Hi, I'm Mike.
I'm based in the Netherlands. I have a four-year-old son and a daughter on the way. I built this because I'm trying to answer a question I can't get out of my head.
Where this started
It started with a simple question about my kids' future.
I've spent over a decade building up professional expertise — the kind that's slow to develop and hard-won. And in the last couple of years, I've watched AI start doing parts of that work faster than I can. Not all of it. Not the judgment parts. But enough that it made me stop and think.
If a decade of specialized education can be disrupted this fast — what does that mean for my son? For the daughter we're expecting? They're going to spend their entire working lives alongside AI. The question isn't whether that's good or bad. The question is: what do we teach them that will actually matter?
I don't think anyone has a complete answer yet. It's moving too fast. But I think one thing is pretty clear: the education system was designed for a world where getting the right answer was hard. AI made answers cheap — almost free. The skills that won't be commoditized are the ones that sit underneath the answers: asking a better question, spotting what's missing, knowing when to trust a result and when to push back.
That's what I'm trying to help my kids develop. And I'm building this site because I suspect I'm not the only parent asking these questions in the dark.
What I believe
Start early
The foundational concepts — algorithms, patterns, training data, bias — can be introduced at any age. You don't have to wait until they're teenagers. The habits of mind matter more than the technical vocabulary, and those habits form early.
Curiosity over fear
Kids don't come to AI carrying our anxiety about it — they're naturally curious. The fear sits with us, the parents. Our job is to channel their curiosity before we accidentally replace it with our own worry. AI is a human tool, built by humans, shaped by human decisions. Understanding that is what makes a kid a thoughtful user rather than a passive one.
Home is where it starts
Schools are adapting, but slowly — and this is moving faster than curricula can. The most useful conversations are the informal ones: at the kitchen table, in the car, when something comes up. This site is built for those moments.
What this site is
Tiny Thinkers is a collection of activities, conversation starters, and honest writing for parents who want to take this seriously but don't know where to start. I'm not a child development expert or an educator. I'm a parent who works with AI professionally every day and thinks about what I'm watching too much to not do something with it.
I try to make everything age-calibrated, hands-on where possible, and honest about complexity. I'm not going to pretend I have the roadmap. But I think the conversations are worth having now, even before we know exactly where this goes.
Get in touch
If you tried one of the activities, have a question, or just want to tell me I got something wrong — I'd like to hear it. You can reach me at [email protected].