Minutus

Clowns are scary! How would that be a symptom?:-)

No, but seriously, I remember disliking clowns because
I couldn't see their real faces nor bodies nor hair...
The fact that something so fake and grotesque was in
charge of making us children laugh made me very
uneasy. I felt a deep mistrust towards them. Now,
those paintings of sad/ melancholic clowns that some
people put in the children playing area... I couldn't
go to sleep with that thing in my room! Someone
mentioned that maybe the child doesn't like smiling
faces... I tell you, from someone who is still afraid
of the concept of clowns... It's got nothing to do
with them being "smiley". Then again, that's me... but
I bet the child likes it if his mommy smiles:-)

Beware of the evil clowns...

Caro.
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I have always thought they were weird - that fact is you LEARN that
they are supposed to be funny.
Same way you learn the dressed up real life oversized cartoon
characters at Disney are supposed to be fun - personally I think they
are seriously weird.

Simon

Oh, Yhank you so much. your words bring relief to my
soul:-)
"you LEARN that they are supposed to be funny"
Exactly! Same principle as in pre-recorded laughs:"you
should laugh here"!
And, YES, Disney cartoons are seriously weird...
especially the fact that they are ducks or mice who
eat chicken and ham sandwiches...

Caro.
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The cartoons themselves I don't have a problem with, it's the dressing
adults up as the cartoon characters and then expecting kids to enjoy it
that I find odd. The kids always look worried, LOADS of assurance from
Mum tells them that it's supposed to be fun. I have yet to see a young
child looking like they enjoy being that close to something that weird.

Only yesterday this huge 'cuddly' bear ata local parade was trying to
impress a child that looked TERRIFIED, but the parents were adamant
that the child would learn it was F_U_N.

Oh well might as well get them into the whole marketing thing young,
they have to learn sometime.
Simon

Caro, that makes sense to me! I've never been actually afraid of
clowns, but find it really easy to see why a child might be--they're
weird! They look sort of human but not really; deformed,
unpredictable. Smiling or not, I'm sure to some kids that makes no
difference at all. I'd expect a child with this fear, to have other
fears too, and/or nightmares and/or sensitivities--probably those could
take you to the remedy, without need of a "clowns" rubric?
Shannon

Now that you mention it... my first encounter with the
"real life" mickey mouse was petty scary. I could not
get it into my head that that WAS the guy from the
cartoons... and refused to hug him. Modern-day
marketing-induced psychology would say that I was a
'difficult" child (especially the time I tried to
'unmask' the clown by removing his wig).
Anyway, it's pretty clear that you don't play the
game, so you're my hero for the day.

Caro.

--- Simon King wrote:

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Most other societies and cultures that I can think of ( i.e. that
spring to mind) which dress up in costumes and pretend to be something
other than human, do it to frighten or inform. I can't think of any
that do it to get money out of you except in the West.
Ho Ho Ho

Simon

Dear Shannon:
Absolutely. I don't know about the clown rubric...
well, if it's the only fear of the child, then, sure
it's important (unless he saw that movie "It", or the
poster of the movie... who knows; I'd expect any child
to be terrified of clowns after catching a glimpse of
the DVD box where the evil clown with monster-teeth is
depicted). But, like you say, I'd expect him to have
other fears. I actually think that being afraid of
puppets is a little bit more worth repertorizing or
finding reasons for in order to rep. Would this mean
that he's also afraid of toys? Is it a fear or an
aversion? What if it's a rejection for towards clowns,
puppets, magicians... any kind of activity that he's
(like Simon says) supposed to "enjoy" at birthday
parties? In that case, I'd think it's the perfectly
normal reaction of a child towards the unnatural or
imposed. But what you suggest is very interesting:
exploring his sensitivities and other fears in
general. Maybe there'll be a common denominator. We
need moe info.
Cheers!
Caro.
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