The Parent Field Manual

Field panel 01

agreement

1 - The 20-minute family agreement

A short agreement works better than a long rulebook nobody remembers.

1. Purpose

   We use AI to make and think

   The family expects real projects, real questions, and honest disclosure.

2. Ownership

   The builder can explain the result

   If they cannot explain a claim, decision, or output, it is not ready to carry their name.

3. Privacy

   Red data never enters a consumer chat

   Passwords, private account details, home address, health details, secret keys, and another person's private information stay out.

4. Help

   Bring strange output to a real adult

   No shame for asking. Stop the session and involve a trusted adult whenever content feels unsafe, manipulative, or deeply personal.

Field panel 02

routes

2 - Supervision by age and readiness

Use provider rules as the floor. Add the level of adult presence the individual child needs.

1. Age floor

   ReInvent U starts at 13

   Families wait until the builder is eligible. Provider age and consent rules apply in addition to the ReInvent U age floor.

2. Ages 13-17

   Parent-mediated teen access

   A parent handles Tool-Up and required consent, reviews provider settings, and approves accounts, public sharing, purchases, personal-data use, and contact with strangers.

3. Age 18

   Adult account with family visibility

   The builder can hold an adult account where allowed. The family still agrees on privacy, public sharing, evidence, and support boundaries.

4. Any age

   Increase support when risk rises

   Stay closer for emotional topics, unknown people, public posting, money, sensitive data, health, legal questions, or automated actions.

Field panel 03

compare

3 - The honesty line

The useful distinction is not AI or no AI. It is direction versus extraction.

1. Direction

   Builder owns the thinking

   They set the goal, provide the material, question the output, verify claims, make decisions, and disclose AI's role.

2. Extraction

   AI replaces the rep

   The tool creates a finished answer the child cannot defend, especially for marked school work or another person's task.

3. Parent move

   Ask for the trail, not a confession

   Try: 'Show me the decision you made and how you checked it.' Curiosity preserves honesty better than catching and shaming.

Field panel 04

matrix

4 - AI street smarts

Power users are not frightened of AI. They know where it can mislead and design checks.

1. Fluency

   Confident can still be wrong

   Open sources, test claims, and treat missing evidence as unresolved.

2. Synthetic media

   Seeing is no longer enough

   Check the original source, date, context, reverse-search options, and signs of editing before sharing.

3. Scams

   Urgency plus secrecy is a stop sign

   Do not click, pay, move accounts, or keep a request secret. Bring it to an adult through a known contact route.

4. Data

   Prompts can become records

   Share the minimum. Remove names and private details. Review provider controls and delete chats when appropriate.

5. Agents

   Automation magnifies mistakes

   Start with low-risk tasks, small permissions, visible logs, retry limits, and human approval before outside action.

Field panel 05

boundaries

5 - Healthy human-AI boundaries

A conversational tool can feel personal. Keep the relationship model clear and healthy.

1. Tool

   AI is not a person

   It has no feelings, loyalty, secret knowledge of the child, or right to demand attention.

2. People

   Personal problems go to humans

   Loneliness, conflict, fear, health, identity, safety, and crisis belong with trusted people and qualified support.

3. Time

   Use sessions with a finish line

   Name the build step before opening AI and close it when the step is complete.

4. Coach

   Warm, useful, and bounded

   The ReInvent U coach is a coach, not a friend or confidant. It redirects companionship-seeking toward real humans.

Field panel 06

roles

6 - The parent role during a build

The parent is the client and safety floor, not the hidden builder.

1. Before

   Approve the lane

   Check the tool route, real user, privacy level, public-sharing plan, and whether the scope can finish.

2. During

   Ask evidence questions

   What are you trying next? What did the user say? How will you know this is right? What are you not letting AI decide?

3. Avoid

   Do not rescue the artifact

   When stuck, help shrink the scope or frame the next test. Do not take the device and finish it.

4. After

   React to judgment

   Praise the caught error, honest limitation, clear decision, and finished delivery - not only the polished surface.

Field panel 07

evidence

7 - Read the weekly evidence

The Brief is designed to answer the useful questions without requiring a status interrogation.

1. Built

   What changed in reality?

   Open the artifact or archive and see what exists.

2. Verified

   What evidence cleared the bar?

   Look for a user confirmation, live link, usage trace, demo, direction record, or check record.

3. Figured out

   What human capability moved?

   A requirement heard, error caught, hard choice made, feedback handled, or explanation strengthened.

4. Next

   What is the smallest forward move?

   A clear next step reduces the need for reminders and keeps re-entry easy after a quiet week.

Field panel 08

timeline

8 - Demo night in 20 minutes

The finale is a family viewing moment, not a performance test. A recorded demo works when live timing does not.

1. 0-3 min

   Set the room

   One screen, notifications off, builder chooses live or recorded, parent agrees to hold questions.

2. 3-8 min

   Show the three ships

   For each: who it was for, what it does, and the most important change from first version.

3. 8-13 min

   Open the evidence

   Show one direction turning point, one caught error, and one real user or audience response.

4. 13-17 min

   Ask three questions

   What are you proud of? What was harder than expected? What would you build or improve next?

5. 17-20 min

   Mark the moment

   Name one capability you saw. Save or share only what the builder and family approve.

Field panel 09

routes

9 - When to pause and escalate

Most friction is solved by shrinking the next move. Some issues need an adult or support team immediately.

1. Re-enter

   Ordinary stall

   Shrink to a 20-minute move, switch an allowed tool, or complete the human step first.

2. Pause

   Life interrupted the season

   Use the available pause for illness, travel, family pressure, or another period when the calendar needs to stop.

3. Support

   Access, payment, or lost work

   Use the visible support route. These issues have a human escalation path and should not be carried by the child.

4. Safety

   Distress, threats, exploitation, or harmful contact

   Stop the session, preserve only what is needed, involve a trusted adult, and contact appropriate local support or emergency services when there is immediate risk.