My daughter went to Girl Scout camp this summer (which was really just 3 hours after 6:00pm for the week), I can’t even tell you how much it cost because it wasn’t even a blip on my financial radar.

I did notice that each night my daughter brought something home and was always excited about what went on at camp and seemed very happy about it.  This registered on my ‘how is my daughter” radar, but I just smiled and went about whatever had my attention before noticing.

Yesterday evening was the last day of Girl Scout camp, and my son and I had to go watch Girl Scout skits (my wife had already signed up to help at the camp so she was there by default).  My son said he was going to bring his new iPod touch (he loved that thing), because he expected it to be boring (as did I truthfully).

So we went to our local park for the Girl Scout’s skits event.  The park is beautiful, with large established trees and a very picturesque pond and a massive but classic, rustic pavilion that is made of huge logs.  Right away, the setting instantly reduced any stress that one would experience, so I was feeling very positive about the event right away.

Next my son and I waited for the entertainment to begin (which it wouldn’t until 15 minutes later), I looked over at him as he sat in one of our foldout canvas “soccer” chairs, and as expected he was already playing on his iPod touch.  This made me smile because the iPod touch was expensive and I was glad to see he was enjoying it.  Money well spent!

Shortly there after, the Girl Scouts started their skits.  At first, we both were not too interested, but then we realized that the skits were humorous in form.  So while I paid attention the entire time (clapping after each skit to show support), I was surprised to see my son start to listen too.  About 10 minutes in he turned off his iPod touch and started to laugh along with the skits too.  To my surprise, most people in the audience started laughing too.

While most of the skits were things I’ve seen or heard before, the enthusiasm and sheer happiness each girl put into the skits made it extra special somehow.  So while most of the skits were cheesy, I ended up having a truly feel-good experience.  And I think most of the audience had the same experience, including my 11-year-old son.

Another awesome experience was seeing how extremely happy my daughter was afterwords!  After the skits were done, she ran over and gave me a hug; she was very happy!  Then the next 15 minutes she was jumping around and running around the small group I was in.  It was very cute in that special way that a young girl that is excited and happy can be.

I can’t vouch for every Girl Scout event, but that one event on that one night was well worth the time to see.

Cheers,

MR