The Missing Conversations

A Guide to the Talks Nobody Prepared Us For...
...But Our Kids Need Us to Have.

The Week I Ran Out of Answers

It doesn't take a dramatic event to realize your parenting playbook is out of date. Sometimes, it's a series of stacked moments that reveal the gaps. In one week my daughter argued—logically—for Snapchat to navigate her social world, I testified about AI in schools, and both my kids spent hours hiding in lockdown, terrified death was imminent. Those stacked moments made it obvious: the conversations our kids need today aren’t in any parenting playbook we inherited. They touch on safety, identity, and their future as they navigate a world that is nearly unrecognizable to the one from our own childhoods. For each one, I felt profoundly underprepared and didn't have time to become an expert before engaging.

“The conversations we need are largely missing—either because we don’t know they’re needed, or we simply don’t know what to say. How can any parent be expected to be an expert on all of this?”

Unfortunately, the institutions designed to support our children are impossibly behind. It's on us. If we, as parents, opt out of these essential conversations—either because we feel overwhelmed or a mistaken belief that someone else will step in—our kids will be adrift in a sea of powerful forces. That’s why The Missing Conversations exists—to help you build a compass rooted in your family’s throughlines and a map for the modern terrain so you can lean in with confidence to guide your children even when that feels impossibly hard.

Bridging the Gap: Timeless Guidance for Today's World

In a world changing faster than ever, guiding our kids through new challenges—from AI to social pressures—feels overwhelming. But the wisdom you already possess, grounded in your family's enduring values, is more powerful than you realize. Discover a two-pronged approach to conversation that empowers your family with clarity, connection, and confidence: timeless principles for lasting resilience, and practical guides for navigating urgent challenges.

An Invitation

• To rediscover and name the throughlines that serve as your family's compass.
• To apply that compass to new terrain: AI, social pressures, attention traps, and polarized spaces.
• To equip your family with the tools to navigate uncharted territories together.
• To join a community of parents choosing to have the difficult talks our kids need us to have.

Your Family's Compass: Building Resilience & Responding to the Urgent.

At the heart of "The Missing Conversations" is a powerful two-pronged approach designed to equip your family for any challenge, known or unknown. We combine enduring principles for long-term strength with practical, timely tools for immediate needs.

1. The Foundation: Family Throughlines

Just like good nutrition, exercise, and sleep build baseline physical health, your family's unique, enduring values and wisdom form a "Throughline"—a core resilience that prepares your kids for any future challenge. We help you uncover, articulate, and intentionally apply these timeless principles to everything from AI ethics to social pressures. This is about discovering and utilizing the strength you already have, creating an inner compass that guides your family.

2. The Practical Tools: The Conversation First Aid Kit

When specific, urgent challenges arise—a new app, a deepfake scare, a complex social dilemma—you need more than just general wisdom. Our "First Aid Kit" provides rapid-response guides to help you address these acute issues effectively. Each guide offers a "Lowdown," "Parent/Kid Perspectives," actionable "Conversation Starters," and a "Family Playbook" for strategies you can implement right away.

Our Guiding Principles for Every Conversation

Start with a Shared Reality: agree on what's really happening before you try to solve it.
Find the "And": frame every talk as you and your kid vs. the problem, not you vs. them.
Lead with Curiosity: your wisdom is the asset; begin with questions before authority.
Speak the Tension: name the pull you both feel without judgment so the real issue is on the table.
Make Space for Silence: let pauses breathe; big conversations rarely finish in one sitting.

The Conversations That Equip Your Family's Journey.

Our conversation guides serve as your essential "First Aid Kit," equipping you with both timeless wisdom and timely strategies for the modern world. They provide clear roadmaps to navigate specific, urgent topics while reinforcing your family's enduring "Throughlines" across every dimension of your child's life. Here's a glimpse into The Missing Conversations framework:

Guiding Their Inner World

These conversations focus on building a strong foundation of self-awareness, emotional resilience, and authentic connection.

• When Their Friend is in Crisis
• Attention, Apps, and Social Planning
• Active Shooter Drills and Navigating Trauma

Guiding Their Digital World

These conversations directly address the opportunities and ethical dilemmas of our rapidly evolving, AI-driven digital landscape.

• AI as a Study Buddy
• Your Friend is an Algorithm
• Seeing is No Longer Believing

Guiding Their Path in the World

These conversations empower your child to confidently forge their own path, anchored in their values and contributing meaningfully to their community.

• Navigating Online Pornography
• Some Things Can't Be Unseen
• Engaging Productively in a Polarized World

This is just the beginning. Our mission is to continuously build a library of these "First Aid Kit" conversation guides, each designed to empower your family with timely insights and actionable strategies.

Your AI-Powered First Aid Kit for Digital Challenges.

Ready to start having these crucial conversations? Gain immediate access to our unique Interactive AI Conversation Guide – an AI-enabled NotebookLM workbook designed to give you a head start. Chat directly with curated content, uncover key insights, explore multimedia overviews, and prepare for the conversations your family needs most.

This interactive guide focuses on our three core AI conversations and serves as a living example of how The Missing Conversations helps you bridge your family's enduring wisdom with today's urgent challenges.

I'm personally welcoming every family into the community. Send a quick note to themissingconversationsguide@gmail.com . I'll reply with your Interactive Guide and a warm introduction.

Email Whit & Get the Guide

What You'll Receive

• The Interactive AI Conversation Guide (NotebookLM workbook)
• A personalized welcome and next-step suggestions
• Updates on upcoming workshops, book news, and community circles

Handwritten responses mean you can ask questions right away—no bots, just us.

Your Fellow Traveler

Hi, I'm Whit.

I'm not a world-renowned expert. I'm a parent, right there in the trenches with you. My approach is simple: I'm sharing what I'm learning as I adapt the best principles from my research and my experience helping team succeed - both in the corporate world and on the sports field - for my most important team: my family. My hope is to give you a starting point and community that helps you have more of these missing conversations in a way that feels authentic to you.

Read my Substack: Navigating AI Transitions with Whit Listen to the Parenting Well conversation Connect with me on LinkedIn

Join the Community

This project grows through conversation. Send a short email to share who you are, what your kids are facing, and what brought you to the community. I read and reply to every note personally.

Email Whit & Join the Community

What's Next

The guide and community invite are just the start. Coming next:

• A parent-to-parent workbook that helps your family do the work together.
• Live gatherings—small circles of connected parents both in-person and online.
• Workshops for schools and organizations that want to equip their parent communities.