For children who have yet to meet a clown for the first time in their lives, can either be a positive or negative occasion! We want to educate PARENTS on how to introduce their children to clowns or any other characters for the first time. This might surprise you but kids are more wise in this area than their parents!

• Meeting Strangers. Parents teach their children not to talk to strangers, then when they see a clown the parents tend to push and pull their kids to come meet and talk to the clown. This is the first mistake. Never force a child to meet any clown!  Let the child view the clown from afar for a little while. Let them tell you they want to go see the clown, they will let you know!

• Posing For Pictures. Never force your child to pose with the clown if they don't want to, no matter how much you want the picture for the album. Aside from getting a picture with a frown on the kids face, this can create a phobia of clowns. Sometimes clowns may have an alternative solution to get pictures taken. You may want to ask the clown.

• Show Volunteers. Do not try to coax your child to volunteer in the clown's show for any reason, let the child make the decision. Any good clown will know not to force the issue either with any child. When that child is ready, you can be sure they'll volunteer themselves and have a grand time! If you try to make a child approach a clown, they may get scared and start to cry. This is the last thing we want to happen. Our job is to create a fun and safe environment for our audience.

• Honking Noses and stomping clown feet is a BIG NO-NO! Contrary to popular belief, most clown noses do not honk! Do not do to clowns what you would not want done to you, so please do not encourage or allow your children to do these things. They are actually rude actions that offend clowns who are people too. Clowns have to feel comfortable and safe  with you to offer you to touch their nose. If they offer, they will take control of the child's hand and guide it in touching the nose.

• No Surprises. If you are hiring a clown for a private party, make sure all the children including the guest of honor, knows there is going to be a clown and what that clown looks like, show them a picture of who's coming to the party. This way you can be sure they won't be frightened by the character. Never surprise a birthday child with a character they weren't familiar with. You can cause long term effects on their relationships with clowns or other characters, even into their adult life.

• Young Children By discussion between clowns, 3yrs old is generally the best age for meeting a clown up close. They have a better concept of clowns than a younger child. But this also varies, so if when in doubt follow the above guidelines! Listen to your children! They know what they want!

• Clowns Are Not Sitters  When you invite a clown to your party and they do a show, the clown is not and should not become a "sitter". The parents or adults should not retreat from the party location where the clown is performing, they need to stay to keep control of the children's behavior, because this is not the clown's job description. The clown's job is to entertain the audience, children & adults, and making sure they are having a great time. If the clown is pre-occupied with keeping control of the children's behavior, he cannot focus on creating fun! 

   

  • One of the most common rules of clowns is that all of the children should stay seated until the clown asks them to come up and help. They should not be running around and interrupting the show. The clown will most likely pause the show which will cut the show time short, and will not allow the clown to provide any other services such as balloon sculpting. Another common problem is that children like to see what's in the clown's showcase and want to put their uninvited hands in the clown's property. The parents need to make sure the children behave like young ladies & gentlemen while the clown makes sure they have fun like children.