Calm Kids: Mindfulness & Yoga

Overall Rating: 3.5/5 Calm Kids is overall a strong interactive wellness tool that promotes emotional awareness and regulation, particularly for children and young adolescents who are beginning to experience “big feelings” and require developmentally appropriate strategies to calm and wind down. One of the app’s primary strengths is the variety of options it offers, including sleep stories, guided meditations, music, and activities such as yoga. Because children and adolescents are not a “one-size-fits-all” population, this range of modalities allows families to engage with the app in ways that best meet their individual needs. Another significant benefit of Calm Kids is its potential to foster connection between children or adolescents and their caregivers. Features such as shared yoga activities and bedtime stories create opportunities for caregivers to be present and emotionally engaged, which can support the development of a safe and secure attachment. Adolescence, and late childhood, are periods marked by a heightened need for connection and are particularly sensitive to co-regulation, consistency, predictability, and emotional anchoring (Moretti & Peled, 2004). Drawing on Moretti and Peled’s discussion of attachment in the article, Adolescent-parent attachment: Bonds that support healthy development, as an ongoing relational process, the shared use of a wellness app between a parent and a child (for example, ages 5–7) can support secure attachment by promoting emotional co-regulation, parental responsiveness, and consistent emotional availability. Two of the most important attachment-related factors highlighted in the article are parental support of autonomy and the absence of emotional withdrawal. However, despite these strengths, Calm Kids presents notable limitations that warrant further discussion. One of the most significant limitations is the accessibility factor; particularly the relation to cost. It became clear after a few reviews to verify the content & free options, it was determined that a vast majority of the app is behind a monthly or yearly subscription. Which is congruent with the parent app, Calm.  Furthermore, depending on socioeconomic statuses of families, a monthly subscription of $11.99 can be unattainable for many families, especially in this economy. However, with that being said, depending on the family size, engagement and the want or need – it can be beneficial & worth it. Overall, Calm Kids is a great option to expose or introduce adolescents to concepts of health, wellness, and emotional regulation, including the practice of cultivating moments of stillness.

I receive an SSL certificate error when attempting to use any module within the app. This is happening across multiple devices. It seems as though the developer may have abandoned this project.