Daddy/Daughter Time, Courtesy of AI

I’ve got a 2 year old. Every weekday, 4:45 PM kicks off the parental mad dash: daycare pickup, dinner prep, bath, and then sacred "daddy/daughter time" before bed. That last bit ends up being a mix of joy, adoration, and chaos. And while the quality-time moments of the day are cherished, it hit me the other day that constantly coming up with fresh, engaging, screen-free activities for us after I’ve had a long workday can be a struggle. My creativity tank that needs to start its outpour between around 5:45-6:00 pm might be doing this number: 🤷🏽‍♂️

You know what else occurred to me? That while I’m learning how to be a solid, effective, present, and fun parent, I should combine the effort with my mission to catch up with the times and finally start learning how to use AI beyond treating it like an evolved search engine (after asking around, it turns out this is still fairly common).

Here’s a rundown below of what I started with and the results I got from Gemini, Google’s AI chat tool (aka, a chatbot). For how quick and easy it was to create, I’m impressed with the output–it’s already helping me maximize my weekday quality time with my daughter and I’m encouraged to regularly increase my use and skill with AI tools.

The Problem: Short on ideas and time for Daddy/Daughter hours

My evening routine looked something like this:

4:45 pm: Daycare pickup. Happy, sometimes overstimulated toddler.

5:00 - 5:20pm: Get home; wind down. Possible snackie.

5:20 - 6:00 pm: Dinner, including prep time during which I pray for minimal toddler type distractions.

6:00 - 7:00 PM: Connect and entertain without screens. 

It was six o’clock when my creativity would get challenged. What new game? What different, simple craft? I found myself defaulting to a short list of activities and I worried about both of us getting bored. I wanted to be present and engaged, not scrambling for activity ideas after dinner. I wanted daddy/daughter quality time to be meaningful, not just a holding pattern until mom announced that it was bath time.

The Solution: My AI "Daily Rhythm" Co-Pilot

I wanted to see how Gemini would perform as my personal parental daily planner and idea generator. Here's how I set it up. I crafted a core "prompt," which is just jargon for the instructions you give the AI. Mine looked something like this:

"I am a father of a 2-year-old girl. After I pick her up from daycare at around 4:45 pm, I need to make her dinner and then engage in meaningful, screen-free activities. Her mom will give her a bath later. My goal is to maximize our quality time and make the most of our limited time together. Based on these constraints, give me a daily plan for this upcoming Monday through Friday with a dinner idea and two quick, fun activities."

And like magic, I got a tailored schedule. Here’s the first one it spit out for Monday:

• Dinner Idea: Quick chickpea and spinach pasta. (The recipe was included!)

• High-Energy Activity: "Pillow Mountain Adventure" – build a fort with couch cushions to climb and tumble.

• Calming Activity: "Sensory Scoop and Pour" – a bowl of dry rice with spoons and cups, with a sheet underneath to make tidying up easier afterwards.

While I liked the initial result, I forgot about a few things in my initial prompt. Also, depending on constraints for a particular day, the results can be refined with specific needs. For example,

• "Dinner needs to be toddler-friendly and take less than 20 minutes to prepare."

• "Activities should use common household items and require minimal setup."

• "One activity should be high-energy to help her burn off steam, and the other should be calming before bath time."

Now, every afternoon, usually while I'm tying up loose ends for my work here at try-AI, I pop open the AI chat I created specifically for this topic and type: "Give me today's plan!" I’m only a few days into using this tool, but it's been a game-changer! Instead of racking my brain for dinner and activity ideas, I have a toddler-optimized plan ready to go.

Beyond the Daily Plan: Getting Quick Ideas on Demand

It’s also been nice and convenient to use "surprise me" prompts to help with spontaneous toddler moments.

• "My 2-year-old is having a major tantrum. Give me three quick, silly things we can do to reset and reconnect, with no screens involved."

• "I need a 10-minute sensory activity that’s appropriate for a 2 year old, using only safe kitchen items and/or home office supplies."

The AI is always ready with fresh ideas, saving me from reaching for my phone or TV remote out of desperation to keep my little terror princess occupied.

How to incorporate custom AI assistants

One more thing. On my journey to figuring out how to use this AI stuff, I learned that some chatbot platforms offer ways to save your specific instructions as a custom assistant. Think of them as little building blocks that you can customize for things that regularly come up, or for tasks that you routinely want help with. In Gemini, they’re called "Gems." 

Here’s how to make them: in the Gemini app or web interface (the process is similar for creating your own GPT), you click to create a new Gem, then write simple instructions that tell the Gem:

1. Who it is. For example: “You are an award-winning chef that gives parents healthy recipes for toddlers using only five ingredients or less, per meal.”

2. What task you want it to do. “...Create a recipe for me that will only take me 25 minutes or less to make.”

3. Important context. “To start, ask me which ingredients I would like to use and how much time I have to both prep and cook. Give me two recipe options to choose from. Oh, and don’t repeat a recipe unless at least 3 days have passed since the last time I made it.”

4. And the format you want the output to be in. “Give me the output in the form of a recipe card as well as in audio form so I can listen to your recipe instructions as I cook, if needed.”

Give it a try. This stuff is easier than you think. You can get off to a fast start by just copying and pasting the simple prompts above and see what it spits out for you, then tweak it as you go. I’d love to hear about what you all out there have created to help yourselves out as parents in the comments section below. Also, if you have any awesome ideas and use cases, please share those too!

In addition to the above, I've created two other Gems to help with weekly daddy duties:

1. "Daddy-Daughter Daily Plan" Gem: This holds all my dinner and activity constraints. I just click it and ask for "today's plan."

2. "Toddler Activities on the Fly" Gem: This is my instant idea generator for those spontaneous moments.

These Gems are like having a specialized, always-on parenting helper. They’ve helped me become a little more time efficient and my daughter and I have both enjoyed the new activity ideas together.

My Takeaway for AI Newbies

If you're like me and felt like you didn’t really need to start using AI for your life outside of work, I urge you to reconsider. Starting small can help. Then your curiosity about how else you can use these things to simplify your life might take over from there. The good news is, you don't need to be a tech expert to unlock the practical power of AI. In my case, I’m currently using it to free up some mental bandwidth to be more present, more creative, and more engaged in moments that matter. What would you like to try to use AI for? Let us know in the comments.