How do I bring up something disgusting to a girl scout leader, but nicely?

[ZoesToes]

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[Verity]

Are you there every time? What if you volunteer to bring the snacks?

[ZoesToes]

I'm there almost every time but am not able to be on time. I have so much to juggle with my life that bringing a snack to girl scouts is something I would be reluctant to do, especially since being a member has ended up costing more than we thought. I have considered bringing snacks, though, but I think at this point the girls are expecting to have a junk food party every time and a healthier snack would be met with noisy dissatisfaction.

[Unreal]

hmm
I think I might mention that you were spending a lot of time at home now working with your dd on nutrition (if you do, if not just say you were thinking about it?) and you thought it might be cool if the group as a whole spent some time on it?
Maybe offer to give her lesson plans and/or activities that center around nutrition...
One of which would be the girls all brainstorming to make a huge poster of healthy snacks they love

That is all work you can do from home, so you don't have to worry about being there before snack time begins....
Maybe you could suggest they spend a few minutes before snack each week talking about it--5 minutes or whatever. Then have one big activity after a few weeks to tie it all together.

I know that doesn't directly solve your dilema, but I tend to be a real wuss when it comes to confrontation
That is when I get to be creative instead

[mrzmeg]

I'm really surprised that the leaders take the whole burden of snacks on themselves. In most GS groups I've known of (or belonged to), members have rotated the snack making duties. This was really nice because it gave each girl a chance to learn a bit more about cooking.
I would either offer to bring a small snack to each meeting (cut up apples are easy enough) or suggest that the duty be rotated among all the girls/families. You could offer to put together a small packet of ideas and recipes to help get this started.
Another option, along the lines of what Unreal suggested, is to ask if there is a nutrition/food/cooking badge the girls could work towards. You could suggest that you think it would be really helpful for them to learn more about healthy eating. The leaders might get the hint or, at least, might learn a bit

[comet]

I bet she thinks of popcorn, pretzels & ritz bits with cheese as healthy snacks. I don't know how to solve it. I also bet not many other parents are going to complain or side with you. I really think it's an uphill battle. Not that it isn't worth fighting, but it's probably tough.

I'm not much help, am I? I brought this same topic up at my dd's previous preschool, which at least makes attempts to claim they are being healthy. It was very awkward when I did bring up that I wanted dd to eat differently, I honestly didn't know where to start - all the processed starch, the sugar, the salt (extra salty goldfish crackers), koolaid that is called juice. It was one of the reasons I moved her to a school where I am packing her lunch. The director replied that I'm welcome to pack her a lunch, but they are obligated to offer her their hot lunch, too. I can't see a 3yo picking the "healthy" lunch and letting the spaghetio's with pinwheels go right by her, so I declined.
Good luck - I know you probably just can't pick another girlscout troop.

[hubris]

Could you offer to organize a badge on healthy living? Do parents ever do that? You could just page through her book - I'm sure there must be some badge that has some requirements that involve talking about food choices or planning meals, etc - and tell the leader that you came across it, that it really spoke to you, and that you would love to organize the activities for the girls to earn that badge. Part of the activities could be to organize healthy snacks and to talk about what things are not healthy.

That way you wouldn't necessarily have to be confrontational about the snack, but you could still get the message across. If they're still pushing junk at them after teaching the girls about healthy food choices, having done the badge would make your complaint even stronger.

[Breathless Wonder]

I was going to suggest the same thing funshine!

It looks like they have the following badges for Brownie age girls:
"Eat Right, Stay Healthy"
"Healthy Habits"
"Make It, Eat It"

And perhaps "My Body"
That would apply to this situation.

[calmom]

My kids aren't in Scouts but I find it rather convenient that one of my ds's has allergies. We are also vegan for ethical reasons but if the moral/health issue is too touchy for me to broach with someone, I just claim all my ds's have allergies and leave it at that. Allergies are simple, you can't argue with them and they certainly can't hurt anyone's feelings.

Technically, I don't think I'm lying because I think every human must be "allergic" to total crap food, iykwim.

[Viola]

Originally Posted by ZoesToes

However, the biggest problem is snack time. I always thought that girl scouts promote healthy habits and wholesome ideals, so I assumed the snack would be healthy.

Based on the cookies that they try and push on us every year, I wouldn't think that.

I was listening to Science Friday and they were talking about children and health problems. Atherosclerosis starts very young, and you could say that you really don't want the children exposed to these unhealthy foods because you are worried about their health and longevity.

