What is the fear of clowns caused from?
2 sources…most commonly the temperament of the child is “slow-to-warm” (reading on an individual’s temperament and reactions to his/her environment forming “personality” will give you the strongest understanding of your child). With the “slow-to-warm”, there must be a low-key and safe environment in order for the child to become comfortable and “slowly” trust the unfamiliar person (or situation). Clowns violate this need by being too loud, too close, and too interactive too soon. Gradual desensitization (going from looking at a photo of a clown all the way to shaking hands with one over a period of weeks) is the best solution. Second reason, is generalizing anxiety. A child may have an initial traumatic experience or fear of something. This fear is spread into related objects or related situations. For example, if (horrible but common) a child is sexually molested during a birthday party while others are in the next room having loud fun…the child will associate the party, loudness,
Personally, it was Seseme Street that did me in, there was this skit they ran when i was little, that showed a clown putting on his make-up normal speed (i think the point was to show kids that clowns where just people) instead of showing him taking it off, they just reversed the tape, and it went a lot faster…and i was convinced that not only was he ripping his face off, but that he was also an evil alien (active imaginations are not always a good thing) I read IT at 20, and watched the movie…scared me to no end, because IT was infact and evil clown from outerspace that ripped his face off at one point…
