When I was a young girl, I was NOT in Girl Scouts. I was a brownie for a while but then we moved and lost interest or whatever and I never made my way back. I never had to challenge of selling the most cookies or earning the coolest badges. I share that to give perspective. Maybe I’m missing something.
photo credit: juverna
Last night I was headed to pick up the offspring when I remembered we were out of milk. Stopping at the grocery store after work when there is only one thing I need is NOT high on my list of things I want to do so I ran over to my local Wal-greens (where – BTW Milk was NOT more expensive than the grocer I regularly frequent but even if it were, I would have paid it for the convenience) and as I pull into the parking spot, right there in front of me is the obstical I’ve come to expect this time of year.
The table of girl scout cookies.
I immediately text my BFF as I am making my way into the store because you know, if you avoid eye contact, maybe they won’t ask me if I want any cookies and if they don’t ask, then I don’t have to feel guilty when I tell the adorable little girl Thanks but no thanks.
Here’s what I just don’t understand. What exactly are we teaching our girls? Oh I know – the party line from Girl Scouts of America makes a lot of sense:
When a Girl Scout sells you cookies, she’s building a lifetime of skills and confidence. She learns goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics—aspects essential to leadership, to success, and to life.
Who WOULDN’T want to teach our daughters those amazing life lessons? But are we really? Again, I feel the need to clarify that I have not ever been a girl scout… and I’m not raising girl scouts so I may be missing something…. but here’s how I see it.
Around this time every year, over-worked mothers scurry to find an appropriate cookie hocking spot – and heaven forbid if you step into someone else’s territory. Oh you don’t WANT to set up a table outside of your local Grocer, Drug store or other big box store? No problem. Escort your child around door to door. Oh that doesn’t work for you either? Take the cookies to work and sell to YOUR co-workers or approach your friends and relatives, post on Facebook, twitter, whatever… just don’t allow your daughter to sell Girl Scout cookies online – that’s a big no-no in GSA terms.
Once you have your spot/strategy set up, then approach every single person you encounter. Pay no mind to the fact that they are busy and trying to avoid eye contact… ignore the fact that they already have their hands full of kids and bags and whatnot. Interrupt them. That’ll work in the real world too.
GSA talks of how this program teaches money management – how exactly? From their own website, the individual troops only get 10-20% of the revenue from the cookies. Once they sell “enough” boxes, the troop does get added “Cookie credits” but that’s not money management is it? Unless what they really mean is making money for management .. which I guess IS a life lesson they should learn…
But let’s talk for a second about the product itself. I will not deny that some of the varieties are DELISH. No doubt. But when the entire country is facing an obesity epidemic, isn’t it time to re-evaluate a 100 year old tradition of selling cookies? Cookies laden with GMOs, High Fructose Corn Syrup, and other partially hydrogenated ingredients. Maybe I’m too spoiled by real food but the cookies have a waxy taste to me. And before you go off, I hear there’s a new flavor that is a Healthy Girl Scout Cookie…
Oh goodie… another franken-food.
I get tradition. I do. but I sure would love to see some changes made… and I don’t have the answers to be honest… but isn’t there a healthier way to teach our young girls the life lessons? And I feel I should absolutely state that I do not dislike the Girl Scouts of America Organization! I like them as a whole… Especially when compared to the homophobia of the Boy Scouts of America. I think the GSA has done good things for girls for the last hundred years and I do NOT want to take away from that.
I guess I’m just thinking that we’ve come a long way over the last 100 years… and maybe it’s time to re-evaluate the lessons we are really teaching our kids.
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