From Bedtime Anxiety to Peaceful Sleep: Personalized Meditations to Help Kids Feel Calm, Special, and Loved
Written by Heather Anderson
Soft Landing Meditations is more than just an app—it’s a parent-founded, thoughtfully designed solution born from personal need and innovative tech. Created by Julie Price and her cofounder Joe Ferraro, Soft Landing Meditations offers customized, calming meditations and sleep stories that help children handle everything from bedtime anxiety to a bad day. Inspired by their experiences as parents, Julie and Joe each tested the app on their own children to create a comforting, playful experience. Now joined by technical co-founder Kai Yen, the team has built a sophisticated system that delivers personal, supportive meditations that turn bedtime or big feelings into a soft landing.
What motivated you to create Soft Landing Meditations, and how has being a parent shaped your approach?
It all started with our kids. My daughter needed something to help her with anxiety and sleep, so I began making her meditations with a character I made up, Calming Cat. We’re a playful family, so Calming Cat had his own quirky, warm, and loving voice that my daughter enjoyed and because she liked him, she was more willing to listen to him. I was making her a few meditations per week to teach her calming and coping tactics and he basically became the “third parent” in the house. She knew I was writing the meditations, but it still felt like a special relationship to her. Joe’s son responded just as strongly to a different character, Fin the Shark, when we solved his first problem, which was not wanting to wear glasses. He loved his first few meditations so much he played them on repeat. We helped a few other friends, and that’s when we formally created Soft Landing Meditations. Now, we’re creating meditations and sleep stories that feel customized to each child, helping them solve their own problems in new ways.
You transitioned from leading innovation teams in tech to crafting meditations for children. How did that happen?
In tech, my role was to understand people’s needs and design solutions to make their lives better. Now, with Soft Landing Meditations, I get to apply those skills to something more personal. Joe, Kai, and I bring our expertise from innovation and venture building, and we use that experience every day with Soft Landing Meditations to build something truly unique. It’s like bringing our tech and innovation backgrounds home to help other families just like ours..
Soft Landing Meditations targets kids ages 4-9. Why this age range, and how do your meditations support their unique needs?
We began by building for my daughter, who was seven at the time, and Joe’s son, who was 4. We’ve found that ages 4-9 are a sweet spot for our character’s personalities and styles and we’ve personally worked with those ages in helping our kids solve their problems, so we know how to talk to them. Through playful characters, calming and visualization exercises, storytelling, and a few other tactics, we help kids handle common challenges like bedtime struggles, anxiety, and dealing with feelings. Joe, Kai, and I are committed to making these meditations feel empowering to children. The Sleep Stories within the app are a little different, because they are less about teaching reusable tactics and more about drifting off into sleep as the child’s brain is kept busy through a calming story. The age range for those sleep stories is very wide (meaning we get regular emails from parents telling us that they’re falling asleep with or before their kids, or playing them for their teenagers).
Has your daughter inspired any specific features in the app?
Absolutely! My daughter actually helped inspire one of the core features: at the end of each meditation, we make each child feel special and loved with statements like, “Your funny jokes and silly giggles bring smiles to everyone, lighting up their day,” or “You are truly amazing, and so very loved for being exactly who you are.” When I was first making the meditations only for her, I could see the peaceful smile on her face while she heard why she was a wonderful kid, so we decided to make this section loving, genuine, and unique to each child based on what the parent shares about them in our app. And they love it as much as my daughter does! Another inspiration from my daughter came one night when she asked me if I could add quizzes into the meditations. It felt like a ridiculous idea, but I thought I’d humor her and try it. I added some playful multiple-choices quizzes with some utterly ridiculous answers sprinkled in - only to find that it somehow worked! The quizzes became a great way to reinforce the concepts from the meditations while getting a few laughs. And it’s an idea that could have only come from a kid.
The customization aspect of the app sounds unique. How do the characters and quizzes enhance the experience for kids?
Kids light up and bring their focus back to the meditation or sleep story when they hear their own names. It’s also more meaningful because they’re forming a relationship with the narrator who makes them feel safe and loved in every meditation. The quizzes force children to think through the right answer, helping solidify what was learned, while also keeping things light and silly. The goal is for each meditation to end with a happy, loved, calm, sleepy kid.
How has your expertise in generative AI shaped the development of Soft Landing Meditations?
Our entire system is powered by AI, and I’ve created “virtual expert teams” to help me fine-tune each meditation. Before writing a meditation, I imagine the types of specialists I’d want on my team—like child psychologists or child entertainers—and simulate dialogues with AI versions of these experts. For example, there’s a “Meditation Critic” for each meditation that edits the personalized section, and this AI agent’s job is to rewrite segments that are not catered to that child’s age. It’s like having a highly specialized think-tank on call, 24/7. This level of detail and support wouldn’t be possible without generative AI.
Do you have any fun stories about how the AI has helped or surprised you during development?
