A Surprising At-Home Practice That Can Help Your Child in School
Books? Check.
Backpack? Check.
Pens, pencils, paper, markers, binders, etc.? Check.
Check. Check. Check.
Feng Shui? Checcccccc.......What?
Related: Do Books Still Matter?
That's right. Your back-to-school list isn't complete until you've added Fortune and Luck to the mix. All children are affected by their environment, so a room arranged with feng shui (here's how to feng shui your love life while you're at it) in mind will certainly help contribute to a positive and well-adjusted kid. And isn't that exactly what we wish for when the proverbial bell is about to ring in a new school year?
The following are some ideas that can and will impact your children's study habits (here's what teachers need from you), their feelings of fitting in, and their sense of security. Raise their GPA and their "chi" at the same time!
Related: How to Let Kids Be Kids
One of the best ways to help them assimilate into a brand-new environment (and life stage) is to create a scent-ual reminder of home and family. Start adding lavender and chamomile essential oils to their bath water, their laundry loads (plus, do this to get those nasty school stains out), and even put three to 10 drops on a cotton ball and place this under their pillows at night. Then, on the first (or second or 23rd) day of school, you can pin a sweet-smelling cotton ball somewhere inside their clothing so they can still smell home wherever they go. A bonus is that chamomile and lavender are both calming, making bedtime a bit easier and easing the first-day for both mom and child.
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All children's rooms should follow the feng shui "Rule of Four": No more than four electronic devices, no closer than four feet to their beds. These devices have a greater and more disturbing effect on little bodies than bigger ones and this can show up in their moods, in their grades, and in their attitudes. Better safe than sorry here. Plus, check out this feng shui numbers and colors chart.
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Before this new school year really gets going, clear away all the old reminders from the last one. Create a memory box for each grade and store it away when the next grade begins. A cluttered room will definitely help create a cluttered and distracted mind.
Related: How to Streamline a Jam-Packed Schedule
Add a globe to the lower left-hand area of your child's room. Globes encourage curiosity and, according to feng shui, guarantee good grades. Pictures and symbols of maps will ground your children's energies, while charts and posters of planets and stars are said to expand their horizons.
Related: 3 Things You Didn't Know About Parenting
Lastly, and really importantly, hang a metal wind chime by any window in the children's rooms and try to let it sway around their eye level. Not only will this single adjustment serve to raise their "chi" or energy, but it will raise their spirits, their hopes, and their GPA all at the same time.
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Now, who can't use a little of that kind of luck when the sun is setting a little earlier and the yellow bus is rounding the corner? A smarter, more motivated and happier child? Bring it on!
Happy New (School) Year!
Related: Does My Kid Have ADHD?
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