing math worksheets in half the usual time. I felt proud—then suspicious. When I asked about the essay mistakes, he shrugged: "I don't know, I just wrote it." That's when I knew something wasn't adding up.
Meet the Schmidt Family Story
Teaching my son that real learning beats shortcuts every time
Our Family's Struggle
Challenge
At first, I thought Leo was just rushing through his work. But then I noticed patterns. His writing style changed from week to week—sometimes formal, sometimes casual, never consistent. His science homework had information that wasn't even in his textbook. One night, I sat down next to him while he worked and watched him type a question into some chat app, then copy-paste a full paragraph into his Google Doc. "Leo, what is that?" I asked. He looked caught. "It's just a homework helper, Dad. Everyone uses it." I checked his recent test scores—they'd dropped 15 points since September. He was finishing assignments faster than ever, but he wasn't actually learning anything. The AI was doing his thinking for him, and worse, it was feeding him incorrect information he couldn't even fact-check. When I tried to talk to him about it, he got defensive: "You don't get it! This is how school works now!"
Solution
I downloaded FamiSafe that same week, not to punish Leo, but to understand what tools he was really using. The app usage report showed he was spending 90 minutes a day on an AI chatbot—during homework time. I didn't ban it outright. Instead, I sat him down over pizza and said, "Let's talk about AI." I explained that AI isn't bad, but using it to replace your brain is like using a calculator before you learn to add. We made a deal: he could use AI to brainstorm ideas or check his own work, but not to generate answers. I used FamiSafe to limit the chatbot to 20 minutes per day, and I set it to block during his core homework hours. I also started checking his assignments more closely and taught him how to verify facts using library databases and trusted sources. The first two weeks were rough—his homework took longer, and he complained constantly. But then his teacher emailed me: "Leo's essays are showing real improvement. He's thinking critically now." Last month, he got an A on his history project—all his own work.
The Schmidt Family Today
78
%
AI-generated homework content reduced
65
%
Factual errors in assignments reduced
54
%
Academic shortcut dependency reduced
What Parents Say
FamiSafe helped me see exactly how Leo was using technology—and
gave me the tools to guide him toward real learning instead of fake shortcuts.
— David S.
Father, U.S.
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