Parents' Guide to

Balance: Meditation & Sleep

By Mieke VanderBorght, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 10+

Guided plans adjust to meet personalized mindfulness goals.

App iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android Free to try Health & Fitness
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A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this app.

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What’s It About?

Begin BALANCE: MEDITATION & SLEEP by answering a few questions about yourself, your areas of stress, and your experience level with meditation. Based on those responses, the app automatically creates a personalized meditation program with a short daily meditation to listen to. A daily report marks progress as you complete each meditation in the program path. At any time, browse the app to find more guided meditations for different purposes. Some are designed to inspire joy or creativity and others help listeners fall asleep, for example. Meditation plans include a different mediation for a certain number of days that aims to meet goals such as ease loneliness, face fear, or embrace change. For some meditations, users can choose the length of the meditation or to hear a male or a female voice.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
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Kids say: Not yet rated

A variety of calming guided meditations are easily accessible for both beginners as well as those with more experience. The personalized sequenced series helps users reach deep to learn about meditation, including various techniques and the benefits of establishing a meditation practice. That kind of personalization may help kids focus on a goal and follow a plan for reaching that goal. When following a plan, kids answer a few daily questions which then nicely adjust the program and help make Balance: Meditation & Sleep feel like a personalized meditation coach. On the other hand, for kids who don't want a structured program, Balance: Meditation & Sleep also has individual meditations, including ones that are just a few minutes long for a quick mindfulness check. Some meditations offer a small amount of customization in that kids can choose a time length or whether they prefer to listen to a male or a female voice. And a small collection of sleep meditations may just do the trick to help kids relax enough to drift off. Kids looking for a broad, varied approach to emotional well-being should know that Balance: Meditation & Sleep focuses exclusively on meditation. For kids under 13, caregivers can make an account since the app isn't designed with kids' data privacy protection in mind.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how using Balance: Meditation & Sleep makes kids feel. Do the meditations help them? In what ways?

  • Explore other strategies for self care. Collectively brainstorm ideas such as exercise, nutrition, connecting with nature, taking hikes, spending time with friends, or engaging in creative activities, which may contribute to a healthy state of being.

  • When might a tool like this be useful for your kid's goals? Are they looking to improve focus? Reduce stress? Is thinking about tomorrow’s test keeping you from sleeping? Feeling a little stressed about an upcoming recital? Working on setting goals and improving grades?

App Details

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