I know your intentions are good. You went out and purchased your child a desk as soon as they entered school. Imagining in your mind the brilliant thoughts and ideas your little Einstein will create there. Then the reality...the desk is piled with toys and games and books and clothes, CDs and makeup and all sorts of chaos. It sure doesn’t look like a place where a whole lot of studying occurs. What happened? There are a lot of things that could be wrong, but let’s start with some of the basics.  

Was the desk your idea or your child’s? Are you working from your child’s reality or from your own ideal expectations? If your child studies best at the kitchen table, or in the living room, what was the true purpose of the desk? I personally believe that most children should have a desk. Even if it is simply to store school supplies, art projects and the year’s schoolwork. Most children like having their own space for such things, but most do not use the desk for actually DOING schoolwork. 

Academic success is taken very seriously in feng shui and is seen as a harbinger of personal and familial success and achievement.

With this in mind you understand that size of the desk is very important. It should contain good storage options and yet should be small enough so that it does not intimidate a child or allow too much room for things to pile up. Think small scale for a proper desk.

Placement of the desk is certainly key. We do not want to place a desk too close to the bed. First because we do not want to create poison arrows that will affect the bed, but also we do not want it to feel oppressive when the child lies down. This will cause a child to feel very pressured by school issues. Another thing to keep in mind is that if the desk holds computer equipment or other electronics it needs to be some distance from the sleeping space. This is one reason that a loft bed with a desk under it is not considered advisable in feng shui. 

The desk should also never be aligned with the door. In feng shui we call this placing the desk ‘in the dragon’s mouth’. It is considered a place of too much movement and energy and will not be conducive to actually using the desk. It will set it up as a prime space for clutter to begin piling up.

I always set up the surface of my desk with the feng shui bagua in mind. This means that when sitting at the desk the far back left corner is the wealth area (where I have my computer), the far back right corner is the relationship sector (where I keep my Rolodex and day planner). Becoming familiar with this bagua map will allow you to set up your child’s desk (and your own for that matter), for the optimal use and benefit.