January 16, 2008

Kids and Clowns

No shit -- from the BBC:
Hospital clown images 'too scary'
Decorating children's wards with paintings of clowns to create a nurturing atmosphere could backfire, research suggests.

A University of Sheffield study of more than 250 children, aged four to 16, found the images were widely disliked.

Even some of the oldest children found the images scary.

The researchers said the findings, reported in Nursing Standard magazine, highlighted the importance of consulting children in hospital design.

Researcher Dr Penny Curtis said: "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 Curtis stressed the importance of consulting with children - who like colourful spaces and references to contemporary culture - when designing or changing the hospital environment.
That it took a Doctor sooo long to find this out is unreal. First of all, the kid is not feeling well, then they are at a strange new place and then, to top it off, there are all of these fucking clowns painted on the wall. Hell, I'd have a meltdown if I was in those circumstances. Like I wanna have Mister Happyface staring at me all the time:
scary_face_clown.jpg
Posted by DaveH at January 16, 2008 8:39 PM