| Cookie
sales and you
The order forms have been passed out, and it’s
early Saturday morning of that first day of Girl Scout
Cookie Sale. If your girls are participating in their
first cookie sale, they are probably very excited. They
get to go out and entice the neighbors with the expectation
of a few boxes of Thin Mints or Caramel de Lites or
the many other varieties of those once a year delicacies.
Before sending your little ones out on this adventure,
you and your troop cookie manager must make sure the
girls are trained in the proper sales techniques, including
how to be graceful when being told “no.”
But, beyond the graciousness, make sure your girls know
the safety rules of selling cookies. They and their
parents need to know that girls don’t enter the
homes of their customers, they need to know how to cross
streets, and that girls should always have an adult
accompanying them on their rounds. GSSJC wants girls
to have fun and be safe.
More
on girl planning
Girl planning has been the topic of recent issues. How
girls should be allowed to have a major part in the
planning of their troop’s activities was discussed.
What was not covered was teaching girls to be responsible
for planning cost effective activities. There are lots
of enticing ways for girls to spend money to attend
a special program or activity. It’s easy to do,
leaders just pay a fee and the girls attend. It means
little or no planning on their part or the
|
leader’s,
you just pay and go. But, what is that really teaching
the girls? Could it be that they learn it is up to someone
else to provide them with fun things to do and all they
have to do is pay for it? Is there another way for the
girls to get the same experience, but to learn much more
in the process? Almost any activity can be adapted, planned,
and implemented by a troop. Sure, it might not have the
slick supplies and perfect results as the professional
version, but what are we, as leaders, trying to do? Are
we wanting to always come home with the perfect craft
with all the lines straight and the seams perfect, or
are we hoping to give girls the independence of experiencing
trial and error, planning and implementing and success
on their own. As a leader, I hope you are not always trying
to find the quick fix to an activity by paying someone
else to do the work and you and the girls just show up.
The girls need to look at their troop budget, see what
is possible with the money they have, and then make their
plan. Bring |
in
parents with expertise in the activities they want to
pursue. Teach them to substitute one activity for another
when one option is going to take more money than the troop,
or the individual families, might have. We want to teach
them to be careful of their money.
A good rule of thumb is, if the parents can take them
to do the very same activity you want to take them to,
perhaps you can find another activity. Girl Scouting is
about broadening horizons. That means finding the out-of-the-ordinary
activity or service project that the family can’t
or won’t do and giving the girls that experience.
It’s letting them take an idea and making it their
own project. There are lots of things listed in the Resource
Guide, in The Golden Link, on the Council Information
Network, and in the local papers. There are trainings
that give offer new ideas and skills that leaders can
pass along to the girls. Put the scouting back in “Girl
Scouting” by letting the girls scout out new and
different ways to do the same old thing. |