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Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Has anyone actually found AI useful for everyday mum stuff?

195 replies

JennaMadeAU · 21/02/2026 16:40

Feeling like I'm late to the party but I've been playing around with ChatGPT and some of it is genuinely useful. Not the weird sci-fi stuff, just practical things.

The meal planning one has been brilliant - told it what my kids will/won't eat, our budget, and it planned dinners with a shopping list. Saved us money.

Also used it to draft a politely assertive email to DS's school. Would have taken me an hour; solid first draft in 10 seconds.

Anyone else using it? Or am I going to get told I'm being replaced by a robot?

OP posts:
RudolphTheReindeer · 21/02/2026 16:42

I think you'll be grand until it can clean your house and drive your kids around for you. I also use it for emails, I have send children, it helps eradicate my sarcasm when I have to email the LA over their latest (and relentlessly ongoing) failures.

notacooldad · 21/02/2026 16:43

I use it for planning holiday and short break itineraries. I ask for adventure things.
I have also used it to do an exercise and meal plan, including macros.

JennaMadeAU · 21/02/2026 17:12

Great tips both! The holiday itinerary idea is brilliant - hadn't thought of asking for adventure-specific stuff. And seven children plus sarcasm filter is genuinely the best use case I've heard! I've also started using it for birthday party planning - full plan with games, food and a timeline. Saved me the 2am Pinterest spiral.

OP posts:

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Slightlydustcovered · 21/02/2026 17:15

We do bedtime stories, ask the kids for characters and a setting, specify an age range and time to read and off it goes. New bedtime stories to order in moments.

chubbaa · 21/02/2026 17:19

Slightlydustcovered · 21/02/2026 17:15

We do bedtime stories, ask the kids for characters and a setting, specify an age range and time to read and off it goes. New bedtime stories to order in moments.

No need for authors anymore now AI programmes have plundered the archives

WTAFIsWrongWithPeople · 21/02/2026 17:20

notacooldad · 21/02/2026 16:43

I use it for planning holiday and short break itineraries. I ask for adventure things.
I have also used it to do an exercise and meal plan, including macros.

I tried this. 5 day trip. It refused to believe there were 5 days and not 6, and then had an eppy when I pointed it out and fucked the entire thing.

Leave it in the box. You have a brain. You don’t need an overhyped predictive text machine taking over.

WTAFIsWrongWithPeople · 21/02/2026 17:20

chubbaa · 21/02/2026 17:19

No need for authors anymore now AI programmes have plundered the archives

Stop the world. I want to get off.

verabarbleen · 21/02/2026 17:22

I have used it when my children have asked
questions I don’t know the answer to I ask it to explain it in a way a 6 /4 year old will understand! Such as where is heaven , why can’t people fly 😁😂 stuff like that

chubbaa · 21/02/2026 17:29

WTAFIsWrongWithPeople · 21/02/2026 17:20

I tried this. 5 day trip. It refused to believe there were 5 days and not 6, and then had an eppy when I pointed it out and fucked the entire thing.

Leave it in the box. You have a brain. You don’t need an overhyped predictive text machine taking over.

I really enjoy planning my own holidays! Not using AI to tell me what to do

chubbaa · 21/02/2026 17:31

verabarbleen · 21/02/2026 17:22

I have used it when my children have asked
questions I don’t know the answer to I ask it to explain it in a way a 6 /4 year old will understand! Such as where is heaven , why can’t people fly 😁😂 stuff like that

Heaven doesn’t exist. Because we don’t have wings. There you go. Didn’t need AI for that.

TartanMammy · 21/02/2026 17:36

I've used it to explain how progression might work in my son's sport, I've no real life person to ask and internet wasn't turning up much for his age group. Really helpful, now I know to yo support him better and what to aim for.

Mortgage optioning, and budgeting.

Recipes, i.e I've got this, this and this ingredient what can I make. Or 'how can I make this dish without eggs?.'

Troubleshooting when our new WiFi wouldn't connect to certain devices.

Weighing up different options when buying big ticket items.

ShawnaMacallister · 21/02/2026 17:37

I have used it for literal coaching during challenging moments with my teenage son. It's talked me down from saying or doing the wrong thing several times, coached me to hold my nerve when implementing boundaries and given me scripts to use when we have been heightened. It helped me navigate several parenting situations where I wasn't sure the best way to proceed. As a lone parent of a teenager with a pretty incompetent coparent it has really been a godsend.

TartanMammy · 21/02/2026 17:38

chubbaa · 21/02/2026 17:29

I really enjoy planning my own holidays! Not using AI to tell me what to do

I love planning holidays too but it can be really useful for certain aspects. Like local transport options when Google isn't turning up much, or asking whether a certain attraction is really worth it or just influencer hype.

