I’d like to apologize to all my faithful blog readers for taking so long to give you my Tots and Teens clowning reflection; April break and a math final have been taking up a lot of time recently. Anyways, here it goes. I was scheduled to clown for the Tots and Teens Program at the High School during second period, last Tuesday. I got up a little early and started off the day watching The Big Comfy Couch to gain some inspiration from Loonette the Clown. I had all my bags ready to go and headed off to school feeling very nervous. I left first period a little bit early and went to the daycare room to let them know I’d be arriving in full clown gear in just a few moments. It was entirely chaos when I went in for the check-in and all the adults were pretty frazzled.
I was kind of put off a bit because the first thing Mary said to me was “wait how long are you staying? We have someone coming to sing to them at 10:30 and you have to be out by then.” Great start Marigold! I brushed it off because I was planning on staying until 10:20 anyways but they had said nothing about kicking me out when I confirmed my appointment with them two days earlier. But I moved on and quickly went in to the locker room to get my whole costume together.
I didn’t change my costume from the first time I clowned, although I did add a penguin purse to the whole outfit which worked out nicely! An unused Christmas gift from a few years ago, it was the perfect thing to store my juggling balls, balloons, stickers and pump in, and half the little girls complimented me on it. I got some giggles and delighted stares in the locker room as I clomped through the whole length in my entire clown costume, most people thought I was hilarious. I stopped by to talk to Mrs. Bryant and Ms. Maddren before I went and oops I didn’t know that Ms. Maddren is terrified of clowns! She wouldn’t look at me for two minutes until finally she turned around and admitted I looked kind of cute, especially since I don’t wear any makeup.
Finally I approached the door and entered into the most blurred chaotic 25 minutes of my life. I’m having difficulty even recounting what happened because the whole affair was just a whirl-wind. The moment I walked in, ten four and five year olds jumped me. The adults had wanted the kids to sit and eat their breakfast snacks while I entertained them from the middle of the room but that was totally a lost cause. They climbed and picked and poked, ripped off my nose, explored my penguin purse, felt my shoes, pulled my pants, held my hand, all trying to get my attention at once! In the background I could hear the adults scurrying around trying to get all the kids to sit back down and eat and telling them to wait their turn. At first I tried to echo them, I tried to keep the peace but after a few minutes I said ahh what the heck and just added to all the chaos like a proper clown.
I walked in and looked surprised to see them and started off by introducing myself to one or two of them and immediately most of them came over. Two or three kids held back but most of them were all over me. I juggled for them for a while but I kept dropping my balls and throwing them badly because I was so nervous. Turns out the kids loved when I dropped them so it worked out well. I let some kids try to juggle my balls themselves with my help and they loved it! I didn’t even need to bring up balloon animals either; some little girls digging around in my purse discovered them on their own. I made a balloon for every kid in the class, and every kid wanted theirs first. I kneeled down so I was mostly on their level and just tried to deal with them as best as I could. It was really fun for me to see them all so excited. They’d get as close to me as possible and watch what I was doing, sometimes they’d poke my nose and I would always make a noise when they did that. There was one sticky moment where one little boy pulled my nose right off! He was so shocked and I was so shocked that I just laughed and said “whoops!” and stuck it right back on. In hindsight I’ve thought up clown stories I could make up about why my nose fell off but in the moment all I could do is stick it back on as quickly as possible.
When kids see their friend get something they immediately want one, exactly the same way. Or one asks for a dog and the kid next to them wants a dog and so you start making them a dog but then they see a giraffe and they want that too! What I realized is that most balloon animals look pretty much the same so if I started making one and then they changed their mind I’d just keep making what I was making and they would never know the difference. The first kid asked for a giraffe so I ended up making roughly twelve giraffes in various colors, one deer, one cheetah and one walking stick. Yes, the walking stick one threw me for a loop at first, but the kid loved what I made so I guess I nailed it. Most of the kids crowded around me and begged for them and I made sure I asked them each of their names, so there was a personal connection. I tried to ask questions and make loud funny noises to keep them entertained. When the more curious ones were done getting their balloons I went over to the shyer children and asked if I could make them a balloon. One little girl looked much younger than the rest and when I went over to ask her if I could make her a dog she didn’t really know what to say. I was so touched to see another boy come up and slip his arm around her and whisper in her ear, “tell her yes.” They looked very much alike and when I asked if this was his sister the little boy nodded. Of the whole experience this interaction really struck me. I was so proud to see this little boy come to, not protect, but guide his sister when she was feeling shy and out of place. In the end I got her to talk to me about daycare, her brother, and even crack a smile.
One little boy came up to me and said he wanted another balloon animal. He practically begged me for one but I knew I had already made him one and couldn’t make him two and not make every other kid another one. So I had to tell him “No, I’m sorry I can’t, it wouldn’t be fair to the rest of your friends.” Thank god he got mad not sad, because I would have been so sad if he had cried. If I could have stayed there all day and make these kids balloon animals I would have. Instead he tried to reason with me, because “he wanted it so much more.” Thankfully I was spared having to get in a full argument with him because it was time for me to go. As I was saying good-bye to everyone, the 10:30 singers came in and were very surprised to see a clown in the room. I introduced myself as Marigold and then clomped my way out, leaving a hyped up, crazy bunch of five year olds in my wake. Hopefully the singers calmed them down a bit, but I was quite pleased with my work. I think all of the kids enjoyed themselves, and Chelsea told me later that day that the kids told her all about it!
I’d like to thank Evan Foster and Ms. McKown who gave up their free periods to take pictures and video tape my performance; their help was invaluable and I appreciate it very much.
