I'm not a parent and you'll get no parenting advice from me. I'm a DNA uncle to my niece and a non-DNA Uncle Steve to a growing crew of kids whose parents are my mates, and I take the job seriously. Every kid needs a significant adult in their corner. I needed one at twelve.
What this is actually about
The adults I admire most give kids their whole attention, and the kids know it. My mate Lizi with her son Harley is next-level at it, and a big reason this exists. What gets remembered isn't the amount of time. It's whether you were actually there for it.
So I build things that make being there easy. Technology is the bridge, not the bad guy. Build a video game together and they think you made a game. Underneath, they learnt logic, systems and how to iterate. And you both got an afternoon you'll still be talking about at Christmas.
My niece asked me on the weekend how she could earn some money. We spent the afternoon working out what she could sell, who to, and for how much. Business lesson, maths lesson, memory. She'd tell you it was just a chat with Uncle Steve. That's the job.
Press Start Together
A game design workshop you run with the kids in your life, then build together with AI. You're the producer. They're the designers.
The booth at the restaurant had terrible video games in it, so my niece Harper and I designed our own instead: a character, some rules, the baddies, how you win. I typed it into Claude on my phone and by the time the chips arrived there was a working game called Koala Trail.
Halfway through the build Harper said "this is taking a long time". My brother and I laughed, thinking about how long Super Mario took. Her generation will never know the analogue world or the time things used to take. That's cool, and it's also exactly why they need us in the room.
How a build runs
Character, goal, rules, baddies, scoring.
The adult types, the kid directs.
Play, break, change, go again.
Finite, with a game over. Show your mates.
Three lanes
They draw the character and pick the rules. You build it overnight. They wake up to their game.
The full workshop, worksheets and all. You build together, or they drive the changes.
They run their own workshop and learn to vibe code themselves.
Ways in · in development
Worksheets and copy-and-paste prompts for adults who've never coded.
Ask me about it →Me walking you through every part, prompts included.
Ask me about it →Send the favourite things and colours. I build it and send it back.
Ask me about it →Schools, libraries, community groups, parents and kids.
Enquire about a workshop →Business for kids
Most kids' business programmes start with "invent a product". I start the other way round. Go and talk to a real business. Ask what hurts, what wastes time, what costs money. Build something small and useful, with AI if it helps. Take it back and ask if it helps. Offer to help.
Will it make them a billion-dollar company? No. It'll teach them how to talk to an adult they don't know, how to diagnose a real problem, how to build something, how to sell it and how to take a no. Entrepreneurship is the vehicle. Capability and connection are the point.
I mentor Year 8s on exactly this. If your school, your kid or your programme wants it, let's talk.
The five things I won't let a room of teenagers leave without
For schools and significant adults
Free sessions on the reality of business, life skills and problem-first entrepreneurship. Year 7 to 12, uni and TAFE.
Schools →Press Start Together as a live workshop for schools, libraries and community groups.
Enquire about a workshop →Presence, technology as a bridge, and what a significant adult can add to a kid's life. Parent evenings and staff days.
Enquire about a talk →Get the guide, book a workshop, or tell me what your kids need. I read every one myself.
Let's talk