Clown Phobia

We were invited to attend the 1st birthday celebration of a friend's daughter. And so the three of us - me, dada and beaboo trooped to the party. Upon entering the gate, the hired clown was performing magic tricks for the party guests. One look at the clown and my little girl went wild, literally shaking with fear, shouting and crying "No clown!" and then she ran out the gate, pushing a dog that was blocking her way! O my galigas! I have not seen her so scared like that.

At first, I found it really funny. Imagine pushing a dog (not even our dog!)which might have rabies and all just to get away from the place. :) But then hubby and I realized, she must really be scared of clowns to react like that. I could understand her same fear if i happen to meet a huge spider! I might react the same way she did. So after that, we decided to skip the party and explain to the host that we simply had to leave and thanked him for inviting us. Thank God we had a birthday gift to give that time.

Maybe my little girl is in this awkward stage where she's scared of things her mind cannot comprehend. Well at that age, it might be a little hard to understand where clowns come from since they don't look normal. Same goes with mascots, who might look scary since they tower over the kids. Its like watching a cartoon character come to life. So I thought, maybe the best way to deal with this is not to find my little girl funny, or to scold her. The best approach might be to understand where her fear is coming from, to empathize with her and to explain that clowns or mascots are after all still humans (not aliens :) they just wear make-up and costumes. Hopefully my little girl will get over this sooner so we can attend more birthday parties of friends. :)