Here Come the Clowns, There Goes Maia

Ladies and Gentlemen, MMJ has a phobia.

Maia is terrified of Clowns. We discovered this at the weekend, when we had two birthday parties to attend. The first was for Olivia, and was held in a Church Hall.

Andy the Clown, a pretty inoffensive example of Clowns That Entertain Children (or should that be ironic-hand-quotation-marks "Entertain"?) was doing his shouty, bewigged thing on the stage.

Maia took one look and went and hid in the coats. Not as in "oooh, look at me, I am being funny" hiding, either. Proper "I am NOT going in there" hiding.

Took us 15 minutes of sitting by the coats to get to the door and it was another 20 before she left my side. She started to warm up to him when his wig slipped a little and she could see that the red shaggy look he was sporting wasn't his real hair (even though I had been telling her that, she obviously needed to see it for herself). Then she watched the magic show and was ok with him. That is, until he brought out a trick that involved pictures of other clowns. Then she was off again.

It was really unsettling to see Maia like that - she has always been so independent. I have never spent the first part of a party with her clinging to my legs.

Then again, clowns are pretty scary. It is not like she is scared of something completely innocuous like postmen, or leaves, or supermarket trolleys.

If you ask me, it is perfectly reasonable to be wary of clowns. If only because they ain't funny.