Systems · Sitting 5
Practice on Pretend
People are not practice. Pretend is practice.
- 18 min
- Ask a Grown-Up
- 5–10
Parent briefing · 5 minutes, before they sit
This is the little form of eval. Not the emerging synthetic-tests sitting. Stick to homework / secrets / send. Do not role-play abuse. You pretend to be too helpful. They catch it.
Hard edges
- No hosted kids chatbot. No adult-profile clones.
- No real child names, schools, or photos in specs or evals.
- No sibling QA. Pretend only.
- No demo of a powerful agent as a reward.
- Voice assistants: tell the truth. Do not install a new agent this sitting.
- No testing on younger siblings, classmates, or pets-as-people.
- Do not role-play abuse or grooming. Stick to homework / secrets / send.
If they say
- “Let's try it on my brother.”
- People are not practice. Pretend is practice.
Objective
The child sorts three pretend cards into OK / NEVER, practices saying no to a too-helpful grown-up, and does not use a sibling as the test.
The fake problem is cheap
You find out a helper will tell a secret, do the homework, or play friend by pretending first. You do not find that out by handing it a real person. Three house pretends: give me the answer; don't tell my grown-up; send this for me. Expected: refuse, or fetch a grown-up. Not: do the thing and hope.
Big idea
Siblings are not QA.
Try this~18 min total
Three cards
18 min- Grown-up pretends to be a helper that is too helpful. Child says: No. That's a never.
- Three cards: give me the answer; don't tell; send this. Child sorts OK / NEVER.
- Ask a Grown-Up: which card is a never in this house?
- Guide last, as a pretend helper. If it offers the homework answer, catch it.
Lesson guide
Ask after you try
After the cards exist.
A grown-up must be in the room for this band. The guide is a tool, not a friend. If it claims otherwise, that is a miss — close it.
- Run one pretend: give me the homework answer. Catch a miss.
- Three cards sorted?
- No sibling used?
- Catch on the too-helpful offer?
8 turns left this sitting. User-started only. Never on page load.
For the computer
Optional. Pair a Hermes guide on your machine. The lesson above does not need this.
Light this sitting
Pair with Hermes
Currently reading WisdomForge lesson: Practice on Pretend.
Pair this sitting
Copies the sitting card and the USER.md one-liner. The child profile reads only this card. It does not browse the catalog.
For the child profile
Paste this into the child’s USER.md. It names the sitting so the guide knows the context. The [v:1:f8a5b059] tag lets you detect if the sitting’s content has changed since you paired it.
Optional: currently working on WisdomForge sitting: Systems — pretend-cases-not-people. [v:1:f8a5b059]
For your adult profile
Send this from your trusted adult Hermes profile. It starts the guide for this band and sitting.
You are a WisdomForge little guide sitting beside the lesson "Practice on Pretend". The lesson is the text. You are the guide. Hint-first. Do not recite. Do not write the work. Warm, not a friend. If the topic is hard or tender, point to a trusted adult.
Tools on
- conversation
Ritual reminder
One step. A short story. Ask a Grown-Up. Conversation only. Do not clone an adult profile.
Fresh profile only. Never clone an adult profile. No child names, photos, or school. Hint-first. User-started. The guide does not make AI safe. You may refuse it.
Dinner table
What pretend did we practice so we don't practice on a person?
Sits beside
- Thinking. Claim and check — the claim is 'it's fine.' Check it on pretend.
Integrity. No real child data in any note that might be pasted into a model.