Wednesday, June 27, 2007

The Giggling

I forgot how much teenage girls giggle.

Most of the girls that I get from Mandy are earnest, concerned about their future, or at the very least wanting to complain about the other girls at the house. Sometimes they are happy, but even then it is a quieter thing. They seem older than their years, and yet less skilled than their peers.

But these girls. They are so normal, at least so far.

They giggle. They wanted to watch Finding Nemo. The chatted with each other. They giggled. I finally asked them what was so funny, which made them giggle so hard they could hardly breathe. I don't think they were really laughing about anything.

I took them grocery shopping and they were thrilled that I would allow them to pick out some things. I was going for basic healthy foods. They were cautious at first, but once I let them pick out a flavor of ice cream they started asking for chips and soda, which I refused.

They have summer school, which means that they are gone for 4 hours every morning.

--

The phone just rang. It was Quiana social worker. She told her mom that that the girls were huffing hair spray. Quiana was not clear about which girls she was talking about. Did it include Rhonda? Herself? The social worker wants me to make certain they don't have any hair spray and would like for me to guard all the huffable substances.

I'm not even certain what those are.

Sigh.

I'm not certain about everything that is huffable. Anyone know?

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:25 AM

    Unfortunately - I have some experience with this from my nephew:

    Huffable:

    markers (especially sharpies)
    white out
    hair spray
    air freshener
    think anything Aerosols - includes paint (especially spray paint), deodorant)paint thinner
    Whipped Cream (in the cans)
    nail polish and remover

    I'm sure I'm forgetting something - but you get the idea - anything they can inhale and get high from....scary stuff -
    I know it is quite overwhelming....sorry you have to deal with this.

    Becky

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm beginning to think everything is.

    My girls use hair spray, at least the younger ones. So far, no problems.

    ReplyDelete

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