Yes, I am Selling My Daughter's Girl Scout Cookies...Want to Buy Some?

The holidays are over, New Year’s resolutions have been made, and next up for many of us is…Girl Scout cookie time! Around this time of year, many Girl Scout parents get that all-too-familiar email to let them know it’s “go time” to sell those tasty treats. But let’s get real here, who actually does the hard selling? Is it your girls? Or is it you??

Thirty years ago I was a Girl Scout. Now, I am the mother of a Girl Scout, and let’s face it, some things never change. Way back when, you sold cookies by asking one or both of your parents to hang up your cookie sheet at their office, or to drive you around guilting your neighbors into buying from you. These days, door-to-door and booth sales are giving way to online transactions, with the program “Digital Cookie” allowing customers to order and buy cookies from their favorite Girl Scout on her personalized website. But the one thing that hasn’t changed in all these years is the need for an adult to carry most of the heavy selling burden. Because even though digitizing the program makes the process a little easier, girls are still either too young to be able to manage their cookie sales online, or need to be monitored on their own social media accounts.

So will I be selling my daughter’s cookies this season? You’d better believe it. I’ve already handed over that trusted cookie sheet to my husband to tape up in the office lunchroom, with strict instructions to peddle as many cookies as he can to his co-workers. As for me, I’ve reached out via social media and email to friends and family, diabolically urging them to give into their sweet tooth, or to consider donating cookies to our troops. Girl Scouts is a great organization that teaches our girls valuable life lessons, but just like being room mom, soccer parent coach or watching YouTube videos to learn new math, parents will always be involved in the process. So Girl Scout parents, let’s put on our game faces – it’s time to get selling! And to everyone else – want to buy some Girl Scout cookies?

Kristy Pepping is a content supervisor at Upparent.com, a website that gathers recommendations from parents themselves for the best products, gifts, recipes, and local activities and events for families. She lives in the Chicago area with her husband and three kids.