Feng Shui for Children

The design professionals from Da Interio & Décor share with us how creating a comfortable, harmonious bedroom makes for a good night’s rest -- and a good night’s rest makes for a refreshed, healthy child.

Proper Feng Shui at home will help your children grow and develop in a positive way, and enhance family harmony. There are no bad children, only bad behavior.  Our environment affects our behavior.  We know what to expect if we give our kids a lot of sugar or caffeine.  They’ll bounce off the walls. We know what to expect if the temperature in the house is 90 degrees on a summer day.  Tempers will easily flare.  These are normal responses to negative stimulation that most parents know about.  But what most parents may not  know is that there is another negative stimulation in the home that affects their children’s behavior, their health and even their grades. 

This negative stimulation is however, invisible but it can be easily remedied using a combination of ancient Chinese wisdom and modern day science. Applying the practical techniques of Feng Shui and holistic living to your home will help you create a balanced environment. This will help your children grow and develop in a positive way, and at the same time, enhance family harmony.

Creating a comfortable, harmonious bedroom makes for a good night’s rest.  And a good night’s rest makes for a refreshed, healthy child.

Sleeping direction

The place where we spend the most amount of time every day is our bed.  So the sleeping direction is very important. The goal is to align the bed so that the top or crown of the head is pointed towards one of the good compass directions.  If the bed is pointed in one of the negative compass directions, it can throw the children’s life out of balance.  They won’t feel as well as they should and they may express this with negative behavior. They may have trouble sleeping, difficulty accomplishing things, and may even have problems with others treating them badly or “bullying” them. Pointing their bed in their “wisdom” direction can help them get better grades and improve their attitude about school.  The “marriage and family harmony” direction will help decrease fighting and arguing in the household and help your children sleep better. Be sure to use a compass to determine the actual compass directions in your home.

Dark bedrooms are healthier

Melatonin is a hormone that regulates sleep and mood. It is produced by the body at night, in the dark.  Light makes the body think it’s daytime.  If a light -- night light, TV or computer monitor -- is on while your children sleep, their body won’t produce the natural amount of melatonin.  This can create sleep disorders, depression, and/or anger and moodiness. As such, the bedrooms need to be dark at night.

Exposure to EMFs

EMFs (electromagnetic frequencies) are harsh energies emitted by electronic devices. They also decrease the body’s production of melatonin.   Arrange furniture so that your children are at least two feet away from computer towers, CRT computer monitors, and power strips when they sleep.  Keep them an adult arm span away from TVs.  Never use an electric blanket or waterbed heater and don’t let them stare into the microwave waiting for the popcorn to pop.

Yin/Yang

Bedrooms should be “yin” or quiet.  Things that can create “yang” energy in a bedroom are aquariums or fountains, live plants, and light during sleeping hours. Mirrors in the bedroom keep the room “awake” and can make it harder to sleep.

Negative Flying stars

Every building has both positive and negative energies. These energies form patterns when a building is constructed.  Classical feng shui calls the energies that make up the energy patterns “flying stars.”  In every building there are nine different flying star energy patterns, one in each of the eight compass directions and the center. Negative flying stars in your children’s bedroom can have an impact on their health and behavior.

What the children’s eye sees

Look at what your children see every day.  A happy family photo visible from their bed is comforting to see before they fall asleep and when they awake.  It reminds them they are part of a happy family when they are alone in their room.  Posters of kittens, puppies and favorite cartoon characters are non-threatening and comforting for the little ones.  Get to know the meaning behind the images in your teenager’s room and keep the cool “negatives” to a minimum.

Clutter

Cleaning up after a small child is like shoveling the sidewalk while it is still snowing. But children do need a place to store their belongings to keep clutter under control. If their bedroom is also their study room, they won’t be able to focus amidst clutter as clutter is considered “eye noise.”  Children should frequently clear out the space under their beds, which tends to become a catchall for trash and “treasures” and creates “stuck” energy.

Furniture Placement

The bed should have its headboard against a solid wall. Make sure there is enough room to walk around each side of the bed, don’t push one side up against the wall. Avoid placing the bed under a window or directly in line with the door.  While standing in the doorway, if you can toss a ball straight ahead and hit the bed, energy flowing into the room will also hit the bed, which is not good for the child.

Color

Your children’s sleeping habits will let you know whether their room is comfortable. If you keep finding them your child in bed with you, that means that their bedroom is not working for them. Avoid using energizing colors like red and other bold, bright colors in the bedroom as they can cause tempers to flare up during playtime and, make them too hyperactive for them to fall asleep at night. Bright colors are good for playrooms but bedrooms need to be more subdued. Pastels are the best.