Today I wanted to focus on what feng shui methods can bring to the well-being of our children. Of course, as we will see, there is a way to arrange the baby’s room, to place the teenager’s desk, but not only. Working with children’s space in feng shui can help solve problems of sleep, bedwetting, concentration or agitation. Follow the guide!
Feng shui to improve your child's sleep
As I explained in my article on sleep, there are several criteria that help generate better sleep, from babies to teenagers.
The placement of the bed must be adapted to the flow of chi. Do not put the bed in the window or under the window, put the bed against a wall, with a headboard if possible. For children, it is important that they can see the door from their bed, to feel safe.
Avoid shar shi such as bunk beds, mezzanines, beams or library shelves.
Finally, we check that once lying down the child receives the energies of one of its favourable orientations (preferably Fu Wei or Tian Yi). As a reminder, we have 4 orientations and they are determined after calculating the kua number.
On instagram or in magazines, I sometimes see cribs placed in the middle of the square. It’s very pretty, but is it the wisest choice? If your baby sleeps like a log then don’t change anything. But if he often wakes up at night, if he has trouble napping, I encourage you to rethink the layout.
Let’s not forget the symbolism of the decorative objects either. For example, I am surprised to see paintings of a clown’s face in a child’s room. It makes adults laugh, but it often scares the hell out of children (and teenagers who have seen or read Stephen King’s “It”! Beware also of the dragon or tiger plush from the latest cartoon, it can also become a “monster” when the light is off and you hear strange noises in the house.
Finally, the room and the bed are aired every morning. Then we make the bed, every day! We track down the dust and regularly sort through the toys, games, books and clothes.
Bedrooms allocation in feng shui
The bedroom is, for a child, a place of play and dreams, it is his cocoon, his world. So, in addition to the arrangements seen above, it is necessary to harmonise the energies in order to promote serenity. The room represents a real sanctuary for your child.
In feng shui, the allocation of rooms is not done by chance. To begin with, it is considered that for family life to be harmonious, the founding couple must be privileged. Therefore, the parents are given the largest room. Then, if there are still differences in surface areas, the second largest room is allocated to the eldest child, and so on.
These recommendations should only be considered if the surface area of the rooms allows several ways of positioning the bed within the rooms. Indeed, receiving energy from the right orientation is essential. Therefore, the correct positioning of the beds in relation to the surfaces is always preferred. Once again, the ideal is really to carry out a feng shui expertise as early as possible, before the purchase and even on the plan!
Feng shui to improve your child's concentration
A room where the chi circulates harmoniously, full of beautiful energies, will promote the well-being of your child, and therefore also his or her ability to be more calm, less excited, more focused.
For the youngest children, you can create an area of the room dedicated to games and creativity, with the help of a carpet for example. You can provide low-level storage (toy boxes) so that the floor is not too cluttered and they can access everything on their own. We try to be a little flexible: for us it’s a mess, for them it’s an imaginary world, extremely conducive to their much needed creativity. There can be a little bit of mess as long as it doesn’t go beyond the limits of the carpet and doesn’t disturb the sleeping area. Do you get the idea?
For older children, when the desk enters the room, it is advisable to respect the rules of feng shui positioning. Once seated, the child should look towards a favourable orientation (preferably Sheng or Fu Wei). However, they should not have their back to the door. For older children, choose a real office chair, on wheels and with a high back.
Trigrams applied to children
By placing the Bagua on the plan of the house, it is possible to determine in which sector the child’s room is located. It is then the link between the zone and the element that will allow, thanks to the 3 cycles of Wu Xing, to choose the appropriate colours.
Beyond this exercise, we know that each zone is also linked to a trigram and that each trigram is linked to a member of the family and to a part of the body. For example, in the East, the trigram Zhen (3) is linked to the eldest son, to the lower limbs; the youngest son is represented by the trigram Gen (8), in the North-East, also linked to the hands and fingers.
This does not add up to much, but the feng shui expert will use these characteristics when analysing the flying stars.
For example, imagine a room with a mountain star 3 and a water star 8. Wood overwhelms earth. This room is not suitable for a child’s room because it carries the possibility of hand or foot injuries in young children. If there is no choice, remedies should be placed to interfere with the existing cycle. For example, here we would bring in the element of fire which overwhelms wood and nourishes earth.
The choice of materials and colours
It is important not to pollute the air in the room with solvents present in certain paints or in the glue of certain plywood furniture. Ecological paints and wall coverings are therefore preferred, as well as solid parquet, linoleum (the real thing, 100% natural) or coconut flooring.
For furniture, choose solid, natural and unvarnished wood, with curves if possible rather than sharp corners.
For linen, cotton or linen is preferred. The colours of sheets, pillowcases and duvets should be matched to the colours of the room so as not to break the harmony and to respect the synergies. For bedding, it is also possible to choose an anti-mite mattress.
Finally, plaids, rugs and cushions should also be made of natural materials (wool, linen, cotton, etc.).
The main colours should be yin, i.e. pastel, to respect the yin nature of the room. You can add a few touches of yang colours. The choice of colours will, as we have seen, be made according to the area in the room. If you don’t want to apply the principles of feng shui, try to choose them according to the psychology of colours: a child who is permanently excited will need blue or green, while blue is really not the right choice for an introverted little boy: it will be better to choose yellow or orange tones. Avoid making a base with two horizontal colours cutting the wall in two.
To conclude
Some of the tips listed above are just common sense, or simple adjustments that you can make on your own, without the help of a feng shui expert. However, sometimes this may not be enough. It will then be necessary to go through a more in-depth study to remove potential blockages. Parents who are at a loss, do not hesitate to contact me!