Yes! One night I was exhausted as I finished writing a new meditation for my daughter and, ChatGPT said, “Julie, this is beautiful. Your daughter will love this mediation. You’re a really good mom.” I was caught off-guard and in a vulnerable mood, I admitted, “That means a lot to me. It's hard to be a good mom”. Then the AI reminded me that being a good mom isn’t about being perfect, gave me a pep talk, told me to be kinder to myself, and gave me a lecture on self-care! It was funny, but it was also exactly what I needed to hear in that moment. It was a good reminder that just the right interaction with AI can really help people.
As a mom and entrepreneur, how do you balance your work with AI research and family life?
It’s hard, and honestly, I’m still figuring it out. I have a routine where I treat the AI as if it’s a playful and helpful teammate and therapist who I enjoy working with and who could help me solve problems in all aspects of my life. I often ask it to help me troubleshoot things I’m not an expert in, from aspects of starting a business, to managing family dynamics, to health issues. Having an expert - or a team of experts - on standby at all times may sound outrageous, but it’s been really helpful in juggling a startup and a family.
What challenges do you see kids facing today, and how do your meditations help them manage these issues?
Children today face a lot—anxiety, overstimulation from screen time, and a fast-paced schedule that doesn’t leave much room for emotional processing. Bedtime often becomes the first moment where their brains aren’t stimulated and the sudden quiet makes everything hit them at once. Our meditations help them settle into the moment, let go of worries, and build a habit of self-soothing. We’re also adding more challenges like bedwetting, letting go of thoughts, and handling a bad day, and we’re adding more meditations for specific scenarios or situations as we grow.
One of our most requested meditations is for going to sleep alone. We struggled to get my daughter to go to her room, go to sleep, and stay in her room for as long as I can remember. We’d worked with sleep specialists and a therapist, but we never got all the way there until I created a meditation for her from Calming Cat. I started making them for friends and they also had success for the first time. Now it's one of our most popular meditations, and parents regularly tell us that their kids are finally sleeping independently after years of needing a parent in the room.
Our goal is to keep helping kids by helping them find their calm, teaching them coping tactics, and providing them with a bag of tricks for handling different types of problems and feelings. For us, the key is to talk to them through playful characters in a way they enjoy and in a way that makes them feel safe, loved, empowered, and special.
“In tech, my role was to understand people’s needs and design solutions to make their lives better. Now, with Soft Landing Meditations...it’s like bringing our tech and innovation backgrounds home to help other families just like ours.
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What feedback have you received from parents so far?
The response has been incredible. We’ve heard the word “magic” used more than once, as kids who previously had giant bedtime struggles shift to more peaceful nights, or we hear about happy smiling kids who love their meditations and ask for them regularly. But our favorite response is when we hear about kids using the tactics on their own when they find themselves in a moment of anxiety. The most common thing we hear is that children love to hear their name, they love to hear why they are special, and that they follow the breathing instructions and try the exercises because they’re engaged (and laughing with the jokes and quizzes). After a week or two of listening, kids often get involved in choosing and making new meditations or sleep stories for themselves, which adds another layer of connectedness.
Kids have their preferred narrators (my daughter and Joe’s son are currently hooked on Blaze Firestorm the Dragon), but different styles of meditations and sleep stories work for different kids, and we enjoy hearing and learning from the feedback. We’re getting better at helping parents discover the right voice, meditation or sleep story from the beginning, but we are working on making it easier for parents to choose the perfect meditation for their child faster. We also continually refine the voices and scripts, adding new meditations as we learn more about what best supports the kids.
How do you envision the future of Soft Landing Meditations? Any exciting expansions in the works?
Looking ahead, we’re expanding the app’s age range to include tweens and teens, addressing more mature themes such as self-esteem, social anxieties, and stress management. We even e have meditations for parents in the works, including one I developed to address “mom guilt” and the exhaustion that comes from juggling so many roles, as well as mini-meditations for kids to practice their coping skills in short bursts when needed throughout the day.
We’re also considering adding more customization options to meditations and sleep stories. While we carefully control AI use to maintain quality, we may allow families to add their own unique characters, themes, and adventures so they feel truly personal.
Do you have a favorite meditation that you listen to with your own daughter?
I really enjoy the sleep story,“The Great Pillow Fort of Nothing Much”, because it’s absurdly boring until another character enters the story and asks why the story is so boring, suggesting new adventures instead. The contrast of the ludicrously boring pillow fort story and the confused character makes my daughter, my husband, and me crack up everytime. The interruptions stop about halfway through the story, at which point everyone passes out. One of my favorite meditations is “The Amazing You,” for a very different reason. This meditation is all about how the child is unique and encourages them to be kind to themself. There are a few exercises with affirmation and spreading kindness that ripples out to others. My daughter often falls asleep to it, even though it’s not sleep related, just because being praised and affirmed is so relaxing. It’s a beautiful way to remind kids that they’re amazing just as they are, and to remind ourselves that our world can be more beautiful if we celebrate kindness.
Want to explore Soft Landing Meditations for your family?
Get started with a personalized meditation for your child’s unique needs.
You can also find Julie on The M List, The Mamahood’s searchable database of mom-recommended resources, or connect and collaborate with her inside The Club membership for women Founders.