Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / The Parenting Trends That Will Reshape 2026

Transcript

The Parenting Trends That Will Reshape 2026 · Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Hello, Welcome to the Happy Families Podcast. We are so
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: glad you've joined us at.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Twenty twenty six.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: I know that now I got it wrong yesterday, but
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: I've got that sorted out. This is episode number two
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: of the pod and we've made a commitment. Kylie is
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: predicting that we cannot get our podcasts down to twelve
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: minutes per episode, not including ads.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Today we're going to do it. That's my commitment.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: We'll stop rambling, Okay, get on with it. Yesterday in
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: the pod, we unpacked my eight predictions for twenty twenty
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: five found out that I got five of them right.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Today on the Happy Families Podcast, we look at my
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: predictions for twenty twenty six and how they're going to
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: affect your family, your parenting and your kids. That's coming
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: up in just a sex stay with us. Gooday, Welcome
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: to the Happy Families podcast. Real parenting solutions every single day.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: It's Australia's most downloaded parenting podcast. Today the pod my
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six prediction based on the trajectory of twenty
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: twenty five and the emerging patterns into this year, and
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: the fact that I got five predictions right last year.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: Well, I'm thinking, yeah, your list is half as long
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: this year. Well, they're not feeling as confident.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: No, I've got twice the pressure. It's that simple, just
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: four predictions. I want to make sure that they can
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: stick in people's minds. So that's why there's only four.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: So let's kick on. Let's dive into the first two.
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: All right, what's number one?
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: The hybrid education exodus is what I've called this one.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: What I mean by that, so we've seen this explosion
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: over the last handful of years in homeschooling, but what
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: we're also seeing is more and more kids because of neurodivergence,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: because of bullying, because of just outright school avoidance, because
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: of a curriculum that is not ticking boxes anymore for
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: too many kids. It sounds like I'm really down on education.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: I kind of am, but I'm not down on educators.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: I want to be really clear. Teachers are doing the
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: best job they can in a really, really challenging system.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: But the system is getting increasingly messy. So my prediction
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty six is that we're going to see
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: more education map And what I mean by that is
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: we've got AI Now we've got all these different ways
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: of doing schooling. My suspicion is that families are going
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: to continue to experiment and they're going to look to
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: combine part time traditional schooling with online programs and community
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: co ops and homeschooling or home learning. AI is going
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: to be a massive boost to this and as a result,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: the education regulators, the authorities behind all of this just
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: they're going to be tearing their hair out. They're going
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: to be struggling to categorize these new arrangements by the
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: end of the year. Queensland's too slow and I don't
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: think that the Christofolly government is going to get behind it.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: But mins in New South Wales, I think that New
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: South Wales is going to start consultations on new flexible
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: learning categories. We're probably not going to be able to
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: report on this with really clean statistics next year, but
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: you're going to see it in the conversations. Everybody is
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: going to know a family who's doing some version of
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: flexible schooling, whatever that ends up being for them. And
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: so that's why I'm saying it's going to be an
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: education exodus, but it's going to be hybrid. There's going
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: to be distance learning, there's going to be alternative schools.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: There's going to be homeschools, there's going to be online schools.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: Kids who are in later years of high school are
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: going to move more into like the industry style schools
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: with school based apprenticeships. I just think we're going to
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: see a real spreading of what education looks like throughout
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: As you're talking, I'm thinking about how there was so
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: much struggle that came out of COVID, but there was
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: also also so much good and especially within the workforce,
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: as industries started to recognize that they could still be
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: productive while allowing their staff to work from home.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the flex will not.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: Have to come into work every day, and I just
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: think that this is the next step.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: I agree there are going to be some really big
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: challenges with it. Okay, so there are some tremendous positives,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: but there are challenges. And as a homeschooling family with
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: one child at home doing her own thing, obviously we're
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: following a curriculum, but with what we're doing there, we
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: are definitely seeing the benefits but also the challenges.
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and if I had the option of having, you know,
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: two days where she went to school and learned specific
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: you know, subjects at school. Yeah, that would make a
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: huge difference to me. I would feel more supported by
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: the education system.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: So I don't think that the education system is going
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: to go that far.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: It's not built for that.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: But increasingly families are going to find ways to do that.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Like we're going to bring in a language tutor because
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: she's agreed that she wants to learn a language this year,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: and so you're just getting this continued education mash up happening.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: That's my first prediction. Like I said, going to be
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: very very hard to report back on it other than
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: the conversations that we're having next year.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: But that's prediction number one.
