To the editor: Like editorialist Karin Klein, I miss the low-key, pressure-free days of Girl Scouts. As a parent and Scout leader, I have observed that the pressure on our children to sell cookies increases each year. It is not caused by the Scouts; It is simply the world we live in. (“Stop pressuring Girl Scouts to be 'cookie bosses,'” Opinion, February 12).
When my daughter was in first grade (she's now 40), I took her and her friends to our first concession stand. I could hear them talking in the back seat: “What happens if we don't sell cookies? What if people are bad?
Of course, the people weren't bad and they bought us a lot of cookies.
When my daughter graduated from the troop, I stayed and continue to serve as an adult volunteer. I recently saw a girl who was afraid to face people, muster up the courage to turn around and ask them to buy. This change occurred within a period of two hours, the typical time limit for sales at the stand.
The world is much more expensive than it used to be. Parents can't be expected to fund all the activities girls crave, so Scouts work together to achieve their goal. No matter what happens, they know that they earned the money themselves.
And those nervous little girls in my backseat all those years ago? On the way home, they talked about how much fun they had and what good salespeople they were.
Nancy Garf Moses, Irvine
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To the editor: Klein is right when she writes that young women should not be lured with stuffed animals and bossy, pseudo-corporate titles into relentlessly selling cookies.
You're also right that most sales seem to be made by the kind of competitive parents who make cookie season a scary time. I met a woman who proclaimed on Facebook that anyone who didn't buy at least five boxes for her daughter should consider themselves rejected.
Of course, all of this can teach girls something that everyone who doesn't live in a fantasy world should learn about life in the modern world. And that's the fact that everything costs money.
If you want camping adventures and opportunities to learn robotics, local Girl Scout councils need money (and a lot of it) to pay for those activities.
Such a lesson can be difficult to learn, especially if one parent intends to conquer Mount Cookie. But it's still a valuable lesson.
Maria Stanik, Tucson
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To the editor: I couldn't agree more with Klein. When I was a Girl Scout, I had to walk up and down the hills in my neighborhood selling boxes. If I sold 20 cases, that was fine; My parents didn't pressure me.
Parents, take a step back and take a deep breath. Stop making selling cookies a competition between adults. You are doing more harm than good to your children.
Children today are bombarded with pressures from all sectors of society. It's no wonder so many people suffer from anxiety and depression.
I suggest that the Girl Scouts organization and its well-meaning parents reexamine their priorities. This cannot be what founder Juliette Gordon Low envisioned in 1912.
Tracey Pomerance-Poirier, Chatsworth
