A mum has revealed how she was shunned by a nursery after she revealed she’s a circus performer.
Keyla Remache, 29, had been trying to put her daughter Arwen Millichamp, three, into nursery, but because the circus moves locations regularly she didn’t have a fixed address to give.
She said: ‘When I said I was in the circus, she [the nursery worker] stopped looking at her computer screen and instantly she told me that the nursery was now full,’ said Keyla.
‘It made me feel like the smallest thing on earth and I went back to the circus and just cried my eyes out.’
The young mum, who works as a professional hula hooper after growing up in the circus herself, has now been forced to give up her dream job and work only part-time, so she can purchase a house in Devon to get her daughter into nursery.
Keyla said: ‘We have had some problems finding nurseries for her as they change every week.
‘With or without any reason people like to judge and I have had this a lot but it was a completely different feeling when it was about my daughter.’
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Keyla had previously felt raising her daughter in the circus was giving her the ‘best start in life’ with her husband Liam, 33, also travelling with them as they visited a new town every week.
This is all despite being ‘mum-shamed’ regarding her parenting choices – but Keyla had been sticking to her guns and even watched baby Arwen take her first steps around the striped circus tent.
The happy three-year-old has even been dressed in leotards and diamantes from just two months old.
Keyla said: ‘I was born and raised in the circus so that’s all I know. From as early as six years old I was putting glitter on my face and a pretty costume on and I did a lot of training, travelling and performing.
‘The circus is like one big family and the circus is my life where for others it could just be their job.
‘[Growing up in the circus], I loved it. It was like living in a playground. [Raising my child in the circus] was something that I knew I knew I wanted to do.
‘Living in a circus is just the same [as other people] but with wheels on your house.’
Keyla said she has been performing in the circus since around the age of 10 and is ‘well known’ for her hula hooping act but has taken part in silk performances and aerial spiralling over the years.
Whilst growing up in the circus, she was taught on site by a teacher who would travel with them but says this option is no longer available for her daughter Arwen.
Instead, the mum-of-one had to ‘pre-book’ nursery spaces for Arwen at the start of each circus season to ensure childcare was available for her daughter in each place they performed.
Keyla said: ‘There were lots of kids [travelling with] the circus when I was growing up so for schooling the government gave you a teacher that travelled with you and we had a huge trailer which was the circus school.
‘It was just like a school but on wheels. We went to school from 9am to 2pm and then we would take the teacher to the circus and teach her stuff.
‘We were constantly going – there was no stopping and that for a kid was the best thing in the world. Kids need to be stimulated.
‘But, because there are not many kids in the circus anymore, we have had to put Arwen into a nursery.’
Despite many happy years travelling in the circus, Keyla said finding childcare spaces without a fixed-termed address can be difficult, which is why she and Liam have recently decided to buy a house in Devon to give their daughter the ‘best of both worlds’.
Keyla said the couple will continue to perform in the circus part time at weekends and during holidays but buying a house will ensure Arwen has more stability.
The family-of-three are set to move into their new home by the end of the summer but say they will support their daughter in the future if she wants to enter the circus trade full time.
Keyla said: ‘At the moment, I have taken a break from the circus as we are in the process of buying a house.
‘Whatever happens we will be mixing both lives. I feel like I grew up very naïve so I want her to be more street smart but with the basics of the circus.
‘I want my daughter to be happy. I was extremely happy in the circus and if that is what she finds happiness in then I will be there for her.
‘But I’m going to show her both worlds and then she can choose. It doesn’t matter how I live my life or if I perform or not. What matters is if I’m a good person or not and I consider myself a good person and I grew up in the circus so it couldn’t have been that bad.’
The hula hooper says she has ‘lots of matching costumes’ and that when her daughter is dressed up for the circus ‘she loves it’, however that hasn’t stopped people ‘mum-shaming’ her online and in person.
Keyla, from Plymouth said: ‘People will always have an opinion. It’s not about trying to change their opinion about your or your lifestyle, it’s about accepting that haters are going to hate.
‘If you’re happy with your life and how you are living then it doesn’t really matter what others think.
‘My daughter has already dressed up for the circus loads of times and she loves it.
‘I think she was two months old when she went into her first costume. It was a blue and white costume full of stones. It had a leotard at the front with a little skirt on the back.’
Fighting back against the abuse she receives, Keyla was compelled to share a clip on TikTok defending her way of life and parenting choices.
She wrote: ‘To everyone sending all those horrible messages and comments. Just because we are a family of circus performers.
‘To all of you mum shaming and judging without even knowing us. She will have education. She is healthy and happy and she is our world.
‘Circus performer does not mean being less than anyone else or less educated. Stop spreading hate.’
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