2 min read
The short version
- Generic in, generic out.
- Add constraints: who, how long, what is off-limits.
- Name the tone you want, or you get the default one.
If AI keeps giving you answers that sound like the back of a cereal packet, the tool is not the problem. It is answering the average version of your question because that is all it was given.
Add the three constraints that change everything
Who it is for. Ages, numbers, who is fussy, who is coming. “A four-year-old and a baby” changes almost every answer.
How much time or money you have. Twenty minutes and forty minutes produce entirely different suggestions. So do five pounds and fifty.
What is off the table. No oven. No nuts. Nothing that needs a trip to a craft shop. Exclusions do more work than instructions.
Name the tone
Left alone, these tools default to a bright, over-enthusiastic register that does not sound like anyone. Say what you want instead: “warm but brief”, “plain and factual”, “how a friend would text it”.
Ask for a specific shape
“A table with columns for day, meal and prep time.” “A numbered list, one line each.” “A shopping list grouped by supermarket section.” Shape is easy for these tools and makes the output immediately usable.
Give it an example if you have one
Pasting in something you liked last time and saying “like this” is the fastest way to fix tone, length and format at once.
The test
If your prompt could have been sent by any parent anywhere, expect an answer written for any parent anywhere.
Ready-made prompts with the blanks marked are in the resource library.