The Parent’s AI-Tools Safety & Permission Checklist
Your kid wants to build with AI tools — that’s a good instinct. But most AI coding tools were written for adults, and their age rules, billing, and privacy settings are buried in terms of service nobody reads. This one-page checklist covers what to check before sign-up, how to set accounts up safely, and the ten-minute weekly routine that keeps you genuinely in the loop. Print it, stick it near the computer, and work through it together — the “together” part is most of the value.
Parent’s AI Safety & Permission Checklistredwoodacademy.ai
1 · Before signing anything up
Check the tool's minimum age in its Terms of Service — not the app store rating.
Most AI tools are 13+ or 18+. See our age-requirements directory for the current rules.
Decide whose account it is: yours (you log them in) or theirs (where the terms allow).
Read the pricing page together. Know exactly what's free and what triggers a charge.
If a tool needs a payment card or API key, it's yours — never stored on their device unsupervised.
2 · Account setup
Sign up with a family or parent email address, not their school email.
Turn on two-factor authentication on every account.
Set spending limits or alerts wherever the tool supports them.
Review the tool's data-training settings and opt out of training on your data where offered.
3 · Ground rules to agree on together
Never paste personal details into an AI tool: full name, address, school, phone, photos of people.
A good test: 'would you write it on a public poster?'
Project names and published apps use a first name or nickname only.
No entering other people's information either — friends' names stay out of the code and the prompts.
If the AI produces something confusing, scary, or inappropriate — screenshot it and show a parent. No trouble for reporting.
4 · The weekly check-in (10 minutes)
Ask for a demo: “show me what you built this week.”
Ask them to explain one piece: “what does this part do?” — explaining is where the learning shows.
Ask what the AI got wrong this week and how they caught it.
Glance at usage/billing dashboards once a week.
5 · Red flags worth acting on
Secretive about accounts, or new accounts you didn't set up together.
Charges you don't recognize, or credits running out unusually fast.
Copy-pasting AI output they can't explain at all — that's the moment to slow down, not a catastrophe.
Our family’s agreement
We reviewed this together on: ____________________
Signed (builder): ____________________ Signed (parent): ____________________
Want the age rules for every major tool? See our verified directory: AI coding tools — age requirements for kids & teens.