It is known that young children are profoundly sensitive to energies, but even more so to negative energies. This is the reason why youngsters are often intimidated by imaginary ghosts, monsters or witches under their beds. Even babies can respond to changes in energy or slight changes in their parents’ voice even though they don’t understand the meaning of the words. Children are very close to nature and its’ energy, but as a result of the process of socialization they eventually suppress this.
An interesting phenomenon occurs to pregnant women; several weeks before they give birth they have a tendency to clean the house. This occurrence is called “nesting” and perhaps it might appear funny or strange to anyone who sees a pregnant woman with a ninth month’s belly energetically scrubbing her kitchen cabinets. However, this is explained very simply by feng shui: a pregnant woman cleans out her home in order to make room for new energies for the arrival of the new baby.

Much research conducted during the last few decades has focused on how parents have influenced the personality of their children. However, the way the physical environment at home has shaped them has not been given proper attention. Feng shui gives us tools to understand how creating an harmonious atmosphere will provide for the child’s’ physical and emotional security, feelings of acceptance, stimulation, curiosity, etc.
The following are a number of basic feng shui principles for the purpose of advising parents how to design a layout their children’s rooms.

The basic element of designing children’s rooms is the understanding and acceptance of change and growth in child’s development. Children’s rooms must allow for their constantly changing emotional needs and physical growth. The attention we give to the changes children go through and the way we implement these changes in their rooms creates significant support to their personal development. The leading principle is that the room should adequately accommodate the child’s needs in every single one of his developmental stages.

For example, the place of a child’s room in a home changes as the years go by: infants need to be near their parents’ room and young children like to sleep with their siblings as this gives them a sense of security. As they grow up, they need more independence, privacy and space which is much less influenced by their parents’ energy.

The organization of the room, regarding the choice of materials, colors, textures and heights, also depends on the age of the child. An infant’s room looks entirely different than a toddler’s room, and changes again when the child reaches school age. For instance, imagine a four year-old child who still sleeps in a crib or whose room is full of stuffed animals and mobiles because his parents still think of him as an infant. Or a child, whose games, toys and books are not within reach might grow up thinking he is little and helpless.

Another rule in designing children’s rooms is allotting for correct flow of energy. Chi, which is the energy of life, must flow easily, gently, without barriers, without bumping into things and without losing power. In other words, a youngster should be able to spend time in his room without having to go out frequently. One of the most obvious blocks to energy is clutter. It is well known that children are great creators of never ending messes which parents’ contribute to as well. They do this by filing up their children’s rooms with huge amounts of toys and games and so reduce the physical space and their children’s ability to express their feelings. In addition, showering toys on young children gives their parents the feeling that they are saturated and often do not get more appropriate toys when they need them at later stages. It is worthwhile to prevent hoarding old and broken toys as well as puzzles whose pieces are missing etc. It is advisable to start a new custom, whereby old or inappropriate toys are given to neighbors, to younger children in the family or to suitable institutions.
Moreover, it is important to pay attention to free spaces such as those between closets and the ceiling. Often these spaces are filled up with deleterious objects (also known as junk). It’s important to empty out such spaces and if possible use them for extra lighting or plants, even artificial ones. Additional characteristics of negative chi is wall-to-wall carpeting, protruding and sharp corners, drawers that are hard to open, oversized closet handles, slippery floors or any other item which may be of danger to the child.

The child uses his senses to absorb the energy in his world. It is necessary to find out what senses he prefers and give him the proper stimuli, such as the use of varied textures, spaces without interferences, furniture which allows for movement next to it, mobiles, music to listen to, a variety of instruments to play, several scents to smell, etc. Experience using the senses reinforces the contact he has with the physical world.

People tend to divide up rooms in the house according to their various functions, such as yin areas for sleeping and yang areas for activity. The child’s room, in contrast, serves many needs. There is a lot of yang activities like playing games, entertaining friends, studying, doing homework etc., and yin activities such as rest and sleep. Combining both in one room makes it difficult to organize the room in a harmonious way. One of the solutions is to separate, as much as possible, the different parts of the room. One must make sure that the sleeping area, for example, is soft and pleasant and is as far away from the play area as could be. It is possible to set up the yang area places for toys which are easily available and those that are stored within drawers or boxes are in the yin area. Therefore, they won’t disturb the child when he is asleep. Another solution is separation of dark and bright areas so that the well lit areas will be reserved for activity. The sleeping area should be near a wall without a window. In homes where it is possible, it is preferable to have separate rooms for sleeping and playing.

