I was not a Girl Scout. My parents gave me the choice of that or ballet and what little girl wouldn’t pick ballet? Thus, I have not experienced the organization from the kid level.
Sunshine joined a troop with her very best friend in the universe when she was in 1st grade. The troop leaders are fabulous–I seriously don’t have the intrinsic motivation those two women have to wrangle the girls and plan amazing events for them to participate in.
As I write this, Darling is off at a GS event with Sunshine (and Pixie, as it is a family event). I am (happily) home with a napping Toddler.
As much respect as I have for the GS, I am pretty sure they are out to get me. I understand that they support girls and encourage them and such, but they are making this momma feel inadequate and irritated.
It’s that darn sash. And the stupid badges. Since I was never a GS (as mentioned above), I didn’t learn to sew (one of the very first badges Sunshine earned). I know enough to sew a button on in an emergency, but that’s about it. And, honestly, I have no desire to learn more.
Thankfully, I have a dear, dear MIL who doesn’t flinch when I hand her a little stack of mending occasionally. And, she doesn’t think I am a terrible wife and mother for not sewing. :)
Sunshine was supposed to be wearing her new sash to the event today. Not having enough time to pawn this off to my dear MIL, I resigned myself to having to stitch the dang things on. I set aside about 45 minutes to put them on. How long could this take? Just a couple of (bad) stitches here and there to hold them until MIL could use her machine thingy.
Imagine my joy when they were IRON ON! Woooooot! Now, even I can iron something on! Yay!
I got everything opened, carefully looked at the diagram where they tell mommies the specific order the badges are supposed to be placed in and started ironing. According to the directions, it should only take 2-3 minutes per badge. Woot! I started thinking of how I was going to spend my extra time as I ironed….
I ironed the first badge for the 25 seconds and started to flip it over to iron the back. Hmmm. Not stuck yet. Okay, well, I’ll keep ironing. And keep ironing. And keep ironing. Oh my heck! What gives? After many minutes, the darn things were NOT stuck on. I had one set on, but the American flag wouldn’t stick. I looked at the stack of emblems I still had to go and realized that SEWING the puppies on would’ve been faster than this! Argh! But, I won’t give up! Oh no, Girl Scouts of America cannot make me feel like an inadequate iron-on-er unless I let them. And darn it, I’m not gonna let them!
(Questions enter my mind, like: how much force can an ironing board take? And what would exactly happen if I didn’t use the little tea towel, but ironed directly on the embroidery (totally flouting their rules)).
I now have two things ironed on. I have used up my 45 minutes. I warn Sunshine that her sash won’t be complete. She comes into the room and checks out her sash. It doesn’t even have the full troop number (the stupid number “6″ wouldn’t stick!) She says, “I think I won’t wear my sash.” What? After all my efforts? I mean, I know it looks dumb, but come-on!
Sigh.
I am now looking for my hot glue gun, on the helpful suggestion of my sister. I wish I would’ve thought of that before.
Maybe they should have girls sew on their own badges as part of GS. That way, us mommies feel good about being a girl, too!
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Ha Ha. You make me laugh. I feel your pain. I had a really hard time getting the American Flag on Haley’s tunic as well. What gives. Because she is in daisies, she has about 14 petals to put on around the center of the daisy, and of course they have to go in a certain order. I think they do this just to make you feel worse and add more stress to your life.
In this together,
Brandy :)
Been there, done that. Hot glue gun! Genius!
We started our troop six years ago when the girls were Daisies. Last year, when they moved up to Juniors (the green uniforms) we took a different approach. After each of us had personally dealt with Daisy and Brownie badge torture, we decided to do something different. We asked some of the more seamstress-like moms to take on the task of sewing the new stuff onto the new sashes. They each took six sashes and on the day of their bridging ceremony each girl had their newly prepared sash. Not a single parent had to question their abilities as seamstress/taylor.
On a similar note, but changing the subject anyway, after three good years, I have passed the torch as leader of our troop. I had been announcing it since last year and no one seemed interested in stepping in. Finally about a month ago, a dad called me and told me that he and two other dads had decided to do it. So, to all you troop leaders out there, don’t count out the dads. They’ve always been active in our troop, taking on field trips, arranging Father-Daughter dinners, etc. Their email addresses are included in the troop parent list and I always said in my email greetings: To all the PARENTS of the troop. And now that inclusion has paid off. Wish I could be a fly on the wall during their troop leader training!
Lark! Thanks for the tip about GS Dads! I will pass that along.
Can I get names and addresses of your sewing moms? :) Just kidding….maybe….
Good to see you on the blog!
Haha, I remember my mom getting so frustrated with my stupid badges! How do you think she became such an expert at sewing them on? The whole iron-on thing is a racket. They just end up falling off. Then you look like the sad GS who’s sash is seriously lacking. It’s so much pressure!
Snicker …
21 sashes; a gazillion patches for bridging; John the tailor @ $6 a sash. Well worth it…! We used left over cookie money