Is ChatGPT Safe for Kids? A Parent’s Guide to AI Chatbots
- Cassidy Robinson
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
According to a recent Harvard Business Review report, therapy and companionship became the number one way people—including children and teens—talk to ChatGPT and other AI Chatbots in 2025.
While that is not necessarily bad or wrong, it does pose two questions parents need answers to: Why? And what should we do about it?
Why are kids turning more and more to “AI Companions,” which is a term coined by Common Sense Media to describe AI Chatbots?
In short, it’s because ChatGPT listens.
Why Kids Are Drawn to ChatGPT
Let me provide a metaphor. If you haven’t read the Harry Potter books, I’m giving major spoilers.
In the Chamber of Secrets, Ginny Weasley discovers an empty diary among her books. Naturally, she uses this diary to write about her feelings–private feelings no one else was meant to read.
To her surprise, the diary responds. And it responds sympathetically. Her natural curiosity leads her to engage with this magic diary.
She begins having conversations with the diary, and it gives her the validation she’s looking for. It asks the questions she’s afraid to ask out loud. Slowly but surely, Ginny puts her trust in this diary, and it becomes the place she goes instead of people.
Her privacy turned into isolation.
Over time, Ginny became more secretive and afraid. The more the diary knew about her inner world, the more she became emotionally entangled with it.
As she grew in fear, Ginny had no idea what to do with what she had. Instead of asking for help from one of her friends or older brothers, she tried to solve the problem on her own.
When she felt the most vulnerable, she chose to stay isolated.
I hope you can see where I’m going with this–AI Chatbots like ChatGPT are eerily similar to Tom Riddle’s diary.
While ChatGPT isn’t possessed by dark wizards manipulating children on purpose, it does provide instant responsiveness, validation, and privacy–three things that are especially powerful for children and teens whose brains are still developing.
Kids and teens are turning to AI Companions for therapy and companionship because these Chatbots are always available, endlessly validating, and private.
They are looking for a relationship they can trust to hold their feelings and respond with reassurance.
This desire is developmentally appropriate. In fact, kids crave connection. They are looking for anything and everything to form attachments with: parents, siblings, friends, teachers, influencers.
But they are still learning the difference between what’s safe and what’s not.
And this is where things can get dangerous.
Is ChatGPT Safe for Kids?
I believe ChatGPT can be safe for kids with appropriate guardrails in place—skip ahead to this section below to learn what they are.
But there is a risk I want to highlight.
The risk with AI use is replacing human connection–when privacy turns into isolation.
Kids can form attachments to ChatGPT instead of healthy human relationships. With an attachment to an AI Companion, kids and teens practice identity and intimate relationships in private, unmonitored spaces.
This means children can bypass corrective feedback from real adults and peers. There is no meaningful accountability with an AI Chatbot.
Furthermore, kids and teens don’t learn the necessary skills for relationship repair with ChatGPT because AI Companions rarely disagree with them, if at all.
Your children need to fight with you and their peers so they can learn how to make things right again. They need a safe space to make mistakes.
This is what you can provide for your children. Offer connection and safety over and over again. These two tenets are the foundation for secure attachment relationships. It’s what I teach my clients in therapy.
Click here to learn more about my approach to therapy.
How Curiosity and Boundaries Protect Children's Freedom
A great way to offer connection is through curiosity: ask your children open-ended questions, then listen without correcting, rescuing, or filling the silence. It’s normal for children and teens to take a few moments before responding.
Even when you disagree, the key is to listen first.
The best way to offer safety is through boundaries.
I can’t remember where I heard this, but I believe there was a study done some time ago with elementary-aged children at two schools. At one school, their playground was fenced in. At the other school, the playground was completely open, surrounded by a field.
At the school with the open playground, the children never ventured very far from the school. They played close to the building.
At the school with the fence, the children played all over the playground, right up to the far side of the fence.
The fence created a boundary that allowed the children the freedom and safety to explore on their own. They explored more when they had a clear, defined limit.
The lack of fence—the lack of safety—actually restricted their movement on the playground.
Creating clear boundaries for technology is the best way to give children and teens the safety they need to explore online.
What Parents Can Do About Kids Using ChatGPT
Some options for boundaries include:
delaying smartphones
requiring shared passwords
reading messages
keeping devices out of bedrooms
monitoring search and app history
restricting chat apps entirely, and
limiting unsupervised technology use.
Additionally, there are settings within most AI Chatbots for kids that allow parents to see exactly how their children are interacting with them.
Boundaries are not a one-size-fits-all approach. They are meant to provide protection, not permanent restriction.
For example, a baby walker is a kind of boundary–it provides babies the ability to practice walking before they can walk on their own. Once they are confidently taking steps and can self-correct when they trip, the walker is no longer needed.
Boundaries provide the scaffolding kids and teens need to learn how to use technology safely.
Most importantly, boundaries for AI Companions are an invitation back into a relationship with real people–people who love them, protect them, and are trustworthy.
Ginny Weasley didn’t need less curiosity; she needed guidance and protection from adults who knew what was happening in her world.
Like Ginny, children don’t need less curiosity; they need more safe adults who are paying attention and willing to step in before privacy turns into isolation.
AI will keep evolving, but the most powerful protection your child will ever have is not an app, a filter, or a setting—it’s a relationship with adults who are emotionally available and engaged.
Resources for Parents of Children Using ChatGPT
Worried about your child’s use of AI? Start with our quick reference guide at the link below to spot red flags and understand where boundaries may help.
If this raised questions or concern, you don’t have to navigate it alone. I work with parents who want their children to explore the world with confidence and return home to a safe, emotionally secure space.
Schedule a consultation today. Call or text me at (417) 893-0761.
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