[Nettie Belle]

Small children have their own little world and anything that is NOT in that small little world of theirs is scary. They are afraid of strangers, not to mention Santa Claus, the Easter bunny, and also CLOWNS.

Then there are the older kids ... they seem to LOVE clowns. By the time they're about 3-4, they have expanded their small world to many outside things, and they love colors, funny, and pretty things. They have probably seen movies, and gone to many functions. They are happy to be around a clown (for the most port).

Then, here comes a freaky movie ("It" for example) where the clown is CREEPY and bad. All along, these kids have thought clowns were funny, but now they have a new view. Now, they think ALL clowns are scary. It's really too bad that some have to make clowns out to be bad people. In my world, clowns are just kids that never grew up, or should I say, never WANTED to grow up.

When I'm in costume, I forget all about bills, taxes, jobs, and all the unfun stuff involved with being a grown up. I just want to play, laugh, sing, laugh, and play.

At some point in the lives of those who are afraid of clowns, something has happened to make them fear us. We all have fears of some kind and, unfortunately for some, they have a fear of clowns. It's a challenge to me to get them to like me.

A perfect example is one time I did a birthday party for a little girl, and an older girl who was a guest at the party, kept hurling insults to me and telling me that "clowns were disgusting and stupid." Even though, inside, I wanted to tell her she was grounded for the rest of her life for being so rude, I just continued to talk nicely to her. All the other kids were getting their faces painted, but she didn't want to. Finally, with her little snotty attitude, she said, "I GUESS I'll get my face painted now." I smiled, tilted my head, and said, "well ... what's the magic word?" She said, "PLEASE!" It killed her to say that to a CLOWN! As I was painting her face, I was talking to her and taking a LONG time to paint her face. When I was finished, I held up the mirror, and she was thrilled and asked me if I would come to HER birthday party. I told her I would have to be invited, and gave her my business card. To my surprise, she DID invite me, and she clung to me like bark on a tree at her party. She also told all her friends that she used to hate clowns until she met "Blondie" (that's me).

So ... I guess, back to the original question ... why are people afraid of clowns? Because some ruin the fun for others and make us all look bad. We have to earn our friends. I think that applies to everyone, even if they're not clowns. Kind of like, "guilty until proven innocent."