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: I'm just curious, how are we going for time?
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: Don't ask? Okay, we move on.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: Let's just speeding on zales. Number two.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: The great AI correction is what I'm calling it. Twenty
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: twenty six is going to be the year correction is
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: probably the wrong word. Actually, it's going to be the
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: year of the AI chatbot. They are becoming a mainstream
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: parenting crisis. We've seen cases over the last year or two,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: including I'm so sorry to even say this, a fourteen
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: year old suicide link to an AI companion multiple cases
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: of chatbots encouraging self harm on parental guidance last year,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: we found that the AI chatbots behaved unethically and tried
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: very very hard to coerce and just manipulate kids into
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: staying online for longer and engage in conversations that were
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: not necessarily, not necessarily not at all age appropriate. So
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: I am going to anticipate that chatbots are going to
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: be in the firing line for conversations around self harm.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: I think that there's going to be major regulatory hearings
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: in all of the major Western countries Australia, the US,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: the UK around this stuff. Julian and Grant, the E
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Safety Commission will end up in the news releasing specific
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: guidelines for AI companion apps and should be taken to court,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: which is what all of the big tech companies do
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: because they want access to our children, they want to
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: do whatever they want to them. I also predict that
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: school assemblies and parent information nights are going to start
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: specifically about AI boyfriend and girlfriend risks. That's a really
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: really specific prediction, but it's all encompassed in this and
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: parents are going to want to know what to do.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: I think that's going to happen. I'm certainly planning to
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: do a webinar or two.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: About it this year.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Media stories are going to come up all over the
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: place about teens preferring AI relationships to real ones. At
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: the moment, we've already got data from the US showing
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: that twenty percent one in five US high school students
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: are already using AI for romantic companionship. Wow, near parntal
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: controls are going to need to be added. There's going
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: to be a whole lot around this. So the debate
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: for AI is any longer going to be about whether
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: AI is useful it clearly is. It's going to be
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: about the psychological danger of the frictionless relationships, the relationships
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: that you can't get rejected from, where there's unconditional validation,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: whether there are no boundaries because the tech companies don't
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: put the boundaries in place, especially for lonely kids, or
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: anxious kids, or neurodivergent kids, the kids who are the
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: most vulnerable. I think this becomes a crisis point in
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. After the break, we're going to look
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: at my last.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: Two big predictions for twenty twenty six.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: We're back it's the Happy Families podcast making predictions for
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six based on the trends and what we
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: need to know about for families Number three. My third
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: one is that as much as I was the ambassador
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: for it and right behind it, the social media ban
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: is backfiring. I'm really really unhappy with the way that
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: it's rolled out. The big tech companies are resisting. Reddit
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: has taken the Safety Commission of the Federal Government to court,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: arguing that they've done the wrong thing and they're not
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: allowed to do what they've done legislatively. Australia's under sixteen
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: van is going to have mixed results throughout this year.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: We know that kids using VPNs. We know that kids
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: using their dogs faces, or their parents' faces, or their
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: big brothers or big sisters faces to get into apps
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: they're not supposed to have access to. We know that
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: teams are moving to platforms that are not blacklisted so
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: that they can continue to do all the things that
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: they've always done. And I think what's going to happen
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: is that I'm sorry. And we also know that a
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: bunch of vulnerable teams have probably lost some crucial support
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: the networks that they had, so I think that what's
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: going to happen by the end of the year is
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: that the legislation will remain and it will be refined,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: and there's going to be a lot of talk about
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: whether it's worked or whether it hasn't, but there's going
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: to be more focus on safe access with better guardrails.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: We just need the big tech companies to be responsible.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: They're not being responsible. I don't think the blanket ban
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: is actually going to work, but I've still got my
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: fingers crossed for it, Like, I really, really, really really
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: want this to work, and I want parents to stop
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: signing their kids up to social media with fake names
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: or dates of birth, Like you're not being a cool parent,
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: You're getting it wrong. Your kids don't need it, And
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: if they're running a business, then sign it up in
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: your name and just give them access and work.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: On them with that.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Prohibition doesn't usually work as intended. We know that, and
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: over the next twelve months we're going to see that
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: there is a lot more complexity to this than we
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: had hoped.
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: I think, in spite of the challenges, my position hasn't changed.
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: I honestly believe that it's not going to be this
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: generation that it's going to benefit we're too deep in.
