The Parent's Role in the AI Era: "Parents Who Ban" vs. "Parents Who Embrace"

Many parents feel uneasy about children using AI.

Will they use it for homework? Will it weaken their ability to think? Will they believe inaccurate information? These concerns are natural.

At the same time, children are moving closer to AI much faster than many adults realize.

According to a March 2026 survey by NTT Docomo's Mobile Society Research Institute, the generative AI usage rate among Japanese middle schoolers has exceeded 40% — roughly triple the figure from the previous year. A Benesse Corporation survey (2025) found that 74.7% of elementary school students are aware of generative AI, and over 80% of those who know about it have already tried it.

At the same time, a Kumon home-learning survey (2025) revealed a striking split among parents: 29.2% said they want their children to use AI more, while 28.9% said they want to restrict or eliminate use entirely. This near-even divide reflects a pivotal moment for Japanese families—how to navigate life with AI in the home.

The Limits of "Just Banning It"

The concerns behind banning are understandable. "If they rely on AI, they won't develop the ability to think." "It'll become a homework cheating tool." Professor Satoshi Kurihara of Keio University has argued that younger students in particular need instruction that nurtures thinking skills rather than simply offloading to AI. The risk of AI undermining deep cognition is real.

However, banning has a structural flaw: like smartphones, children can access AI outside the home. If a child first encounters AI without any guidance on how to use it responsibly, they are left exposed to misinformation and dependency risks—unsupported. Banning doesn't eliminate the problem; it just pushes it out of sight.

More fundamentally, by the time today's children reach adulthood, the option of not using AI will barely exist. In work, in learning, in daily life, AI will become part of the social infrastructure—as taken for granted as electricity or the smartphone. The question is not "whether to use it" but "how to use it." What matters is whether families can begin preparing children for that question now, while there is still time.

We must also not lose sight of a hard truth: AI already surpasses human intelligence in many domains. Medical diagnosis, legal reasoning, mathematical problem-solving, language—capabilities that specialists spend years acquiring, AI handles instantly. Children will have no choice but to live and work alongside that intelligence. When they do, a parent's reflexive response of "I don't understand it, so it's banned" risks becoming the very barrier that blocks a child's potential.

What "Parents Who Embrace AI" Actually Teach

A Hakuhodo Educational Foundation survey (2025) found that among children who had tried generative AI, 80.1% described it as "fun" and 73.2% as "on my side." Children who have experienced AI don't fear it—they see it as a tool they can wield.

What parents who embrace AI teach their children is not simply how to operate a tool. It's a set of deeper skills:

Japan's Ministry of Education (MEXT) made its position clear in the revised "Guidelines for the Use of Generative AI in Elementary and Secondary Education, Ver. 2.0" (December 2024): blanket bans are undesirable, and flexible, contextual approaches are needed. Education policy has clearly turned from prohibition toward coexistence.

The "Invisible Gap" Created by Home Environment

There is a second problem that often goes unnoticed. In households where parents understand AI, children can learn with appropriate support. But where parents themselves are unfamiliar with AI—or where there is no computer or internet access at home—children never get the chance to engage with it at all.

Ipsos's "Education Monitor 2025" found that only 21% of Japanese parents supported banning AI use in schools, the lowest percentage among 30 countries surveyed. While most parents sense that AI fluency matters, very few know how to actually guide their children toward it. Families that are stuck in the gap between knowing AI matters and not knowing what to do risk being left behind.

What Parents Can Do Starting Today

You don't need advanced technical knowledge to become a parent who embraces AI. The starting point is simply trying it yourself—and asking, together with your child, "What could we use this for?" Adding phrases like "Let's ask AI" or "Do you think that answer is really right?" to daily conversation is enough to steadily build your child's AI literacy.

At Digital Kodomo BASE, we are exploring the possibility of offering programs where parents and children can experience AI and programming side by side. The reason is simple: before asking children to engage with AI, parents themselves need to have actually tried it. We believe that is where meaningful AI education at home begins. In the AI era, how far a child can grow may depend less on the child's own talent than on the understanding and attitude of the parent.