Summerunlover · 21/02/2026 17:38

I am blind and use it every day with my meta glasses. It’s changed my life.

WTAFIsWrongWithPeople · 21/02/2026 17:40

verabarbleen · 21/02/2026 17:22

I have used it when my children have asked
questions I don’t know the answer to I ask it to explain it in a way a 6 /4 year old will understand! Such as where is heaven , why can’t people fly 😁😂 stuff like that

Not just lazy, that’s around 30,000 years of human intelligence wiped out just like that. <sigh>

WTAFIsWrongWithPeople · 21/02/2026 17:40

TartanMammy · 21/02/2026 17:38

I love planning holidays too but it can be really useful for certain aspects. Like local transport options when Google isn't turning up much, or asking whether a certain attraction is really worth it or just influencer hype.

AI won’t have been to the attraction…….

TartanMammy · 21/02/2026 17:41

WTAFIsWrongWithPeople · 21/02/2026 17:40

AI won’t have been to the attraction…….

No of course not 🤦‍♀️but it can quickly find and summarise reviews from across a huge range of sources that would take me hours to sift through myself.

WTAFIsWrongWithPeople · 21/02/2026 17:41

TartanMammy · 21/02/2026 17:36

I've used it to explain how progression might work in my son's sport, I've no real life person to ask and internet wasn't turning up much for his age group. Really helpful, now I know to yo support him better and what to aim for.

Mortgage optioning, and budgeting.

Recipes, i.e I've got this, this and this ingredient what can I make. Or 'how can I make this dish without eggs?.'

Troubleshooting when our new WiFi wouldn't connect to certain devices.

Weighing up different options when buying big ticket items.

Where do you think AI looked for the information?

WTAFIsWrongWithPeople · 21/02/2026 17:44

TartanMammy · 21/02/2026 17:41

No of course not 🤦‍♀️but it can quickly find and summarise reviews from across a huge range of sources that would take me hours to sift through myself.

Ah. Yes, the speed = good fallacy.

“it summarised this 100 page report into 1 page!!”
”What did it leave out?”
”I have no idea.”
”I’m sure the report writer felt most of the 100 page report was important when they wrote it……. Why are you so comfortable letting a machine decide what matters?”

this is honestly terrifying. The examples on this thread show how willing people are to outsource thinking. May as well give Trump the nuclear codes. Humans are fucked.

FuckRealityBringMeABook · 21/02/2026 17:45

Asking AI for a kid's bedtime story is perhaps the most dystopian thing I have ever heard

verabarbleen · 21/02/2026 17:46

@WTAFIsWrongWithPeople a bit lazy but I’m just knackered to be honest 😂

FuckRealityBringMeABook · 21/02/2026 17:48

WTAFIsWrongWithPeople · 21/02/2026 17:40

AI won’t have been to the attraction…….

It's been known to make attractions up as well.

TartanMammy · 21/02/2026 17:49

WTAFIsWrongWithPeople · 21/02/2026 17:44

Ah. Yes, the speed = good fallacy.

“it summarised this 100 page report into 1 page!!”
”What did it leave out?”
”I have no idea.”
”I’m sure the report writer felt most of the 100 page report was important when they wrote it……. Why are you so comfortable letting a machine decide what matters?”

this is honestly terrifying. The examples on this thread show how willing people are to outsource thinking. May as well give Trump the nuclear codes. Humans are fucked.

Edited

It's really not that deep in this context.

'my kids want to visit Aqua land is €300 for family, is it worth it? What have other travellers said?"

"What's a good substitute for egg in this recipe?"

"Can you explain to me to progression routes in junior golf in [my area]"

I'm not summarising a 100 page report or giving trump nuclear codes...

FuckRealityBringMeABook · 21/02/2026 17:50

my kids want to visit Aqua land is €300 for family, is it worth it? What have other travellers said?"

Why not just use tripadvisor?

pepperminticecream · 21/02/2026 17:54

The poster who said they have it read their kids bedtime stories is really sad. Being surrounded by books and reading physical books to and with your children is one of the most important things you can do for your children. Having a robot read to your kids is a sad way to outsource parenting, and creativity. What happened to parents making stories up to tell their kids or taking their kids to library to pick out a stack of books to read at bedtime.

As parents we need to think about what lessons we are teaching our children when our instincts now are to reach for our phones instead of picking up a physical book to read to our children, or pausing for a moment to think about an answer to a question a child has. When a child asks “where is heaven?” That’s an important question that should be answered with reflection on your own spiritual belief system, not outsourced to a robot who knows nothing about your family values, and morals.