Review: I Wanted To Try An AI Parenting Coach — But The Good Inside App Is Better

Like me, you probably have parenting challenges that resist progress. Despite all the reading, research, and “sure-fire tips” from others you feel stuck. It might be potty training, managing your kids’ phone use or a behavior challenge like biting. For us, it’s bedtime. Yelling, crying, vomiting, we’ve faced it all. I’m also the kind of person who wants to try new things in the face of a challenge and see what happens. And, clearly, I like trying new technology.

So, when I saw Good Inside listed as an “AI parenting coach” in a set of generative AI predictions I had to try it on bedtime.

But “AI coach” is not the best way to describe the Good Inside app, at least not today. As far as I can tell, AI is confined to the Ask Good Inside bot, and represents only one feature inside the app. Instead, the app is mostly advice from the team led by Dr. Becky Kennedy, CEO of Good Inside, author of a parenting book, and a prolific parenting advice creator. I hadn’t heard of Dr. Becky before but soon discovered she has many, many fans.

When I first heard “AI parenting coach” I imagined a Her-like entity that sat in my ear and watched through video while coaching me on how to talk to my daughter - not something I actually wanted but I had to know if that’s what was happening. 

I imagined that the AI coaching would fail miserably and we’d all learn a little about how AI and parenting interact. But instead, the app helped me reflect on what was working, what wasn’t, and offered new approaches to challenges.

Ultimately, it was how the AI was implemented that mattered—it let me ask questions in my own way and delivered the initial content in exactly the form I needed. 

I soon realized extremely thoughtful humans had created all the cards and videos. No AI avatars in sight. But by then, it was clear the app was too helpful to stop.

Dr. Becky and Good Inside don’t frame it as an AI coach, for all the reasons you might expect. The company uses “co-pilot”, “personalized”, and other similar words. And, the original predictions post author only used the app to hint at the future. But my mind went right to the novelty I crave 🙂 I don’t know if I would have even tried a parenting app with personalized advice, believing it to be no better than what I was already reading.

I was skeptical, but this app is transformative. It has changed my life and I think you should try it with your own parenting challenges. And, as far as I can tell, if you have a Good Inside membership, you have access to this app and the AI. Multiple parents I spoke with were unaware they could already use it through their existing memberships.

From Sleepless Nights To Sweet Dreams: How Good Inside Helped

The situation: my daughter hates going to sleep and will run out of her room hundreds of times demanding to come back until she finally falls asleep while we’re next to her at 10:30 or 11 PM. It’s been the most challenging part of parenting so far and produced some of my most challenging parenting moments. 

I’ve had dozens of conversations with friends and read even more articles and books, but nothing has helped. We even considered a company that would send a camera and watch our interactions while offering a guaranteed sleep improvement, but that felt too strange and invasive. It was also expensive.

Today, after a few weeks of using the app, my daughter falls asleep on her own 75% of the time - a dramatic shift after almost two years of bedtime fear. Even more importantly, I now have methods I feel confident using to make her more comfortable.

I’ve also found myself screenshotting and sharing content with my wife, and together we’ve incorporated tools like “Together All The Time” and the “Fill-up” game to alleviate separation anxiety. In these, we pretend to be together all the time until she separates or hug until she says she’s “filled up” on hugs. Good Inside metaphors, like “parent as a trusty pilot,” keep me focused on the bigger picture rather than reacting to any single moment. We’ve even changed the way we talk about sleep, saying “it’s something we’re working on” instead of “she is having trouble sleeping.”

My daughter has new methods to feel comfortable too. The other day she repeated a Good Inside mantra to a stuffed animal that she felt was afraid: “I am near. You are safe. Your bed is cozy.” She also regularly says she isn’t all full of hugs and needs more to fill up. And yes, it’s as cute as it sounds.

Most importantly I’ve felt more confident in knowing what to do when things are challenging and it’s given me a new perspective on parenting overall.

Parenting Technology That Works

If it’s true that “helping kids interact with technology from 0-18 is one of our most pressing parental challenges,” as Pok Pok’s Melissa Cash said, then using all the new tools to improve our parenting might be second. And, so far most of this newsletter’s analysis has been about kids interacting with technology. But that’s not all that we want to uncover.

I think the key to the Good Inside app is that the articles, videos, and daily training are better than many alternatives out there. I like having a deep, structured well of information, like what’s found in the Good Inside app and membership.

For me, books haven’t been helpful enough. Reddit is useful for general awareness of topics, but it’s hard to know who to listen to about important topics. I don’t use Instagram much but find the attention-grabbing approach necessary for algorithmic success offputting sometimes. And, X parenting advice tends to be too rigid.

One of the app’s most clever features is how it nudges you to schedule reminders about parenting behaviors you want to practice. These reminders create daily accountability and reinforce consistent habits. For example a reminder that “My kid is having a hard time, they aren’t giving me a hard time” or a reminder that “I am responsible for the structure of bedtime.” I also created reminders to play the games to improve separation anxiety. 

The advice was delivered through a ~90 min video course and daily cards that repeat and reinforce the content. The daily content creates a reason to come back - just like a daily quest in a video game.

I found my positive feelings about streaks, reminders, and timed content interesting, especially in the context of games and apps for kids and parenting. I loved all of it, every gamified mechanic and nudge. Each actively changed my behavior to make me a better parent. However, I typically want to keep those strategies far away from my daughters. It’s a stance I should probably think even more about given how excited I am to be nudged into being a better parent. After all, these may be good ways to teach important concepts like reading and math.

You Should Try It

The app isn’t perfect. There’s a community section that’s a little confusing to navigate but looks to be well moderated and seems interesting. I also couldn’t share a few things I wanted to without screenshotting. In general, learning together with my wife wasn’t very well supported.

I also thought of the ~$30/month cost as too expensive, but why? My kids are the most important things in my life and I buy a few books a month. What if the course made me 20% better as a dad? Even 5%? Wouldn’t I do it? Each parenting book is probably $15 and I can only bombard my friends with so many questions before they’re either out of advice or I just need to hear it from a different place.

But honestly, who cares about these critiques? 

Good Inside gave me a way to move forward through something I was out of ideas on. It also gave me more confidence I could tackle all the new things coming up.

Maybe this information already existed somewhere, but the app finally informed me in a way I could understand and use.

That may be the genius of the “AI parenting coach,” the novelty and personalization just made it easier to hear what I probably needed all along. If you’ve got something challenging you as a parent, try the Good Inside app. I think you’ll find it offers more than novelty and could be the perspective shift you need.

Other links

My screen time philosophy and rules

Katherine’s screen time philosophy and rules