“So how serious were you when you said you wanted to help?”
This coming Tuesday night from the head of my older two daughters’ Girl Scouts troop, and by the way, a really ominous way to start a conversation.
Some background: my daughters Julia, 10, and Zayley, 8, have been in Girls Scouts for a few years now. In August, before the troop’s year began, I called the head of the troop and offered to help “any way she needed” since it had become apparent my girls intended to make a long-term go of this scouting business.
I figured I’d be hauling equipment, setting up tables, manning game stations or helping people fill out paperwork. I didn’t really know what it would entail. But in any case, I thought it would be simple enough.
So on Tuesday, excited to make good on my word, I answered the lady, who oversees a multi-age troop ranging from Daisies to high school kids, with an affirmative, “Very serious. Just tell me what you need.”
“We need a troop leader for our kindergarten Daisies,” she replied, as the words hit my brain seemingly in slow motion and I envisioned what it actually would look like for an overzealous dog to sink its teeth into the back bumper of a passing car.
I agreed, really without much hesitation, and the troop leader armed me with the lesson book and promised to send me links to more resources. She also said there would be a co-leader, which is a relief, and there are only four or so kids in this group.
Then she tried to reassure me, “You’re gonna be OK.”
To be clear, this isn’t the first time I’ve taught kids, though the bulk of my “teaching” experience has been at church and I’ve never wrangled kindergartners other than my own. And it’s not the first time I’ve gotten more than I’ve bargained for when signing up to volunteer.
Looking at the lessons, they’re pretty straight-forward. It’s mostly Golden Rule-based stuff at that age, or so it appears at a glance, and you certainly can’t teach that soon enough or often enough. But there are songs — lots of them.
Each week, when I drop up off my daughters, they get in a circle with everyone else and start singing about “being the ranger,” “peeling the potato,” “forming the house,” and something about sailing in a little canoe.
In the Daisy book, there are also songs, presumably that I will have to learn myself and teach to these kindergartners. This terrifies me most, for some reason, but I will have help.
Both Julia and Zayley — both of whom have been Daisies and also find this whole development highly hilarious — have agreed to teach me some of the songs. I will hold them to it.
If my past has taught me anything, though, it’s to take these types of things in stride, do the best I can and enjoy them for what they are. Every time I’ve had the chance to volunteer with kids, even when I’m not sure what I’m doing, I end up getting way more from the experience than I could possibly give, and I never regret it.
I suppose that’s how it will work out this time. At least I hope so.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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