You've gotten some good suggestions here; I just wanted suggest that you should play up the health angle, not the fat angle. That shouldn't offend people.

[srain]

We have the same issue with preschool- parents take turn bringing in snacks, which are supposed to be healthy, but most parents honestly believe that yogurt is healthy even if it's artificially colored and has more sugar than ice cream; we're actually glad when they serve Ritz Bits because it's a better option! Snack ruins my son's at-home lunch every day, and we haven't figured out a good way to get food into him in the afternoon, so he's a howling mess by dinnertime every day. (We leave his lunch out and offer it later, but it's not working.)

[Pynki]

I was also going to suggest the badges.. I know there are healthy eating ones..

Also.. I would approach your friend honestly and with and open heart..Tell her something like..

Hey Friend.. I am really concerned about what the girls are eating at snack time.. I know that sugar can be a wonderful treat, but every week the girls get sooo much of it.. It's getting to the point that I can't make fun things at home with the kids because they eat so much sugar here at snack time I feel like an irresponsible parent if I give them anymore during the week.. I know there are some badges that address this like Badge xyz here in the handbook on page 234.. Maybe we can start a healthier snack habit by starting these badges and working the snacks as part oft.. I know you want the girls to have habits that will help them stay healthy for life and so do I..

Blah blah blah along those same lines..Using lots of I statements about what you are thinking and feeling..

Best of Luck and Warm Squishy Feelings..

[lmonter]

I don't know that girls scouts *always* promote healthy everything, but usually they try to.

When I was in girl scouts (2nd grade until I die - lifetime member) we had crackers, ants on a log, occasional homemade cookies, etc. for snacks. For 8-12 girls it was just a box of crackers *or* carrots & celery and dip *or* graham crackers *or* 1 batch of cookies *or* trail mix *or* 1 bag of pretzels - not a 4-course saturated fat fest. Just one munchy thing - not a smorgasboard. We usually had water, lemonade, orange juice, apple juice or kool-aid for a drink (I know, not the best, but it wasn't pop).

How often does your troop meet? If it's so disorganized, can the meetings be less often, like every two weeks or once a month? That way there's more time for the troop leader to get the agenda ready, and less pressure on her. And the parents and girls don't have as much pressure to get to the meeting.

You could tell her you're concerned about the quality of food/snacks being served at the meetings. See if she's willing to ask for help from the parents for healthier alternatives - since usually the parents rotate bringing snacks (at least we did).

Or they can make it fun (although messy) if the girls can make the snack. Putting raisins/craisins on ants-on-a-log, making trail mix from 'scratch,' making celery and carrot houses, that kind of thing. It would make snack time a little longer, but the girls would probably think it was great. If you want I could dig around some of my stuff for other ideas. There are also badges/triangles/whatever they call them now relating to healthy eating - sounds like it's time to start working on one of them.

Just emphasize you're concerned about the children being too hopped up on sugar right after school - while they're supposed to pay attention and participate in the meeting and don't go near the subject of weight if it's a sticky issue.

Also, if you or other parents aren't able to be there right at 3:00 on the dot (or whatever time your meetings are) the leader could tweak the activites to do the color guard and maybe another short activity before snacktime so the parent bringing the snack that week has a little more wiggle room (or give the snack to the leader the night before).

I'm also curious as to how being a girl scout member has costed you more than you thought? (pm me if you'd like) For me I think the yearly membership was $15-$20 or so to the national organization, and I think we paid $4/month for dues (to pay for badges, occasional treat type thing, etc.), brought a snack when it was our week (so one snack every 2-3 months) and the uniform. Are you having to pay a lot more than that?

I hope this wasn't too disjointed, I kept jumping up to do something with ds.

Lanna

[Meiri]

The girls get brownies or doughnuts or chocolate chip cookies at the very least. Last week was the worst of all: popcorn, pretzels, Ritz bits mini sandwiches with cheese and FOUR different kinds of chocolate cookies. ALL THIS FOR A SNACK! They piled everything on each child's plate and the helpers went around asking if anybody wanted more.

Sounds to me like any ONE of those items would be fine for a small snack at a meeting, but all of them, on a plate, with offers of seconds!!!?

One of the things I've picked up on from following WW all on my lonesome is that no foods are Bad, but there are some that need to be taken in SMALL quantities so as to not be unhealthy.

Granted that there are better choices available for the snacks too, the first issue that leaped out at me from your OP is the sheer quantity issue. It's supposed to be a snack, not a meal!

