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6. Attend kick-off meetings. Gain important information, understand rules and ask questions. 7. Understand safety rules. 8. Contact your child’s troop/group leader to understand where it is OK to sell in your area. With or without Dad’s help, family, friends, neighbors, work colleagues and others willingly contribute to fundraisers like Girl Scout Cookie sales when they want to support the person selling, their cause or because they like the product or service being sold. When your daughter and son achieve success from their personal efforts, it reinforces their sense of self worth and purpose for their cause. On the flip side, the lure of luscious Thin Mints might be just too irresistible to eat in moderation and too good to give away for the well-intentioned dieter, which could prompt them to say no. Entertainment books and even a few dollars for a Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookie might be budget-busters for other prospective supporters. Learning how to accept those “Nos” respectfully and moving on are important life lessons for your children to learn--more valuable than making the most sales through someone else’s efforts, even if they come from a well-meaning parent. If competition turns your husband on, can you change his focus on what makes a winning score? What if he gets bragging rights for accompanying your daughter on door-todoor sales without interfering in her sales pitch? Or, if your daughter wants to, for helping her set up a cookie sale booth at his workplace (if his employer allows it)? Or for each time he remembers to ask her what she learned from a sale she closed or didn’t close? And he’ll get extra brownie points for
If competition turns your husband on, can you change his focus on what makes a winning score? What if he gets bragging rights for accompanying your daughter on door-to-door sales without interfering with her sales pitch?
lovingly giving her a congratulatory hug at the end of the program, for however many or few sales she made. These aren’t just anti-cookie-monster-cutter approaches. Use the same basic super-parent rather than super-sales shift in focus to encourage your husband to support your son, too. You can help him celebrate the biggest win of all: happy, healthy, self-reliant kids. As super-seller Zig Ziglar sweetly sums it up, “Kids go where there is excitement. They stay where there is love.” A monthly Vancouver Family Magazine columnist since 2007, Dana Greyson’s purpose is to embrace life fully, inspire others and change the world. Curious? Check out www. danagreyson.com.
With or without Dad's help, family, friends, neighbors, work colleagues and others willingly contribute to fundraisers like Girl Scout Cookie sales.
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Vancouver Family Magazine • www.vancouverfamilymagazine.com • January 2012