Dear fellow readers and writers, I have a confession. I haven’t really written anything since October ‘23. Since that time, I have been lulling around sick with COVID and then a chest cold, followed by a dry scratchy sore throat and itchy eyes. Each has given me two weeks off to have a reprieve before getting the next set of symptoms.
The usual technique of writing a letter to a friend hasn’t really taken off. I usually do that to get me into the flow of writing. This time I wrote it to the Girl Scout leader that has the wording of “girl scout” in her email. The letter was welcomed, but it didn’t get me back into the swing of writing like I had hoped.
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Hi, I wanted to ask a question based on my experience with a local Brownie who was selling cookies today in Nampa, Idaho.
She was outside of my local coffee shop that I frequent. I stopped and made a purchase. Mom sat bundled up and was supervising, and the little Brownie just stood there. Dad took the payment, and little Brownie just stood there. When I had my card returned, I decided to engage with the girl. I asked her what she liked about being in Brownies because I used to be one. She paused and shrugged. I asked if she liked being with her friends, learning new songs, or learning new things. She said she liked being with her friends.
Being a Brownie in the early 80s is totally different than what it is today. We were out there hustling cookies. We were talking to people, we were learning skills to carry us forward to being small business owners and members of our community. In a small way, we practically were.
I didn’t see any of those ideals in the little Brownie. She was just standing around letting Dad do the work while Mom sipped her coffee. I’m wondering: are they teaching any business practices ideas to the girls—or are they just receiving participating patches now?
I would like to see something like Junior Achievement come in and talk to the girls to foster ideas of how working in a small business, or any business, allowing for the sense of community to be in them. They may be a little young for some concepts but Junior Achievement is age appropriate. It will give the girls some skills and maybe make the experience less of a family event more of a confident young girl experience. Changing times are calling for strong women, because the future is female.
Thank you for hearing me out.
Sincerely, former Brownie, and current small business owner,
Melissa D Goldsmith
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Suggestions in helping me get back into the flow of words are welcome.