This is an excerpt of a post originally published on November 5, 2018, on the blog of Viva Sarah Press.
Therapeutic medical clowning has become an accepted and integrated component of adult and pediatric care in medical centers the world over. The newest clown care field to know about is educational clowning.
Think about school. Academic challenges and social demands, hormone raging youth and family pressures. This kind of environment often means that teenagers will deal with copious amounts of stress.
What is it that we do?
We give handshakes and compliments. We offer friendliness. We induce smiles and cheer. There are whoops of amusement and a harmony of voices wherever we go in the schools.
Many of the teachers also delight in seeing us.
We add color to the hallways.
We look different. We speak differently. We break monotony.
We want you to make eye contact with us. We want to make eye contact with you.
We want to dole out kudos– we love telling students how smart they are, what good fashion sense they have, how they seem to know so much more than we do. We want to make friends and learn about the school, just like the students themselves.
We love ushering in the latecomers – as it means we get to say hello to an entire class and a teacher, too.
Educational clowning may not be part of the daily conversation just yet. But it will be. This therapeutic clown care field is crucial and, I believe will one day show (in academic studies, as well), that it is truly beneficial to all involved.
I feel very lucky to be part of its early stages.
To read the full blog post, please click here.
Update: Oshi clowned in schools from 2018-2019. She gives talks and blogs about this out-of-the box experience.
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