Do you think parents should sell Girl Scout Cookies for their daughters?

I have always thought that Girl Scout Cookie time was a great way to get involved in the community. I always support my local Girl Scout Troop every year by buying cookies (and then proceeding to each them all - haha). I think the days of selling cookies door-to-door are long gone, unless of course you know each and every neighbor in your community. In my area, girl scouts and their moms stand outside grocery markets trying to sell their cookies. I think this is a great idea (because what else are you going to the market for, but food and you have money to spend) and it is much safer than going around to houses of people you don't know. But the moms usually take control of the situation and the girls just end up playing on the side. The whole idea is for the girls to interact with the community, learn about public speaking and self-confidence, etc etc. As long as the moms are there with the girls, the girls should be in control and make money for their own troop, not have someone else do it for them.

I've been on all sides of the cookie box... I was a girl scout, I am a parent and I was also a Sparks leader ("pre-brownies"). Fundraising is tough for a lot of people and we're literally bombarded with it... not only from the girl scouts but from the schools, sports teams, clubs, etc. When I was in brownies and girl guides, my father adamantly refused to let me go door to door to sell anything. Back then, it wasn't even so much about the safety issues as it was about "bothering all the neighbors." He used to take the order form to his work and sell there. I wasn't given a choice. As a parent and former leader, I have gone door to door with my daughters for a variety of reasons. I'm not particularly comfortable doing it, even still, but we have no other options. I am self-employed and have no "workplace" to take things to. I have almost no family to speak of (just one sister and her husband and child), so no options there. One contract job that I did for awhile, they had a stated written policy about no sales of any kind (no catalogues, no chocolate, no cookies, no products - but parents would still bring things in and sell them out of their cars in the parking lot, if you can believe that). I don't think it's right for the parents to do all the work. I especially don't think it's right when prizes and gifts are awarded for highest sales and the prizes go to children who have done nothing to earn them (kind of reminds me of the Everybody Loves Raymond episode where Ray goes head to head against Peggy to try to win the beach chair LOL) I agree with you that the children have to be involved. One of my daughters decided, at the age of 12 (she's now 15), to become a fundraiser for the cancer society in honor of my mom. A local pub held a cribbage tournament and decided they would donate the proceeds to my daughter towards her goal. During the tournament's break period, she was taken there and helped sell tickets for the "half and half" draw and also spoke with participants, one on one, about her project. I think children deserve and require our help... but, like you, I believe they need to learn responsibility.

I think it's fine for parents to take the sheet in to work and have people sign up for cookies they want as long as the girls are participating in other ways. For example, going to work a shift if their troop is selling cookies in front of a grocery store like they do in my town. But, I don't think it's always possible for a girl to go to work with her mom or dad to sell the cookies in the break room. My mom works at night (and did when I was a kid) so it wouldn't have been possible for me to go to work with her. I think they would have called child protective services. However, I do agree that if the parents do all the work the girls don't learn anything.