For a few years of my childhood, I felt like I wasn't made for this world.
The panic would come out of nowhere. My chest would tighten. My thoughts would race so fast I couldn't catch them. I felt alone in a way I couldn't explain to anyone.
I was eight years old when my parents took me to someone who taught me mindfulness meditation. I learned to breathe. To notice my thoughts without being consumed by them. To find calm in the storm.
That practice saved me. I still use it every single day—including this morning, when I woke up at 4:45am to sit in the quiet before my two kids woke up and simply breathed.
So when I became a mother, I knew exactly what gift I wanted to give my daughter.
But I also knew something else: I didn't want to raise my child on a screen.
What I Saw Happening
I watched what screens were doing to me as an adult. The constant pull to check notifications. The fragmented attention. The anxiety from being constantly connected.
If this is what screens did to me—someone with a fully developed brain and years of meditation practice—what were they doing to children?
And then I saw the numbers: In 2017, suicide became the second leading cause of death for children ages 10 to 14. That number had accelerated dramatically since the advent of social media and 24/7 access to devices.
I knew I wanted to give my daughter meditation. But I wasn't going to hand her a screen to do it.
So I went looking for the alternative.
It didn't exist.
So I built it.
Why "Less" Is Actually More
In a world screaming "MORE," I built a device that does less.
Zenimal has no screen. No child-led apps. No games, no rewards, no notifications. It works immediately, right out of the box. Your child can use it the moment they receive it—no setup required unless you want to add new content later.
It does one thing: plays guided meditations, stories, and relaxing sounds.
That's it.
Every investor, every advisor told me: "But you could add..."
- A screen to make it "interactive"
- Gamification to "motivate" kids
- Analytics to track every session
- Social features
I said no to all of it.
Because the very things everyone wanted me to add—screens, connectivity, gamification—are contributing to the crisis. Why would I build a meditation tool that replicates the problems it's supposed to solve?
What Children Actually Need
They need tools they can control, not tools designed to control them.
Every app your child uses was designed to maximize "engagement." The same dopamine loops that keep adults scrolling keep children glued to screens.
Meditation should teach children they have power over their attention, not that their attention is something to be captured.
They need simplicity, not overstimulation.
Your child's nervous system is already on overload—school, activities, screens, noise, 24/7 access to information they're not developmentally ready to process.
Zenimal is one button. Press play, close your eyes, breathe.
They need true ownership.
Zenimal works right out of the box. No parent setup required. No accounts. No passwords. Your child can use it immediately, independently.
If you want to add new content later, there's a parent app that connects briefly via WiFi, then disconnects. But that's optional.
They need disconnection.
Zenimal has no internet connection unless you're adding new content. Your child's meditation practice is completely private. No data. No tracking. Just breath and calm.
In a world that never lets them disconnect, this is the space where they can.
What "Less" Looks Like
We've sold over 90,000 Zenimals.
Not because we added more features. Because we didn't.
Parents tell us: "My daughter with autism and ADHD uses her Zenimal every single night. It's the only thing that calms her down. And it's the one thing in her life that isn't connected to the internet."
And: "My son used to have panic attacks at bedtime. Now he reaches for his Zenimal before the panic even starts. He's seven, and he already has a tool I didn't find until I was an adult."
The Bigger Why
I didn't build Zenimal just to sell meditation devices.
I built it because we're raising a generation that compares themselves to filtered versions of other people's lives. That faces cyberbullying that follows them home. That has never experienced true silence.
And the mental health statistics show the cost.
I spent years feeling like I wasn't made for this world before finding meditation at eight. I don't want any child to wait that long. The tools should be there from the start—and they should be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
Children deserve tools that build inner strength, not external dependence. Tools that disconnect them from the noise instead of adding to it.
An Invitation
I'm not writing this to convince you to buy a Zenimal.
I'm inviting you into a different way of thinking about childhood in a digital age.
What if we stopped adding features and trusted that children can find their own motivation in feeling calm?
What if we built tools that work immediately, without setup or management?
What if we protected certain spaces from constant connectivity?
This is why I built a device that does less.
Because our children don't need another glowing rectangle. They need what I needed at eight: a simple way to find calm. A tool that's truly theirs from the first moment. Something disconnected.
Sometimes, less really is more.
If you see what screens are doing to children and want to offer a different path, if you want your child to have tools for inner peace, if you believe childhood should include moments that are truly disconnected—you're already part of this movement.
You don't have to buy anything to believe children deserve better. Just ask yourself:
Does my child need more? Or do they need less?
Does this create space for calm? Or fill every moment with stimulation?
Does this disconnect them from the noise? Or add to it?
I built Zenimal because I believe in a different vision for childhood. One where children can disconnect. Where less is actually enough.
If you believe it too, welcome.
Anna, Founder & CEO, Zenimal
Single mother. 5am meditator. Builder of things that do less.