Just as you would motivate your child to take care of their physical health, you should also provide them with tools to care for their mental wellbeing. Proactive measures for preserving mental health can help children and teens learn to cope with mental duress.
Moreover, the current generation has a unique set of social and mental challenges. They are growing up alongside social media, promoting unrealistic expectations leading to an increased risk of mental illnesses.
According to suicide.org, almost 20% of teenagers experience depression before they reach adulthood. A survey by Mental Health America reported that one in six American youth between 6 to 17 years experiences a mental health disorder every year.
Thus, the following list of apps can provide your children with the necessary tools to manage their mental wellness and cope with debilitating conditions such as fear, anxiety, anger, and depression:
Headspace for Kids
Headspace is one of the best apps to promote better mental health amongst adults and children through meditation. Headspace for Kids is specially designed for children to provide short, focused meditation sessions that are simple to follow and keep the young ones calm and relaxed.
The app offers five themes for kids: Calm, Focus, Kindness, Sleep and Wake up. Consequently, children learn to fall into a peaceful sleep, wake up feeling calm and refreshed, manage stressful situations, and tackle emotional ups and downs.
Headspace for Kids uses standard meditation techniques, including breathing exercises, awareness of the environmental sounds, and visualization. It also prompts users to practice meditation every day and make time for self-reflection and growth.
The app is free to download on Android and iOS devices with in-app purchases.
DreamyKid
DreamyKid app realizes the prevalence of children’s mental health issues such as stress, anxiety, and technology fatigue amongst children between three and seventeen.
Thus, it provides issue-based guided meditation to help them embark on a journey to reach inner peace and emotional balance and navigate the mental pitfalls skillfully.
The app also includes Everyday Meditation, Sleep Stories, Healing Activities, Guided Journeys, Affirmations, and Sound Healing and Sleep Sounds.
These categories lead the kids towards a happier life, encourage positive thinking, and build confidence.
DreamyKid offers free and subscription-based versions on App Store, as well as a web version.
Smiling Mind
Smiling Mind is an Australia-based website that focuses on mental health restoration through mindfulness. It also has an app with the same name with innovative programs for children aged 3-6, 7-9, 10-12, 13-15, and 16-18.
Co-created by educators, psychologists, and meditation experts, the app promotes primary school kids’ self-awareness and social management skills.
It also invites the children to practice meditation and mindfulness exercises for just ten minutes a day to witness drastic improvement in their mental health.
The app has a simple user interface and is perfect for beginners and school-going kids looking to reduce stress, handle daily life challenges, and track their progress over time. You can find the app on App Store and Google Play.
Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame
It is common amongst young ones to have meltdowns over trivial issues. Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame employs the beloved characters from Sesame Street to teach kids how to deal with frustrating situations and overcome challenges independently.
The app is created for two to six years old to help them learn problem-solving, self-control, and perseverance. It introduces the kids to a Sesame Street character facing an everyday challenge and asks the child’s help to resolve the situation.
Using the app, the children learn deep breathing exercises to calm down, think about strategies to tackle the issue, solve the problem, and develop resilience and emotional stability.
You can download the Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame on Android and iOS devices.
Calm for Kids
Calm is another app for mindful meditation designed to cater to beginner, intermediate, and advanced users. It offers guided meditation exercises of varying lengths so that you can incorporate a meaningful reflective session even during busy days.
The calm app also has a kids’ category created to guide the young ones through beginner’s meditation exercises to calm their minds and manage stress and anxiety.
The sessions are curated according to age for children as young as five years old. The app also features Sleep Stories read by well-known voices, which help the kids unwind and fall into a deep slumber.
The app has a clean interface and intuitive functionalities like the airG scam free apps. You can try it for seven days before subscribing to ensure that it is the best fit for you and your children before downloading on your Android or iOS devices.
The Worrinots
The Worrinots App provides the children with a safe space to share their concerns, inhibitions, fears, and worries.
The kids tap on a “What’s up?” bubble on the app and choose from the four friendly Worrinots monsters to help them resolve their concerns.
Then, they can speak or type about what is bothering them and choose an emotion that best depicts their feeling, such as sad, angry, worried, or scared. The chosen Worrinot presents a fun, practical coping mechanism for the expressed concern and helps the kids feel better.
You, as a parent, can download the Wotnot app on another device that enables you to see what your child has shared on the Worrinot app to help you understand their feelings.
You can also share your advice as a Worrinots character to make the child more receptive to the suggestion.
It is one of the many apps made possible by the continual growth in the software development industry, and you can get it from Google Play or App Store.
Mindful Powers
As the name suggests, Mindful Powers is all about teaching young ones to practice mindfulness in every aspect of their lives. The app features a loveable animated character called Flibbertigibbet, who requires soothing and love before each task.
The kids spend a few minutes stroking it with a finger resulting in a repetitive sensory moment, which helps them relax and focus. Flibbertigibbet then takes the children through various guided meditations, with calming sounds and comforting voiceovers.
Mindful Powers app offers three free meditation exercises (Big Breaths, 5 Powerful Senses, and Head to Toe), but you have to pay to access the full suite. The fantastic app is only available on iOS devices for now.
Moshi: Sleep and Mindfulness
Moshi: Sleep and Mindfulness is an excellent app for young children who have trouble falling asleep or feel anxious as bedtime comes near.
The app offers relaxing sounds and music. The kids can choose between raindrops, waves, and cat purring sounds. It also features calming tunes such as classical pieces to enable them to ease into a deep sleep.
In the Stories category, the children can choose stories with transports, animals, or mermaids, while Meditation exercises help reduce stress and provide mindful moments throughout the day.
Moshi: Sleep and Mindfulness is primarily an audio app, so your kids will not be distracted with screen time at night. It offers a seven-day free trial followed by an annual subscription fee. You can download the app on Android and iOS devices.
Wrapping up
When children are provided with the right tools to manage stress, frustration, and concern, they feel more confident, secure, and empowered.
Subsequently, they become content, healthy, and thriving individuals with a better command of their emotions. Therefore, introduce your kids to the wealth of mindful apps to improve their mental health and wellbeing.
