Q: Does a Girl Scout group have to sell cookies if they don’t want to?

A: Girl Scout product activities offer girls a great way to finance their Girl Scout activities and special projects. Participation in product activities is voluntary and requires written permission by a parent or guardian. Annually, about 65% of registered Girl Scouts choose to participate in the Girl Scout cookie program.

http://www.girlscouts.org/program/gs_cookies/cookie_faqs.asp#troop_sell_cookies

Cookies are great. But this isn’t about cookies. It’s about ingredients. Even sweets should have high-quality ingredients. And the ingredients in Girl Scout cookies are bad news. I think our kids deserve better.

What kind of message are the girls getting when they are asked to hawk stuff that is known to cause harm to your health? Have you taken time to read the ingredient list on the box?! Yikes!! I would not allow my daughter to sell the cookies. It goes against my principles. I could not in good conscience allow my daughter to push that on others, when I don’t want her to have it. Instead we give a donation.

My kids eat their fair share of cookies at home. The difference is, they are homemade with organic ingredients, or store bought organic without trans fats, artificial ingredients, GMOs, preservatives and the like.

How difficult would it be to instead sell something good for people and the planet? Wouldn’t it be a fantastic lesson, that you can successfully break away from a destructive ingrained habit and move towards something positive?? And I bet people would be grateful to buy something else besides low quality, guilt-inducing junk.

I appreciate the concern about healthy eating – I really do. I struggled with childhood obesity for years, and it wasn’t until I got to college and had full control (and therefore full responsibility) for my eating/exercise habits that I began to gain the upper hand in the battle.

First, I think it’s important to note that Girl Scouts is about much more than cookie sales. Frankly, I’m surprised that the general public only thinks “cookies” when they hear the words “Girl Scouts.” On a personal note, my girl scout troop was one of the few “safe” social spaces I had growing up. Unlike sports or school, my Girl Scout sisters loved me despite my weight problems, and scouting gave me the opportunity to explore and learn new topics (i.e. foreign languages, math, etc.) that my crappy public school was barely addressing.

The nutritional contents of cookies aside (because let’s face it – nobody is arguing they are HEALTHY), I think it’s a mistake to teach our girls (and boys) that “junk food” is an enemy that must be avoided at all costs. I’ve seen several posts reference already the prevalence of unhealthy food in school lunches (I remember Dominos pizza being sold at my high school for $2.50/slice EVERY DAY). This is just one example — our kids are inundated every day. Telling them that a box of cookies is the harbinger of death or childhood obesity accomplishes nothing – they are going to eat baked goods somewhere. Maybe not at home; maybe not at meals supervised by parents. But they will get their hands on cookies. Teaching them that it’s OK to buy a box of cookies, and have a couple as a snack (but not to binge on them) teaches a far more valuable attitude and understanding of moderation. At the end of the day, I’d rather be responsible for promoting the sale of GS cookies (and I enthusiastically encourage my troop to participate in sales, although no girl is “forced” to do so), which support a fantastic organization that provides a safe, nurturing, and enriching environment for girls, while still teaching the idea of moderation, than for teaching unrealistic lessons about nutrition and demonizing a truly amazing organization.

Although I agree, it’s a logistical nightmare for leaders! =)