Cookie Overload

HoneyBooBoo Eats Girl Scout Cookies so you should too.

First let me say that if you are our troop leader, stop reading this now.  Your shit list is the last one I need to be on...again.  I want to preface this post by saying that I am in love with the Girl Scouts despite any catty viewpoint expressed herein.  I am proud that my daughter is one and I hope that she chooses to stay with GS as she grows.  There are so many wonderful opportunities to take advantage of and so many memories to make.  My following comments are made in jest of a GS tradition that we are acclimating ourselves into and of course, I must add in my two sarcastic cents during the process.

Having said that - it's that time of year again.  Time to offer up your kid for any available free moment to hock cookies to America.

This being our first year in Girl Scouts, it's our first do-si-do with selling cookies and the dreaded Cookie Booth.  Cookie Booths are the bane of existence for any girl scout parent from February to March each year.  "Can you cover this?"  "Can you be there?"  "People need their cookies!"

I thought with Bean being so young and all that she might be eased into the Cookie Booth process but I was totally, 100% wrong.  We were even offered a 7 hour shift since we can only do weekend booths.  Uh huh. That ain't happening.  I thought at the time that I would be lucky and pushing it getting Bean to stay engaged for two hours and I as right.

She fared well for the first hour in the chilly morning wind gale but as that second hour started ticking on, I could see the curtain of "I'm over this crap" come down.  I had to beg to get her to wave at passing motorists.  It would have helped to warm her up.  She wasn't buying it.  She probably would have benefitted from a cookie.

My boss shared that he read an article stating the majority of cookies are sold by moms of Girl Scouts instead of actual Girl Scouts.  I'm not sure if that is correct  or not but it was true that second hour of cookie booth for us.

I'd love to give props to the Girl Scout and/or her parental unit that came up with the idea of setting up a booth right outside a medical marijuana facility.  That girl deserves a special badge for that entrepreneurial foresight.  Wished I had come up with myself.

By the time the second shift of the day rolled around, Bean was just not feeling it.  We were setup to man a booth outside a farming specialty shop for three hours and I was so dreading it.  I knew Bean was already at her limit and these three hours would be like trying to get blood from a stone but we had given our word. Once we arrived though there was a mixup with the assigned times and another troop was there.  Now not only was the actual Girl Scout over cookies, cookie booths, badges, all that, but so was her mother.  I didn't care if I ever saw another Thin Mint again or heard the words Girl Scouts.  I just wanted to run back to the car and peel out of there on two wheels with our Daisy vest sailing off in the wind.

But you know what happened?

The power of community and comraderie within Girl Scouts came out and renewed our love and passion for all things scouting.  (Except for actually camping out.  She's on her own with that one.)

The other troop that was there were two older girls and their moms.  These two girls had been active in Girl Scouts since they were Bean's age and they welcomed her to their booth and set about teaching her the ropes.  They were probably two of the nicest young ladies I've met in a long time and proved my theory that all teenage girls are possessed to be completely false.  I will state right now that if Bean grows up to be as nice and kind as these two girls, I will be over the moon proud.

The moms welcomed me into the fold as well.  They told me all about their girls who are now best friends, about the awards they had won, the trips they had earned and the friends they had made.  They could not say a single negative thing about the organization and left the impression that they had gained so much by their daughters being part of it all.

This is what I had forgotten in the hullabaloo of cookie season.

This is what I want Bean to find out for herself.

So despite my grumblings and petty comments, cookie season has given us one thing.  That's the reminder that when you enter into the world of Girl Scouts, you are entering not just an activity for your child to spend some down time.  You are opening up doors to friendships and opportunities that far outweigh any badge earned.  Thank you to Vicki and Dee Dee and your beautiful daughters for reminding us of that and for the hour spent getting to know you all.  Bean told everyone about her time in the Cookie Box.