Swiss Mom Lilian Schmidt Uses ChatGPT as a “Co‑Parent” to Ease Parenting Stress and Find Balance

30 July 2025

Lilian Schmidt / SWNS

Lilian Schmidt a 33‑year‑old brand strategist based in Zurich admits she struck exhaustion before creating her own AI coparent ChatGPT now supports her daily parenting and helps her regain balance. Schmidt manages a three‑year‑old daughter plus her partner’s teenage son with her partner highly involved yet wired differently she found herself drowning in logistics planning emotional load and decision fatigue long after her 9‑to‑5 finished. In February she began customizing ChatGPT with prompts to think like her anticipate needs and essentially act as a thoughtful assistant that can plan meals, birthday gifts, packing lists, and bedtime strategies without endless questions.

In its role as an executive coach, nutritionist, event planner and toddler whisperer ChatGPT helps Schmidt navigate the busiest hours with fewer tears fewer delays and more peace. The AI handles grocery lists sorted by aisle generates event checklists suggests toddler-friendly games and even helps her write heartfelt birthday cards. When bedtime used to feel like a daily showdown Schmidt now relies on AI‑guided strategies such as giving her daughter space to jump before sleep and other creative routines that eliminated nightly power struggles.

Schmidt insists AI has not replaced human roles. She still owns all decisions and her partner remains equally engaged in parenting. What ChatGPT offers is relief from cognitive labor what researchers call the mental load the continuous background thinking about logistics, plans and contingencies that disproportionately rests on mothers even in supportive households. Her partner may take action she takes the planning until now.

Her experience reflects a broader cultural shift. A 2024 study from the University of Kansas found parents often trust ChatGPT more than professional sources when the author is unknown rating it higher for accuracy, trustworthiness and credibility raising both convenience and concern. Critics warn that overreliance may erode critical thinking or subtly reshape decision-making habits in both adults and children.

Tech leaders and safety experts echo the complexity of this trend. OpenAI’s Sam Altman has acknowledged using ChatGPT while parenting his own infant though he warns the trend could foster dependency or parasocial relationships. He maintains younger people may adapt naturally but highlights risks of outsourcing adult insight to AI. Ethicists and neurodevelopment researchers caution that excessive use of AI may stunt the kind of neural growth built through repetitive problem solving and decision making.

Despite reservations, the rise of AI parenting support appears real and expanding. On ABC News a range of moms described using ChatGPT for suggested meal planning, morning routines creative scavenger hunts or emotional prompts for teens. They emphasize the tool frees mental space without replacing parental instinct. The approach aims for balance embracing productivity while safeguarding emotional intimacy.

Lilian Schmidt has shared her custom prompt widely on TikTok and parenting forums helping overtaxed mothers design their own AI coparent routines. One prompt used by thousands asks ChatGPT to think ahead anticipate needs and deliver actionable suggestions without asking follow‑up questions and to gently prompt when necessary. Her video has been credited with sparking conversations around shared mental load and digital support tools.

However adoption is not without scrutiny. Social media users and commentators on Reddit have expressed concerns that AI reliance could slow cognitive development especially in children. Educators note generative AI use may contribute to dependency and superficial understanding if used without critical oversight.

Meanwhile advocacy groups call for technological literacy among families emphasising co‑use and guided interaction over passive delegation. Harvard and community leaders have created frameworks like B.R.I.L.L.I.A.N.T AI to encourage mindful AI usage that reinforces identity, agency and cultural awareness rather than robotic reliance.

For Schmidt AI acts as the assistant she never had not to parent but to plan. She claims her life now holds more breathing room fewer daily headaches and better emotional stability. She emphasizes ChatGPT does not decide but provides structured thinking and creative support reminiscent of brainstorming with a trusted friend.

What makes Schmidt’s story compelling is not just the novelty of tech‑enabled parenting but the emotional authenticity it enables. By outsourcing routine mental load she carves out space to connect authentically with her daughter and step‑son. ChatGPT becomes a brain resting point not a brain replacement. It offers clarity not denial a tool rather than crutch.

Her viral prompt and experience have ignited global discussion about parental burnout, emotional labor and how AI might assist not replace theithernship of parenting. The image of a mom turning her brain off for a minute is not about abdication: it’s about granting permission to breathe. As Schmidt says, “I’d never go back.”