A Mommy Story

Earlier this year, interest forms were sent out about forming a Daisy scout troop in our area. Mira had been wanting to join Girl Scouts since last year, and we nearly joined at the start of summer, but the troop we were matched up with abruptly dissolved before she could attend her first meeting. When this second chance presented itself, she begged me to sign her up for it.

Mira’s Daisy Scout vest (I still need to iron on 2 more petals that she’s earned – oops!)

I was excited that she wanted to join Girl Scouts. I was a Brownie scout when I was in elementary school. (I don’t think they had Daisy scouts back then?) It was a fairly large troop, and I remember making crafts and going to day camp in the summer. I probably would have been in Girl Scouts longer had our troop leader not moved away. It was the only troop in my small town, so when she left, our Girl Scout troop dissolved, just as many of us were bridging to Juniors.

When Mira had first expressed interest, I dug through some boxes and pulled out my old Girl Scout Handbook. She didn’t believe I was once a Girl Scout, too, so I proved it with my circa 1977 edition of the handbook:

I didn’t notice it as a kid, but I love the diversity in this book’s images. Pretty awesome for a 1977 printing!

This troop did get started in the fall, and Mira is now a proud Daisy scout. She’s competitive, so she is determined to earn as many badges as she can. Daisy scouts are kindergarteners and first graders, so she’s one of the older girls in her group.

And then earlier this month, the Girl Scout cookie drive started. I don’t know why I thought that Mira might not care all that much about selling cookies, because I was utterly wrong. She carefully looked over the materials, especially studying the prizes earned at each level, and then announced she was going to sell 1,000 boxes of cookies.

Um…that’s the spirit, kid? How do you tell your child to aim lower with her goals?

I didn’t want to tell her that her goal was too high, but I also didn’t want her to be disappointed if/when she didn’t reach that goal. Because selling that many boxes of cookies is not an easy task. Aaron and I have plenty of friends, but not THAT many people we can hit up for cookie orders.

So I gently tried to explain just how many boxes that was, and how many people would have to order to reach that goal. I encouraged her to keep that goal in her mind, but to also set a lower goal that she’d still feel proud about reaching. Basically, a minimum goal. She settled on 300 boxes. Still awfully high, but not nearly as impossible.

For the past two weeks, she’s brought up selling cookies everywhere she’s been. She’s tried to sell cookies to cashiers in stores, to people in waiting rooms, and of course to friends and family. She’s had the best luck with friends and family, of course.

She sat next to me while I posted cookie order announcements on Facebook, checking in with me later to see who placed orders. She’s asked Aaron at least every other day if he gathered any new orders for her at his office. Mira is determined to be the World’s Best Cookie Seller, and I am the mom who is required to have the order form with me everywhere we go. Really, Aaron and I are her unpaid interns, I think.

She’s not going to make her big goal, but she has a shot at making her smaller goal. I’ll give her credit for having drive and persistence. The order forms are due later today, and she’s at just over 200 boxes ordered. Hopefully she’ll have the chance to participate in some booth sales in March to supplement her total and reach that goal of 300.

This is my first time on the mom side of Girl Scout cookie sales, and I have a new appreciation for my mom, for her efforts helping me sell cookies as a kid. So far it hasn’t been too hard, although I realize the real work begins when we have to pack the SUV full of cookies to deliver. But it’s worth it if Mira is happy and hopefully learning something from the experience.

(Side note: I’m turning in the forms today at 3pm. If you’d like to order cookies, let me know before then and I can get your order in. $4/box, and we can mail them out to long-distance friends if they cover shipping. The things we do for our kids…)