Children’s ministers and missionaries have been using clown ministry for years, but University of Sheffield researchers discovered that most children ages 4 to 16 dislike clown images. The research was an effort to find ways to improve healthcare environments for children and young people.
As adults we make assumptions about what works for children. We found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable.
- Dr. Penny Curtis :: Researcher :: Centre for the Study of Childhood and Youth
Very few children like clowns. They are unfamiliar and come from a different era. They don’t look funny, they just look odd. Children are much more happy with things stuck on the wall that have some sort of personal relevance for them, not some images that are foisted upon them by adults.
- Patricia Doorbar :: Child Psychologist
I find Patricia Doorbar’s remarks particularly fascinating because she suggests that clowns are from an era that is no longer relevant to today’s children. Despite this, I am aware of some clown ministries that children do enjoy, but I wonder if they would be even more effective if they repackaged their look but kept the same techniques.
[via BBC News]
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