Every life stage has work to do and a distance that can be calculated.
Log the feeds, send the reminders, keep every health judgement with a human.
It isn't “I need an AI to raise my child.” It is: the clerical layer of a small child's day — logging, reminding, passing instructions — is eating the hours you need for judgement.
Verification signals (two or more and the need is real):
· You can describe the check in one sentence and read the answer in under two minutes
· The original record exists somewhere you can open: a note, a photo, a clinic slip
· A mistake costs you a correction, not a health decision
Verification cost economics
Delegation pays only when checking costs less than doing. With a small child that check is a glance at the original note or photo — so transcription, reminders and handovers are delegable. Anything whose correctness you cannot confirm by looking (a rash, a fever, a fall) is not, because the cost of being wrong is not measured in minutes.
The same logic explains why the agent should stay a clerk: a clerk produces artefacts you can compare against a source. A clinician produces judgements you cannot.
Basis taken from the cell framework. All three must pass; a failed test is a stop, not a warning.
Can I hand <recording a milestone observation> to an agent?
Basis: Verification cost economics
Keep a paper or phone note as source; let the agent only transcribe it.
Can I hand <sending a feeding or nap reminder> to an agent?
Basis: Task decomposability
Set a phone alarm as backup; do not rely on the agent alone.
Can I hand <passing care instructions between caregivers> to an agent?
Basis: Principal-agent cost
Require a 30-second voice call for anything involving medicine or symptoms.
Nothing important gets forgotten
Handovers stop depending on my memory
I keep every judgement about health and safety
What to look at
Minutes per day spent logging and reminding · wrong entries per week · handover errors per month
How to judge
Can you verify the log against the original note in under two minutes?
Healthy state
Under 5 minutes a day on clerical work · zero handover errors · symptoms never logged as conclusions
Ask the agent whether a fever needs a doctor —— it cannot see the child, and a wrong answer is not recoverable
Replace the paper note entirely —— then there is no source left to verify the agent against
Let an app set nap times from a generic chart —— a chart is not your child
Treat a bot summary as the milestone record —— summaries drop the detail that makes a concern visible
Write one sentence for what must not be missed (next feed, next nap, next appointment)
Point the agent at a source you can open yourself, and let it only transcribe or remind
Keep symptoms, rashes and falls out of it entirely
Set a phone alarm as backup for anything that must not fail
Review the log weekly — if you never open it, stop paying for it
This page does not ask for your income, and it collects no financial information. It discusses who should hold which judgement, not how to spend money.