Clowns | But I Smile Anyway...

Spidey’s Serene Sunday – Part 87

“I’m a clown, which could be a public health role. I’m really interested in moving our society away from a society needing Xanax and Prozac, and that is really feeling depressed, to one that is celebrating, and so I find just walking around in colorful clothes, people smile.” – Patch Adams

Spidey and I found this something rather topical, considering all this rubbish about the Killer Clowns that seems to be circulating at the moment.

I know the stupid ‘Killer Clown’ bug hit the US first, and there have been a few really terrifying incidents. But what is happening in the UK is purely pathetic.

Social Media has a lot to answer for, that is all I fan say here. Some idiots read about something happening over there and think “That will be fun! Let’s dress up and scare the Bejesus out of innocent folks over here too!”

So you have idiots parading in clown attire, with machetes, outside schools, and in various other places. One pregnant woman was scared in this way and ended up in premature labour!

Not far from here, one particularly stupid guy thought he’d get his friend to film him scaring people in a dark carpark, and he ended up getting a bloody nose. Not all people are scared. In fact, around here, there have been many rumours about where clowns are showing up next, and there are groups of people going around, to beat the clowns up, if they find any!

But what seems to be an innocent prank to some, is a terrifying incident to others. Lil Man came home last week on Friday full of the clown stories as his friends were talking about it. They walk past a large park on the way home. There was a sighting of 2 clowns there at the park the next day and they were eventually apprehended in the graveyard a few minutes away. Two 13-year-old kids were responsible.

Police were at his school for three of the five days, after school, a precautionary measure, as so many children had been scared. What a waste of police resources! And it’s all down to idiots who want to dress up. They just need to go to a costume party, and get over it!

All this meant Lil Man was acting all macho, like it meant nothing to him, but he was scared at night, and there was no loitering around after school… he was home within 10 minutes of school finishing all week! And his friend saw one in town yesterday.

But seriously, what is dressing up as a clown and scaring people actually achieving? I have always loved your classic clowns. Sorry but you don’t scare me. I hate it when these innocent characters of childhood get muddied in incidents like these. I love the quote above. That is what a clown should be all about, making people smile, and laugh, not scare them senseless, or scare them into labour!

There have been interviews with real clowns, those who make their living from dressing up and being clowns, in the traditional sense, and they are angry. Their profession is being dragged through the mud, and it’s not actually to do with them!

I just hope that after Halloween, this will all die down… Though I was a little horrified to see Killer Clown costumes for kids on sale in Asda today! A little tasteless, given the current climate, don’t you agree!

Sorry it’s not too serene today, but it’s something that has been on our minds!

But you all have a great Sunday Peeps!

Life In The Nursery World

I realise that I haven’t really mentioned work much, considering it is only a few days to our first half term vacation.

Besides being tired, I have been settling Lil Man into his new school and dealing with secondary homework, learning how to remember which books or sports kit is needed on each day, and generally learning to let go…

It hasn’t helped the last week, where the whole ‘Killer-Clown’ craze has gone wild on Social Media, so the kids are showing each other messages and photos, and spreading stories of impending clown visits to schools. Lil Man finds it hard to sleep, worrying about it. But on the flip side, he wants to be strong enough to fight his corner, if he was to be apprehended by a curly haired joker…

So, back to my daily grind…

If last year was a Baptism of Fire, with some real tough characters, this year is almost the flip-reverse!

Now, I’m not saying I am teaching a whole class of advanced angels who can all read and write already, and have the social skills of adults, but there is a world of difference between the two cohorts of children!

Yes, we have many with language barriers, from Punjabi to Hindi, Polish to Slovakian, Russian and Latvian, Greek and Albanian, and the odd English speaker too!

Yes, there is the strong chance of a couple of children with special needs, ADHD or Speech impediments,

Yes, there are some children with behaviour issues, those who are not used to sharing, or anyone saying no to them.

But they are manageable!

They have their quirks too. I have one who comes up and randomly kisses whatever part of the body he sees, so far kisses have graced my knee, shoulder, bosom and even my bum!

We have had criers, who could sob, or wail for 2 hours, giving us headaches, then stop, as if a switch flicked, leaving us wondering what went on!

Nappy-gate is still here, we have a serial pooper, who has gone from the nappy to little slips in his new pants. There is the one whose mummy can’t bear him to have an accident, so sends him in nappies, then asks us to take it off… Bless him, he is so good at going toilet, oh ye mother of little faith! And we have already trained one,who now proudly announces she needs a “widdle”!

Talking of the toilet, and down ‘below’, I am intrigued as to what conversations may be like in some households. Maybe I am wrong, but when referring to our ‘bits and pieces’, we use soft terms, you know, willy, and winky, or pom-pom and floof…

The other day one of my little 3-year-olds came up to me and told me her f*nny was hurting! And today (forgive me, bad teacher, but I really wanted to laugh!) one of my little charges needed the loo, after wriggling around on the carpet, trying to hold it in. I followed him, to make sure he was ok. I did call after him, to ask and he answered “I’m just getting my d*ck out!” Said in such a matter of fact way, I didn’t know what to say!

Suffice to say, I haven’t been driven to drink so far this term, an improvement on last year!