LightMap by Birch & Light — Parenting App with a 2-Week Free Trial
LightMap is a family insight app by Birch & Light, created by Tara Alison. It helps you log tough moments — meltdowns, shutdowns, refusals, or hard days at any age — then spot patterns over time and get practical, personalized suggestions for what might help. Use it for a young child, a teen, yourself, or anyone you care for. Every new account starts with a 2-week free trial; $12.99/month after that. Cancel anytime.
Why parents use LightMap
- Quick Log: capture a tough moment in about a minute, one-handed.
- Patterns: see what triggers, settings, and times of day are connected.
- Suggested Support: AI-assisted, non-clinical ideas based on your last 20 moments.
- Shared access: invite a co-parent or therapist with a secure link.
- Private by design: your data stays in your account.
- Installable PWA: works on iOS, Android, and desktop browsers.
About Birch & Light
Birch & Light is a children's emotional-wellness brand offering stories, songs, and simple tools that help kids reset and families reconnect. LightMap is the brand's companion app for parents.
For parents of kids who feel everything more
You are not imagining it, and you are not alone. LightMap turns your hardest days into patterns you can act on.
7 questions · Under a minute · No signup
“LightMap showed me patterns I wasn't connecting before. Things that looked random stopped feeling random.”
Shalee B. · Mom of five
Pattern Insights
Based on 15 logged moments
In plain words
Sam's hardest moments cluster between 3–5 pm, most often after busy mornings.
What's showing up most
When it happens
Common factors
LightMap™
Track tough moments. Find what's underneath.
✦ Bright Spot
▤ Story Note
Sam · 7 days
He knew it wasn't real but it scared him and he asked for parents to check…
Intensity 3/5
Intensity 3/5
Dropped backpack, cried about homework.
Intensity 4/5
Stalled at the door for 20 min before school.
Intensity 3/5
Covered ears at the grocery store, needed to leave.
Intensity 4/5
Intensity 2/5
View all in History →
Pattern Insights
Based on 15 logged moments
In plain words
Sam's hardest moments cluster between 3–5 pm, most often after busy mornings.
What's showing up most
When it happens
Common factors
✦ LightMap Muse
A thoughtful companion · understands Sam's patterns
I think the after-school meltdowns are getting worse
You're seeing it accurately — and I'm sorry it's been getting heavier. Over the last three weeks, Sam's 3–5 pm meltdowns have gone from twice a week to nearly daily, and the intensity is climbing too.
With an ADHD diagnosis, this pattern has a name — often called after-school restraint collapse. All day his brain works overtime to sit still, follow directions, mask frustration, and switch tasks on someone else's schedule. By pickup, there's almost nothing left in the tank, so home — the safest place — is where it finally comes out.
A few things that often help in the first hour home: 1) protect a quiet decompression window — no questions, no homework, low light/sound; 2) offer a predictable snack + movement combo (he's likely hungry and under-moved); 3) delay every non-urgent demand until after dinner; 4) narrate what you see ("your body looks really done") so he doesn't have to find the words.
If you only try one thing this week, I'd start with the quiet decompression window — it's the smallest change and usually the one that softens everything that follows.
Want to sketch out what that first hour could look like tomorrow?
LightMap™
Track tough moments. Find what's underneath.
✦ Bright Spot
▤ Story Note
Sam · 7 days
He knew it wasn't real but it scared him and he asked for parents to check…
Intensity 3/5
Intensity 3/5
Dropped backpack, cried about homework.
Intensity 4/5
Stalled at the door for 20 min before school.
Intensity 3/5
Covered ears at the grocery store, needed to leave.
Intensity 4/5
Intensity 2/5
View all in History →
Why LightMap
Why you needed LightMap yesterday
Not a tracker. A way through the hardest parts of parenting a child who feels everything more.
It gives you somewhere to put all of it.
In the moment, LightMap gives you something to do besides react. Log it, breathe, and let the intensity pass. The hard moment is off your mind and safely captured instead of running on a loop in your head, and over time fewer moments turn into full storms.
It makes you a better parent, without the shame.
You stop guessing and start seeing. When you know the pattern, you respond to what is actually happening instead of the behavior on the surface, and that changes how the whole house feels.
It explains your child to the entire care team, for you.
