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Harmony at Home
Feng Shui in Children's Rooms By Tracy B. McGinnis
Mercy Pardon's 11-year-old daughter, Christina, comes home from school with the same unhappy look on her face. Lately she's been feeling alienated – unable to make friends at school where she is constantly being picked on. At home, Christina's had trouble sleeping, lacks initiative with her schoolwork, displays low self-esteem and argues with everyone.
A concerned parent, Pardon of Miami, Fla., starts her desperate search to help her daughter, and discovers a place where people are discussing positive study habits, generating self-esteem, having greater success at school and having happier, well-adjusted children. It was at that moment Pardon felt she found a solution specifically created to solve her problem.
"Kids spend so much time in their rooms – even if it's sleeping – they need a room where they become important, not a cartoon character or a television set," Weber says. Implementing specific techniques, from decorating to furniture placement, can influence children's behavior, study habits, good health and more.
Pardon took the knowledge she gained and applied it to her daughter's life, involving Christina right from the beginning. "Parents need to be the guides in creating these spaces," Weber says. "Ask yourself what message you want to send your children."
"I started talking with Christina about how different places make her feel happy and sad," Pardon says. "I explained that our environment has a big influence on how we feel and act, and we have the power to change our environment and make it a better place." Christina was receptive to the idea. "She didn't want to suffer anymore," Pardon says.