In lieu of Girl Scouts...

My daughter wanted to join Girl Scouts, so I took her to the meeting that was being held at the elementary school for sign ups. She was really excited, completely jazzed and willing to commit the time. She filled out the form and I completed the rest.

Then...we were informed that there were no troops open currently. Unless, of course...

Unless of course, I would be willing to be a troop leader.

What?

Are you kidding me?

You want me to be a Girl Scout Troop Leader?

Really?

For my daughter, if I needed to I would eat glass. So I began the application process.

My husband asked me why exactly I decided to do this.

My boss asked me if I was crazy.

Friends looked at me crossly when I told them.

Me as a Girl Scout Troop Leader was like an octopus wearing pants.

So when the possibility of hosting an Internet based radio show popped up, I asked my daughter if she'd rather have a radio show instead of being in Girl Scouts.

Yes.

Her main reason for wanting to be in Girl Scouts was to be with school friends. But when the troop she wanted to be in was no longer open, she kinda soured on the idea of Girl Scouts. A radio show, however, was a way for her to reach out to friends and family living far away as well as a really cool way to express herself creatively. So she exuberantly said,"YES!"

We have been broadcasting our show since about mid November. I believe that my daughter is happy with her radio presence. I am sure she would like very much to hang out with school friends. But politically I just couldn't do it and I think my daughter knew it. Now, I will flat out say that I have nothing at all against the Girl Scouts. I do have problems with single-sex education. I do have problems with religion being laced into public or quasi-public organisations. There are other personal issues among them my inability to fit in...that octopus wearing pants thing again. It's not something I have tried to engineer. So a radio show for now seems like the better solution. Who knows? My daughter can take up the issue with me or with her therapist when she sees fit to do so. I take whatever blame she needs to throw at me. But for now, she is being trained on the whole sound board, low-key radio show production thingy. And that is kinda cool.