Color is another way of balancing yin and yang in children’s rooms. There is a difference between fire-engine red and terra-cotta red. One should first choose the color and then test the quality of the yin and yang shades. Every color can be more or less yin or yang. Creators of children’s rooms and equipment tend to choose more yang colors. Many children benefit from these tones but there are also those who are over stimulated by them. In general, it is better to use more yin colors. As a rule, it is possible to balance out the child’s natural tendencies with the use of certain items or pieces of furniture in his immediate environment which are contrary to his personality. In this way a better balanced personality can possibly be developed. For example, if a child has a problem with his self-image or is shy, it might be beneficial to add some more yang to his room. On the other hand it might be preferable to calm down an over-active child with warm, soft pastel colors like dusty pink or faded peach.

Placement of the furniture:
The location of the child’s bed has the largest influence on his (and our) sleep quality, so it is important that the bed should not be put under a beam, not in a straight line with the door and supported by at least two walls. It is important that neither the head nor the feet be facing directly towards the bathroom (this also applies to parents’ rooms). If the bathroom is part of the child’s bedroom it is very important that the bathroom door be closed at all times. Also, it is best that the child not sleep under a window and if so the window should be covered by a curtain at night. It is advisable that the child’s bed and the placement of his pillow be determined as a result of his Kua (preferably in the area of 70+) and the appropriate flying stars. Also, it is best that children do not sleep in bunk beds: the child in the upper bunk suffers from a lack of sturdiness and security and the one below is threatened by the heavy mass above him. Lastly, the structure of bunk beds prevents a positive flow of energy.

In desk placement four criteria should be considered. First, the desk should be placed so it won’t be in a straight line with the door. Second, it is preferable that the child sits facing the door and third, that the child faces the best place according to his Kua. Lastly, the desk should face good water stars which enhance and promote learning. Likewise, it is best not to use desks which have shelves on top of them. Children rarely do homework sitting next to those kinds of desks because of the lack of the flow of chi under the shelves and because poisonous arrows are emitted from the edges of the shelves above the child’s head. Furthermore, it is important that the desk be free of clutter such as papers, toys, decorations etc.

Another subject which must be addressed is electromagnetic fields. It is important not to have any electrical appliances or equipment in kids rooms, or in any other bedroom. Televisions, computers and stereos all cause electromagnetic fields which disturb healthy functioning during the day and peaceful sleep during the night. It is best not to have these things in the bedroom but if one wants them the plugs should be removed in the evening. It is best to reduce television watching time and not turn it to a babysitter, especially because parents have no control over the problematic messages it broadcasts.

Finally, here are some flying-stars combinations relevant to children’s rooms and the position and direction of the bed and desk (according to small tai-chi):

Positive combinations:
1,4 and 4,1 are excellent for students- intelligent and scholarly children. 4,9 is an ideal positive combination for studying and can be strengthened by the wood element. 9,4 is a good, dynamic and fast combination.

Problematic combinations:
3,8 is helpful for successful social advancement, but it is bad for children under 12, as it can harm their health and progress. Additional light (fire) can help correct this combination. Accordingly, 4,8 is good for wealth but bad for young people. Correction by increased lighting.

Negative combinations:
Even though 2,7 is good for material wealth it creates health and schooling trouble for kids. 7,2 is bad, harming the child’s wealth and luck. Children shouldn’t be allowed to sleep in the 8,3 area, as it will hurt their health and success. If this area must be used it can be corrected by adding red or yellow items.

In addition, 5,8 and 8,5 are problematic combinations especially for children because of an excess of two kinds of earth energy: yin and yang. They create accelerated energy and danger resulting in broken bones and joint, bone and skeleton problems. It is possible to weaken this combination with the use of metal.

Last of the combinations is 5,9, which is a difficult one, creating tension, arguments, fights, emotional and mental strife, and it is not suitable for a bedroom. It is possible to remedy this by weakening earth energy.