Baby Beaders

Look at that face, don't you want to pinch her cheeks??

This afternoon, I took Bead Soup to the Salvation Army Denby Center.  This is the most amazing and huge place that takes in pregnant teen girls, gives them a place to live and teaches them to take care of their babies and how to eventually live on their own.  I had 15 girls and nearly that many babies in the room.  It was loud.  It was crazy.  It was fun.  

I tried to keep reminding myself that even though the girls were Mothers, they were young.  Some of them were the same age as my middle school dancers.  That fact struck me hard.  It was hard for them to be attentive to my instructions.  But, when I realized they were not really interested in learning a skill, but in just a couple hours of something fun, I changed up the plan a little.  I did all of their toggle crimping and just let them pick out and string beads.  That made them happy.  

There is one thing that is universal among all of the groups with whom I have done Bead Soup.  All women love sorting through that bucket of beads....maybe it is the prospect of finding a treasure, I don't know.  I sometimes think that if I let them play in the beads for an hour and they never made a bracelet, they would be just as happy.

All in all, the girls did a great job of minding little hands grabbing beads and actually getting some bracelets made.  And they made me impressed over their abilities to go on even though their families didn't want to help them, to become adults instantly, to love their babies, and to  take it all in stride.

We all have our own normal, don't we?

Normal Girl