The Lake - Help Children Sleep Meditation CD and Relaxing Music

As a parent of 3 middle sized children (when did they stop being small?!?!?!) and keen on teaching them how to use visualisation and relaxation techniques to achieve a happier and healthy life I chose to purchase this CD on the recommendation of a friend.Now don't get me wrong my kids are actually very good at going to sleep - always have been, but there are always those one off occasions when sleep is a long time coming, when they are excited about something happening, they are nervous because something unusual is happening or they are just not that sleepy (overtired usually!).In this instance what caused me to search out something more than my own visualisation techniques that I use with them was the up coming 4 night residential trip for my 9 year old daughter. She is a lovely girl, always aims to please but she is also very sensitive (and a loony around the full moon with nightmares and worryworts) and her sleep is the first thing to be troubled when she gets into one of these phases. So I purchased the CD - of course sods law would have it we had very sleepy children for days and days after it arrived and would fall asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow.Then (at last!) the night came both No 1 child and No 3 child who both share a bedroom were being a bit angsty! Right I thought time to get out magic CD. So I got them both tucked up comfy and pressed play. The CD starts with a useful introduction in how to relax - lovely! The girls were snuggling down listening intently as they wiggled their toes and sank into the comfort of their beds, slowly relaxing. I left them to it.I went up a short time later to find lovely birdsong twittering around the room and two girls very fast asleep, very very deeply asleep. Yayyyyy success.The next morning I quizzed them on how they enjoyed it:No 1 child - it was really nice, I enjoyed the story but struggled to stay awake to the end (lol), it made me all dreamy and thinking of all sorts of happy thoughts and how to catch wishing fish.No 3 child - oh it was nice I fell asleep thoughOn asking them the best bits they replied "the wishing fish" " we want to catch lots of wishing fish" and "we have lovely dreams after"We've used it a number of times since to great effect every time, in fact if no 1 child is finding it hard to sleep she comes and asks for it.No 2 child was a bit longer before he tried it - but he is a very good sleeper anyway. I set him off listening one evening when he was struggling to settle down and left him to it. I went back up some time later to find it finished and the boy fast asleep. In the morning he couldn't remember any of the story, I actually think he may have gone to sleep in the relaxation bit!So as a parent looking for something to help your child I can thoroughly recommend this CD.Its put together lovely, the relaxation and visulations are well thought out and take the listener into an imaginative dreamland where sleep finds one quite easily. I think the birdsong at the end aids the dreamers into magical stories dreamed in the imagination also.Now my review does not quite stop here! No out of interest I decided to listen to it myself! I fell asleep! I tried again. I fell asleep again! I tried repeatedly, I fell asleep repeatedly! I cannot comment on the story, I vaguely remember bits about wishing fish but its all a dreamy blur, there could be anything on the CD as I've never heard it all the way through as I, me, the parent, ALWAYS falls asleep listening to it.So on the recommendation that it most definitely works, I suggest you buy it if your struggling to sleep as its cheaper and healthier for adults than sleeping tablets or a whack around the noggin with a frying pan. Now please excuse me I'm off to find some wishing fish! goodnight!

I bought this CD for my 5 year old who has recently been having trouble getting to sleep because of worrying about 'baddies' and 'blackbeard the pirate' (school topic). She is a very sensitive child and has a very vivid imagination. None of my assurances about her being safe helped. Having read the reviews on this site, I thought I'd give this CD a go. I'm glad that I did. I hoped that by giving her something else to concentrate on it would take her unwelcome thoughts away. The first night I played it she was asleep by 8.30pm. This may seem late but was a big improvement on 9.45pm! I've now played it every night for 5 consecutive nights and it is definitely making a difference. Charles' voice is very reassuring and pitched at the right level and the music and birdsong is very gentle and relaxing. On a few occasions when my daughter has been too scared to be left on her own, I have also nodded off whilst listening!

Only tried a couple of times and to be fair my daughter isn't quite 4. It has probably taken her longer to fall asleep because she's listening to it and she's still woken up at night but is perhaps more settled (she often talks in her sleep and wakes up pretty much every night usually). Would be helpful if the music at the end was on a different track so you could have the option to just select that (its just 2 tracks, one for relaxation exercise and one for the story) It's got quite an amateur sound and I realise it's not meant to be an exciting story but a little more expression in the man's voice wouldn't hurt.In summary its ok as another option to a regular story perhaps but it's not a magical cure to our little one not sleeping through!

i had great hopes for this CD and played it to my 9 year old son at bedtime. He found it difficult to imagine his body being engulfed by his favourite colour (within a relatively short space of time) and burst into laughter at the 'giant story', when the narrator assumed the role of the flute playing giant, giving him a somewhat creepy, yet hilarious voice. Certainly not sleep inducing or calming!For children 8 years + I would recommend 'Bedtime Meditations for Kids', which I (and my children aged 9 and 12) find far more soothing and less distracting!

On the whole this works well at getting my lively 10 year old to sleep. He sometimes has anxiety as he has recently developed a type of epilepsy which mainly occurs during sleep, so it has been difficult at times to get him to drop off. I would say that this CD has been very useful in helping him to fall asleep, though he sometimes complains that it is boring! It's doing the trick so I am happy.

Thoroughly recommend The Lake by Charles Vald. My daughter gets really hyper when she knows it's bed time, she's always resisted sleep and so I've always viewed bed time as a bit of a battle...not any more! The Lake meditation / story really helps us both to relax. It's amazing! She really enjoys the introduction bit about imagining a colour going round her body, it really helps her chill and focus and prepare for the story. Charles Vald is a great story teller, it's so relaxing and magical. I really don't know what we'd do without it. The other really lovely thing is that it's very long ... we have never reached the end. Other meditation CDs we have are only around 20mins long which doesn't work as well for us. I think it's a real art to be able to lull people to sleep - lovely voice and it's a lovely story, I imagine my daughter carrying on the story in her sweet dreams. Very happy customers.

We brought this as our daughter was very anxious after starting school. Within 2 days she had started sleeping through again. If she has woken up at night she has settled very quickly when listening to the CD.The story is very sweet and Charles Vald's voice is very calming. I also like the little touches in the CD for the children e.g. during the relaxation section at the start Charles Vald lets them know they can move around if they need to. I listened to the CD before letting my daughter and had trouble staying awake!