DD and I just joined: $10 each, and we don't yet know how much dues might be. First Daisy troop meeting is next week when I'm sure we'll be informed.

[JenLove]

I am a Brownie leader and we meet at a conveniant time that we don't need snack. The girls get out of school at 2:30, go home, and come to the meeting at 4. We presume they get a snack at home and we don't want to ruin dinner since our meeting is over at 5:30.

I would definitely suggest the badges as a way to work in healthy eating styles. I don't know if this is part of a try-it or not, but maybe she could work with the girls and ask them what their favorite *healthy* snacks are. Once she compiled a list she could work with those choices and maybe a few of her own to make a healthy snack time for every meeting.

Good luck!

[Ellien C]

I'm so glad you posted this because I had a similar GS experience.
I was a GS all through high school and member of a scouting fraternity (Alpha Phi Omega) in college.

My daughter is too young for GS, but we were recently particpated in a camp-out where we were given dinner. They served us "walking tacos," which was ground beef poured over bags of Doritos or Fritos. I was horrified. We NEVER would have had food like that on a campout. Mine own "camping food" habits are far healthier than my regular habits. I only know how to cook healthy camp food. We just never made junk. I'm trying to figure out why that was or how the leaders got us that way. Did it have to do with space issues? We can only pack so much food, so it can't have empty calories? I honestly not sure, but I was trying to figure it out. Should DD become a GS, I don't want her to eat that way.

[ZoesToes]

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[EnviroBecca]

I'm a Brownie leader, and I agree that the idea of working on a healthy eating badge is a good one--gets the motivation to change the snacks coming from the girls instead of from a parent!

Pynki suggested saying, "It's getting to the point that I can't make fun things at home with the kids because they eat so much sugar here at snack time I feel like an irresponsible parent if I give them anymore during the week." I think that's likely to be taken the wrong way by the leader--she'll feel that you're calling her an irresponsible parent if she allows her kids any more sweets during the entire WEEK, and it could easily have too much of a complaining tone, and it implies that ultra-sweet foods are the only "fun" foods which is just what you don't want her to be thinking. If you leave out that one sentence, I think Pynki's suggested speech is great.

Last year I was disgusted by the things that parents (of all but 2 girls in the troop) sent for snacks: sugarbomb cookies, fake "healthy" snacks like Quaker Oatmeal Bites, individual jello cups, candy bars...and always a beverage too, usually 10% juice or CapriSun or those horrible Little Hugs. : I also thought it was a bad idea to have the snack at the end of the meeting (we meet 5-6:30) because of dinner! However, because I signed on w/this troop after they'd already started the year, I felt like I couldn't question too many of the policies.

This year, one of my co-leaders is a doctor and is concerned about her own daughter's weight, so I think we can make some changes! I started with moving the snack to right after the start-up activity and the Brownie Ring (business meeting), having a treat can, and encouraging bulk juice instead of individually packed. The treat can is a coffee can that I painted green; rather than having a parent agree via e-mail to bring the snack for a meeting, at each meeting we draw a name for a girl to bring the snack next time, and the idea is to fit the snack in the can--that limits the amount and the packaging! Bulk juice goes along w/the Girl Scout Law ("use resources wisely") because we don't use disposable cups; we use Tupperware cups that belong to the church where we meet, and after snack 2 girls wash and dry them while another girl cleans up crumbs and the rest set up for the activity. They LOVE having these responsibilities!

I'm encouraged by remembering which two snacks were most popular w/the girls last year: One mom brought a box of crackers, jar of peanut butter, and jug of juice, and before snack time she assembled a cracker sandwich for each girl. They were so pleased that it was "made fresh"! Another time, for the birthday of Girl Scouting, the other leader had asked the parents providing snack to send "cupcakes"; they made banana-bread muffins and sent along a tub of simple powdered-sugar-and-lemon-juice frosting and some sprinkles so the girls could decorate their own. They were thrilled and didn't seem to notice that the "cupcakes" were less sweet than some!

Good luck! I'm glad you're not letting this turn you off Girl Scouting too easily!

[ZoesToes]

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[momea]

You could always have her join Brownies instead.

That is the dumbest joke ever - it was really my husband's though (really!). We were kinda laughing as we visualized all these kids begging to go to Girl Scouts and Sunday school just so they could go nuts on the "snacks". It reminds me of a friend of mine who would fill her son's tippy cup with soda and call it juice!!