Mamas, Here Is What a Brand-New AI Report Means for Our Kids -- On and Off the Field ❤

From one sports mama to another

Hey mama. Pull up a chair with me for a minute, because a new report came out this week that got me thinking about our babies -- and I do not just mean the little ones. I mean those big, tall, hungry, hard-working student-athletes we are raising.

The Kogod School of Business over at American University studied three years of how college students use artificial intelligence, that thing everybody calls AI. And when I read it, I did not see a bunch of college numbers. I saw our kids, five or ten years from now, walking into a locker room and a workplace we are still learning to understand.

So let me break it down the way I would tell you at the concession stand.

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Our kids are already using this stuff

Here is the truth, and it might sting a little. A 2026 report found that eighty-five percent of this graduating class used AI in college. But only twenty-eight percent were ever actually taught how to use it the right way. And get this -- eighty-two percent of them believe they are better at it than their own parents.

Now mama, we know how our athletes are. They think they know it all. Just like they thought they did not need to run those extra sprints. Using a tool is not the same as using it well. That gap right there is where we come in.

Here is the good news that made me smile. The number one way students use AI is not to cheat. It is to brainstorm -- to get the ball rolling on a paper or a project. Across all three years of the study, that stayed the top use. So most of our kids are using it to start their thinking, not to skip it. That is a heart in the right place. We just have to coach up the habits.

The working world is already asking about it

Listen to this jump. Back in 2024, only about twelve percent of students said an employer asked whether they could use AI. By 2026, it was almost forty-three percent. And nationally, thirty-five percent of entry-level jobs now list AI as a skill they want.

Mama, that is the same as recruiting. Remember how the coaches started asking about your baby forty percent more once the film got out there? Same energy. The world is scouting our kids for something new now, and we get to help them be ready before signing day.

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Here is where our sports families have the edge

Now do not you dare feel behind. Because here is what those same employers keep saying they cannot find in young people. Work ethic. Showing up on time. Communicating. Handling hard feedback. Doing the boring reps nobody claps for.

Mama, that is our whole life. That is Tuesday practice in the rain. That is film study. That is our kids learning to lose with class and win with humility. The character that sports build into our children is the exact thing the working world is begging for. So when we add smart AI habits on top of that character, our student-athletes are not behind at all. They are ahead.

Your simple game plan, mama

You do not have to be a tech expert. You just have to be their mama. Here is what I am doing in my house:

Ask, do not assume. Sit down and say, show me how you use it for school. You will learn a lot, and so will they, just by explaining it out loud.

Set the tool-not-shortcut rule. Same as sports. A tool helps you get better. A shortcut robs you of the reps. Make sure they know the difference and can say it back to you.

Protect their voice. Remind them that colleges, coaches, and bosses want to hear how THEY think. The AI can help them start. It should never do their thinking for them.

Keep the character front and center. The discipline they learn on the field is the real superpower. The tech is just the new whistle.

We got this, Mama & Dad

I am not the least bit worried about our kids. I have watched them get up at five in the morning. I have watched them push through when their body said quit. A new tool does not scare a child who already knows how to work.

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Our job has not changed one bit. We love them, we coach them, and we stay in the room while they learn something new. That has always been the assignment. And mamas like us have never missed it.

Come sit with us, mama.

For more real talk on raising strong student-athletes, visit mamahen.org and join our community. We are better together, and there is always room for you at this table. ❤