Parents Selling Cookies For Good Scout May Not Be Good
NEW YORK, NY - Some girl scouts aren't going door to door selling cookies like they used to.
Instead, they're relying on their parents to step in and meet their sales goals.
A senior clinical psychologist from New York says that might not be a good idea.
You know its cookie season when you're colleagues pass around those order sheets in the office. You pick your favorites, and wait for your box to show up at your desk.
For kids and parents, it's a layup; An almost guaranteed way to sell dozens of boxes of cookies and make the rest of the troop drool with envy.
But there's a problem with that, says Dr. Jill Emanuele with the child mind institute.
"What it does is it teaches them that basically things can be done for them. And they don't learn the skills of doing it on their own so they don't learn the skills going up to someone and being able to say can I sell some cookies for you," Dr. Emanuele
She says on top of that, they risk losing that sense of pride that comes with making a sale on your own.
In fact it is written on the box, the 5 things that girls learn by making their own sales, like money management, people skills and confidence.
It's something Girl Scouts of America supports, writing in a statement: "Although parents and Girl Scout adults may assist, it is the girl who should make the sale."
For the child who's uncomfortable with doing it all herself Dr. Emanuele has some advice.