Should I start getting experience with gigs?

[MerShellly]

So I’ve been thinking about buying a Fin Fun tail and doing a few free gigs to get some experience. There are a lot of little children in my neighborhood, so I was hoping to ask around first and see if anyone plans on having their child’s birthday party at the pool this summer and if I could swim with them and read to them. I plan first on checking to see if mermaid tales are allowed at my neighborhood pool, but I’m sure they are. It has to be strictly at my pool though, because I don’t have a driver’s license yet (15 here) and my mom doesn’t like to drive around at all anymore since her fibromyalgia has gotten worse.

I'm so excited! Would this be a good investment (besides using it to swim for fun of course)? Is there anything I should know before going about with this, esp. when it comes to interacting with kids? Would a lot of them be afraid of me? I passed out candy as a mermaid on Halloween and some were extremely shy, but then again I had a lot of face makeup, I used my scrap paper tail --> http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?10581-My-scrap-paper-tail!, and my relatives were hovering around me because they didn’t have anywhere else to stand. If some are scared, what exactly should I do?

[Seatan]

It sounds like a good (and fun!) plan. Get some business cards to hand out to parents as you do it. As for being scared, I used to tell shy little girls that Princess Ariel was my best friend and that the one thing I miss about the sea is hanging out with Sebastian and Flounder. That tended to make them smile.

[MerShellly]

Thx! Although I may have to freshen up on that movie- I don't think I've ever seen the Little Mermaid!
I plan on watching it this summer, along w/ Splash.:)

[Sabrina the Selkie]

I've only met one kid who was afraid of me - he thought that I was going to eat him. So then I told him that I only eat sailors when I'm mad at them. Probably not the best move, but it meant that his swim teacher didn't have him distracted by the mermaid. He redoubled his efforts on his lessons, instead.

[Mermaid Wesley]

Lol ive had kids be scared too, but only because theyre like wtf is that thats not normal! and shyness.

[Sabrina the Selkie]

I was, but after painting it, so it's actually brown on top with a pink dorsal with a yellow belly. I do like black tails, though, and I just love the snow pics, so I can't bear to part with them as profile pictures just yet.

[MerShellly]

It does look very pretty :)

[Sabrina the Selkie]

Thank you! ^-^
I wouldn't worry too much about kids being afraid. Just tell them about your life in the sea and they usually seem to be happy. This also helps to persuade skeptical kids.
Just be careful about possessive kids. One little boy decided that he wanted to "keep the mermaid" and came very close to ripping the fabric on my fluke XD.
Keep in mind that I haven't gotten any gigs, yet, however I only really have a chance to practice my mermaiding during times when the Y is packed with little kids.

[MerShellly]

Cool, thx you guys! I'll probably give updates too on what happens.

[malinghi]

Good luck!

[MerShellly]

I've been so busy I almost forgot I had made this thread! I ordered my (black) mermaid tail in mid July and have swam in it many times. Today was my first day swimming at a public pool, but we went early in the morning so I could swim alone. Later on more little kids came though. I don't mind telling them I'm real, but I wasn't sure if the parents would mind. It's not like I could swim up to them and ask in front of the kids either. I know some moms don't want their child believing mermaids are real while some don't really care. I'm not sure what I should do when I swim in public pools. I'd hate to ruin the magic for them if I told them I was fake.

Anyway, here's a picture of me in my tail. I'm a little surprised with how easy it is to swim in a fabric tail. 32467

[Celaeno]

Nice! I love black tails.

[Amphoebe Stargazer]

Hi Celaeno. My merman has a black tail that he would like me to embellish. Any suggestions on what might look nice?

[Celaeno]

Does he want more fins, or does he mean embellish like painting details?

[Mermaid Jaffa]

I've been so busy I almost forgot I had made this thread! I ordered my (black) mermaid tail in mid July and have swam in it many times. Today was my first day swimming at a public pool, but we went early in the morning so I could swim alone. Later on more little kids came though. I don't mind telling them I'm real, but I wasn't sure if the parents would mind. It's not like I could swim up to them and ask in front of the kids either. I know some moms don't want their child believing mermaids are real while some don't really care. I'm not sure what I should do when I swim in public pools. I'd hate to ruin the magic for them if I told them I was fake.

Anyway, here's a picture of me in my tail. I'm a little surprised with how easy it is to swim in a fabric tail. 32467

I don't tell the kids anything. If they want to believe I'm real, I'll play along, make dolphin squeaks, ask them where they get their legs, splash my tail etc. But I never approach kids in tail or monofin. I did once or twice but it felt wrong of me to do so. It felt creepy! So I just do my own thing, if they want to screech and point and insist on the realness, then I let them have their fun.

[MerShellly]

Well literally their first question was "Are you a real mermaid???" So it was difficult to dodge that one. :P I just told them that I wasn't a real mermaid, but that there probably are real ones out there since only a small fraction of our oceans have even been explored. I didn't swim up to them either, they came to me. :) The kids were probably 5 yrs old or younger. It's just so hard for me to tell a little girl, "No, mermaids aren't real," because growing up I believed in mermaids and it made my childhood a wonderful and imaginative time. I hate ruining the magic for them. I think out of respect for the parents I will try as best I can not to go to the pool when kids are around.

[Amphoebe Stargazer]

He has a head to toe to fingertip black spandex swimsuit with tail...it needs a lil something to "pretty it up." :)

[Celaeno]

I'd go with painting some details onto it. Scales or stripes or shading, something to make it look more dimensional in the water, rather than just solid black.

[Celaeno]

Aww, I love small children with their big imaginations! A little boy at the pool was swimming by me when I was hanging out in the shallow end and petted my Mahina merfin and smiled as he went past. It was so cute. I'd hate to have to tell a kid that mermaids aren't real, too. I wanna say something like "I'm as real a mermaid as you will ever see!"