It’s Girl Scout cookie season, and this recent story about actress Jennifer Garner’s Instagram post (she’s pictured holding a sign selling the sweets) left me wondering, what’s the point of this exercise?
Is it to raise money for the Scouts?
Is it to give parents and kids an activity they can do together?
Is it to teach kids how to be confident, how to talk to adults, and even how to sell?
And does it really work if the argument is “all of the above”?
Adults can probably raise a lot more money for the Scouts than the girls can selling cookies (especially if that adult is a celebrity).
Parents peddling cookies to coworkers at the office are raising money, but unless the kids are at work with them, it’s not exactly a family activity.
And the best way to help kids be more confident representing themselves is to actually let them represent themselves, not to have Mom or Dad do it all for them.
Now, some might say that there doesn’t need to be a larger mission to this, that selling cookies is a nice tradition that teaches girls some lessons and provides an opportunity for even the busiest parents to involve themselves with something their daughters care about.
But someday soon, these Scouts will be in high school and preparing for the independence of college. And if those parents are slinging chocolate bars to raise money for the lacrosse team or the cheerleaders or the marching band because the kids are “just too busy,” it will be even more important to ask, “What’s the point?”