AI Is Changing the Future of Work. Prepare Kids the Right Way.

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are occurring at an unprecedented rate, garnering countless headlines and sparking concerns about the transformative effects of new technologies, especially in the workplace. While some commentators fear large-scale displacement of human labor across society, most experts believe AI will augment human labor and change workers’ roles and responsibilities. Consequently, while AI likely won’t eliminate the need for human labor altogether, it will change the way humans work and the skills needed to succeed. Skills like working well in teams, communicating effectively, and thinking creatively, broadly known as “soft skills,” are becoming more important than ever. Fortunately, there is an easy, accessible way to help develop these skills from an early age: free play.

Soft skills, sometimes called non-cognitive skills, social-emotional skills, and character skills, refer to a range of behaviors, attitudes, and personal qualities that enable people to effectively navigate their environments, work well with others, self-regulate, and achieve their goals. Unsurprisingly, the need for soft skills isn’t new. As we shifted from primarily producing goods to a service-based economy, the need for physical strength and tolerance for repetition began to be replaced by the need for better communication skills and social intelligence. Now, with AI poised to eliminate the more routinized aspects of modern work, the shift toward soft skills, with its emphasis on teamwork, interpersonal skills, and creative thinking, will only accelerate. Focusing on soft skills and how best to cultivate them is an essential task as new generations of workers enter a vastly different kind of workplace.

Because these skills are fundamentally social in nature, they are developed early and build upon each other over time. Indeed, research is clear that the family is the most important early incubator of soft skills and lays the foundation for future improvement. In addition to the family, early social environments are a key cultivator of soft skills, particularly among peer groups. This is where free play becomes important.

According to psychologist and childhood development expert Dr. Peter Gray, free play “is the means by which children learn to make friends, overcome fears, solve their own problems, and generally take control of their own lives.” Unlike the structured activities engineered by adults, in which an authority figure is always on hand to set rules and resolve disputes, free play is where kids learn from one another, make up their own games and rules, and resolve conflicts among themselves. While they don’t realize it in the moment, kids engaging in free play are developing skills that will enable them to succeed in school and life.

Despite these benefits and the increasing importance of soft skills, there are more barriers to free play than ever. Cultural norms have shifted away from the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s, when it was common to allow kids to walk to and from school by themselves or play together unsupervised. Instead, recent decades have seen an increase in helicopter or snowplow parents who put an emphasis on safety and strive to clear their children’s paths of obstacles and hardship. And when parents do want to grant their children more independence, state neglect or endangerment laws can get in the way. There are countless stories of parents being confronted by police for allowing their kids to play unsupervised at a nearby park or walk around the block by themselves.

Reversing these trends and recovering a culture in which children are able to engage in free and independent play isn’t just essential for their short-term wellbeing, it is an integral part of preparing them to succeed in the workforce later in life. Though developing a more independent and free play-friendly parenting culture will take years to cultivate, a necessary first step is protecting parents who allow their children the opportunity to build important life skills. Fortunately, led by organizations like Let Grow, policymakers in seven states have now revised neglect statutes or adopted “Reasonable Childhood Independence” laws that protect parents from legal consequences simply for allowing their children the opportunity to grow.

As AI is integrated into businesses and industries across the country, the most important long-term workforce development policy isn’t another new training program or government workforce initiative. Rather, like most things, it starts in the home by encouraging and supporting free play and reasonable independence. Adopting legal protections is an important first step, but it’s only part of the picture. Parents, neighbors, and educators must recognize that free and independent play are important parts of growing up and cultivating life skills. Stepping back and letting kids be kids is the best skill development program there is.