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FRANK PIECES: Kids & Clowns

by FRANK O'DONNELL
April 2005

As a Junior Achievement volunteer, I'm lucky to spend some time with my kids and their classmates, talking about the business world. During a recent session with Patrick's fifth grade class, I held up a black-and-white circus advertisement. It featured a clown's face, blown up to poster size, with the typical clown's look of amazement.

I expected that the students wouldn't think much of the ad, mostly because it lacked the splashy color so often associated with the circus. I was surprised when one boy raised his hand and said, "That picture scares me."

Scares you? It's a clown. Clowns are funny. Except for one notable Stephen King creation (Pennywise from "It"), I couldn't think of a single scary clown.

But other kids nodded in acknowledgment. "Clowns scare me," said one of the girls. I looked to their teacher, wondering if I was hearing correctly. She too nodded. "Sometimes clowns scare me too."

Knowing that Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey were pulling into town (at the Dunk, May 5th through the 9th), I thought it might be interesting to learn a little more about this phobia.

As it turns out, it's an actual bona fide phobia. Coulrophobia, to be specific: a persistent, abnormal and unwarranted fear of clowns, despite the understanding by the phobic individual and reassurance by others that there is no danger.

The Phobia Clinic has a website promising a cure of Coulrophobia in 24 hours. As I read through their info, it looks like they can clear up just about any phobia in 24 hours. Naturally, there's a fee involved. I didn't bother to read that far.

I got to the fill-in-the-phobia sales pitch, and decided that was enough. "For anyone earning a living or at school," cries the site, "the financial toll of this phobia is incalculable. Living with fear means you can never concentrate fully and give your best. Lost opportunities. Poor performances or grades. Promotions that pass you by. Clown Phobia will likely cost you tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of your lifetime – let alone the cost to your health and quality of life."

All because of a clown? Come on.

I decided to check with a real live psychologist for a little more information. My friend Peter Panthauer is uniquely positioned to answer my questions. Prior to earning his degree in psychology, he worked full-time as a magician, so he knows a little bit about taking people by surprise. In addition to having worked as Senior Therapist at a child guidance center, he has also worked directly with clowns as a booking agent.

"Surprise is the key to clown phobia," he told me. "If clowns are good, they're pretty unpredictable. They have calamitous things happening to them constantly. Ties going up, water squirting out of a flower and horns honking. It catches kids off guard, and that can scare them."

I asked my daughter Keri's third grade teacher, Mrs. Marshall, if I could take a quick survey of the students in her class. I didn't want to taint the question, so I asked what they did and did not like about the circus. Six of the 18 students who responded – including my own daughter – said they did not like the clowns.

"I think they are going to hurt me," said Keri.

Damian simply thinks that clowns "are strange." Mike finds them "goofy," and Riley doesn't like clowns because they remind him of Barney.

Christina is also afraid of clowns. Ariel remembers that clowns once made her cry.

To be fair, two of the students said the thing they like most about the circus is the clowns. Nicole says, "They are really cool." Dustin likes clowns because "they wear cool clothes and they're funny."

"Clowns are loud, garish and bizarre," says Dr. Peter. "If children don't have enough worldliness to generalize the clown uniform, clowns can be seen as completely irrational and insane people."

Plus, clowns are "assumptively friendly." They think nothing about getting in the faces of youngsters, even if that youngster wants no piece of them.

Like so many other phobias, "it's probably based on the personality of the child and events in his past. If the child was ever traumatized by anything, that could create a propensity for fearing the clown. Perhaps the child leads a very protected life, having little exposure to newness, novelty and excitement."

So is this fear enough to keep kids away from the circus?

I'm sure it is.

But perhaps they can just deal with it the way my daughter does when we go. "I just don't look at the clowns. There are plenty of other things going on. That's why they've got three rings."

Out of the mouths of babes. Actually, she's 9, but you know what I mean.