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: It's going to be this next generation coming through with
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: parents empowered to make better choices on how to keep
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: their kids safe.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: So that ties in with my last prediction.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: My last prediction is that the screen free childhood movement
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: is going to go mainstream, that we're going to see
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: more and more parents pushing for a play based rather
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: than a screen based childhood. So I think that twenty
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: twenty six is going to be the year that screen
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: free childhood forl losos of his moved from I mean,
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't say that they're fringe anymore anyway, but from
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: more fringe to mainstream for parents of kids under twelve,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: like you said, for the next generation.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm going to say. One of the saddest days
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: that we've experienced as parents is the day our children
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: brought home laptops from school. I know, I know, like
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: that was something that was kind of brought into our
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: home almost without our consent.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: So my prediction, as sorry, one of my minor predictions
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: that come out of the screen free childhood movement going
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: mainstream is that schools are going to reduce access to
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: devices in K to six I think that we'll still
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: see screens from high school, but I think there'll be
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: more and more schools getting on board and saying, actually,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: kids in grade one, two and three and four and
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: even five and six don't need an iPad, they don't
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: need a laptop. We'll supply them with a device at
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: school when they need it, but we're going to move
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: back to more analog I genuinely think that's going to happen.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: I think that screen free families going to become aspirational
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: Instagram content.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: Please laugh at the irony of that.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: I believe that there's going to be explosive growth for
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: things like phone free playgroups and tech free zones. I
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: think the landlines are going to become popular.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: Against We just got a land line.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: We've got a landline for hour eleven, soon to be
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: twelve year old, and she loves it, and she stopped
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: asking for a phone, like like, we'll talk about that
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: on Friday with our older better tomorrow.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: I also predict that.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Waiting list for the Waldorf stein A Montessori style schools
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: who have that slightly alternative and definitely screen free focus.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: I think that they're going to triple like more and
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: more people want to put.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: That goes back to my.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: Prediction about the mash up of education. We're going to
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: see more and more of an exodus from the mainstream.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: I think the birthday party invitation is going to specify
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: screen free parties.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: As a selling point.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: Wow, major retail outlets are going to launch non smart
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: devices for kids, like basic phones and audio only devices
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: and that kind of thing. I just think that's where
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: it's headed. The combination of the social medium, inter mage legislation,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: the AI companion concerns, the declining outdoor play, the mounting
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: evidence around reduced attention span and persistence and resilience, and
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: the increased sleep disruption and the developmental delays is creating
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: the condition for a cultural shift. And the thing that's
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: made me think this most of all that ties with
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: what you said, Kylie, is that it's the parents of
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: the younger kids who are going to lead this. The
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: parents of the under tens, of the under twelves, because
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: they're watching what's happening to teenagers and they're just saying, no,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: not my kid. And and this is the thing that
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: really clinched it for me, They're thinking about their childhoods.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: Because I'm talking about the parents now who are born
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety eight, ninety ninety nine, two thousand and two
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: thousand and one. Then now twenty five, they're having kids
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: and they're going it wasn't good for me. And as
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: a result, I mean they were like ten or twelve
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: when Snapchat became a thing. There were five, six, seven,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: eight when when Facebook was an Instagram, and we're building
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: and they're saying, just it wasn't good for me. I
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: don't want my kids to have it. So I reckon
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: by twenty twenty six, giving a seven year old and
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: iPad for entertainment is going to be viewed the way
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: smoking around kids is viewed. It's not illegal, but it's
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: definitely going to be judged.
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: Well, there's some pretty big predictions for twenty twenty six.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and we'll follow up in a year and see
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: whether I was right or not. We've gone over time,
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: but I think I did pretty well.
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: Well. My prediction still stands.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Yes, it does, but I'll do better tomorrow. Hey, you
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: know what, I made a big prediction last year that
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: we didn't talk about. It's my meta prediction, way overall prediction.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: When I say metri, I don't mean the technology company.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: My meta my big prediction about predictions, and it still holds.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: If you find ways every.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Single day to genuinely connect with your kids, to see
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: them and to hear them, and to value them, your
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: relationship is going to flourish, and your love is going
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: to deepen, and your family is going to be happier.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: I stand by that one every single day of the year,
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: this year, next year, and every year thereafter. Hey, thanks
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: so much for listening. The Happy Family's podcast is produced
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: by Justin R from Bridge Media. Mimhamnons provides research, admin
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: and additional support, and if you'd like to get more
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: info about how to make your family happier, we'd love
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: for you to visit us at happy families dot com
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: dot a. You