Pediatricians, therapists, OTs, school teams. One secure link gives them the whole picture, so you never again have to describe three months from memory in a fifteen minute appointment.
It teaches you what is really going on inside your child's brain.
Every pattern comes with the science underneath it, in plain language. You learn why the meltdown happened, not just that it did.
It settles the argument in your own house.
When one of you sees behavior and the other sees anxiety, the log ends the debate. You are both looking at the same picture instead of two different memories of the same week.
It shows you the good days too.
Not just what went wrong. LightMap surfaces the stretches when things worked, so on the days you are certain nothing is getting better, you have proof that it is.
7 questions · Under a minute · No signup
Watch me use it
The whole platform in ten minutes, the way I'd show a friend at my kitchen table.
This walkthrough uses LightMap's desktop view so every detail is easy to see. On your phone, LightMap installs as an app on your home screen, with its own mobile layout designed for quick, easy logging. Same account, two views, each built for its screen.
Loading walkthrough…
Every moment you log makes the next one easier.
- 1Capture the momentLog the hard moment as it happens.
- 2See the patternLightMap connects it to what came before — and surfaces what's underneath.
- 3Muse, informedA thinking partner that already knows your child — not a generic one.
- 4Relief in the momentCoaching that actually fits, exactly when you need it.
- 5The right toolsStories, guides, and education matched to this child's patterns.
Each moment you log makes the loop sharper — more specific to this child, every time.
What using it looks like
How LightMap actually works
Four steps. The whole thing lives on your phone.
Log a hard moment in about twenty seconds
Open LightMap, tap what happened, tap what was going on around it. That is the whole log. One-handed, works while you are still standing in the hallway. No essay, no journaling.
Patterns start surfacing after about three logs
LightMap begins connecting triggers, times of day, and settings almost immediately. By the third or fourth entry you are already seeing the shape of what has been happening.
Ask Muse anything, grounded in your child
Muse is your private thinking partner, not a generic chatbot. She has read every moment you have logged for your specific child and answers with that context. Ask what a pattern might mean, what to try before pickup, or how to talk to a teacher. Calm, non-clinical, always in your corner.
Hand a report to your child's team in seconds
Generate a secure, read-only pre-session brief for pediatricians, therapists, OTs, teachers, or a co-parent. One link. Revoke it anytime. See a sample report →
What it costs
Free for two weeks. Membership after.
Long enough for LightMap to learn your child's patterns before you decide. Cancel anytime in one tap from Settings.
Birch & Light Membership includes
- ✓ LightMap with unlimited logging for every child in your care
- ✓ Pattern insights, weekly recaps, and Muse, your private thinking partner
- ✓ Shareable read-only reports for the care team
- ✓ The full story library, all 32 titles, with Deep Dive podcasts for each
- ✓ Every story download, printable, and parent guide
- ✓ Installs as an app on your phone and desktop
Free for 14 days, no credit card required to start. Near the end of your trial you'll be invited to add a payment method to continue at $12.99/month or $99/year. If you don't add one, your account simply pauses. Cancel anytime in one tap from Settings.
Questions parents ask
Before you start
Is this a medical or clinical tool?
No. LightMap supports emotional wellness and helps you spot patterns. It does not diagnose or treat anything. For clinical concerns, work with a qualified professional. LightMap is designed to make those conversations easier by giving you a real record to bring in.
Is my child's data private?
Yes. Your data lives in your account. Never sold, never shared. You choose when to hand a read-only report to a therapist, teacher, or co-parent, and you can revoke access anytime.
How is Muse different from ChatGPT?
Muse has read every moment you have logged for your specific child. She answers with that context. A general chatbot has no idea who your kid is or what happened last Tuesday at 4:30. Muse does.
Do I have to log every day?
No. LightMap is built for the moments that matter, meltdowns, refusals, shutdowns, bright spots. Log when something happens. Patterns emerge from a handful of real entries, not from perfect daily discipline.
Can more than one parent use it?
Yes. Invite a co-parent, caregiver, or therapist with secure read-only access from Settings.
The next hard moment won't wait.
Start your free two-week trial now. No quiz, straight to checkout.
No credit card required to start. If you don't add one before the trial ends, your account simply pauses. Cancel anytime.