2/14/2012

This is my daughter's first year selling Girl Scout cookies. It's been quite an experience!

It's been good in a number of ways. First, there are the cookies themselves! They are delicious and our family has sampled almost all of the kinds offered in our area. Second, my daughter has been pushed out of her comfort zone (and her shyness) to talk with family, friends and even some strangers about cookies they want to order. She has really struggled in this area, but I have seen some improvement.

Also, there have been ample opportunities for math skills as we've dealt with money and cookie inventory.

We have also spent more time with other Girl Scouts from our troop, as we've worked together at cookie booths at local stores. My daughter and I have worked 10+ hours at such booths with quite a few other mom/daughter teams. My daughter has actually enjoyed working at the booths and talking with strangers more than she has talking with people we actually know.

Another benefit of the cookie sales: the scouts are encouraged to set goals and then work to reach them. My daughter set a very realistic goal of selling 100 boxes of cookies and reached that goal fairly quickly. The girls have certain incentives they can earn as they reach certain levels of cookie sales.

There are about 2 more weeks left before this year's cookie sales are done. In some ways, it will be disappointing to see it come to an end. But for me, I'll be thankful that we will have fewer boxes of tempting cookies around the house!

Yes, it's cookie time!