Updated December 2022
If you have walked around any store in the past few weeks, you know that the holidays are all around you. While shopping in my local Walmart this past October, the trifacta of holidays were in full display, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It was like all three just blended into the other.
Whether you are a new Daisy leader or a veteran leader of older Scouts, you have choices to make that will either create a tradition that you may want to continue or create an atmosphere of leaving out some of the girls in the activities that you have planned.
Images from Ivorymix and Pixabay and altered by the author in Canva
What am I talking about?
I am talking about celebrating Christmas with your troop.
Girl Scouts is a non-denominational activity. It is not affiliated with any particular religious group. If you start celebrating religious holidays with your troop, it may be an issue to take away your traditions and celebration if a new girl joins your troop and she does not celebrate this December holiday (or may be agnostic or atheist and not celebrate any kind of religious holiday at all).
I am Jewish and do not celebrate Christmas. As the leader, I made the decision during our first year as a troop to not do anything related to this holiday or to do a gift exchange of any sort. My personal experience as a child with this was not a positive one, and with my older daughter’s troop, this activity proved to be a dud for some of the girls. The girls in my troop, both Jewish and Christian, received enough gifts and went to plenty of celebrations during the holiday season, so there was no reason to add another one. Instead, my troop always does a community service project in lieu of a party because there are so many others in need.
Image from Pixabay
Over the years, I have written several blog posts on this topic. If you are a new leader, you probably have not read them, and so I am bringing these to your attention so you can be inclusive and understanding to girls of different faiths (or no faith) in your group. If you are a seasoned leader, it does not hurt to try and understand what it is like to not be a part of your troop’s celebration.
Please do not assume that these girls families “won’t mind” you celebrating a holiday with them that they do not celebrate. Many are not like me and do not want to rock the boat and are afraid to have their child seen in an unkind light. They would rather stay silent and be upset at your lack of understanding. They do not want to be “that mom” and forever have you view her as the one who “ruined Christmas for the rest of the troop”.
Other December Meeting Ideas
In this blog post, 20 Activities Your Girl Scout Troop Can Do This Holiday Season, I share 10 things you can do with a troop that have nothing to do with the celebrating Christmas or Chanukah.
Image from Pixabay
Having Holiday Parties for Only One Holiday
In this blog post, I wrote about what I was reading from Facebook groups about what leaders had to say about this matter. I was floored at the insensitivity of some of these women and was inspired to share what it looked like from the other side of the fence. Girl Scouts is about inclusion above all else.
FYI-I had a friend take her daughter out of Girl Scouts because the leader did not listen to her when she said that her Christmas and Easter activities were not inclusive for her Jewish child. The leader did not care.
Image from Pixabay
Winter Craft Ideas
If you want to have a celebration, then the crafts need to be non-denominations. You can read here some fun winter crafts for your troop to do.
Being a Sensitive Leader
In this blog post, you can read my opinion on this matter and why December does not have to be all about Christmas, but it can be about giving to others.
Image from Pixabay
It is not difficult to be sensitive and inclusive to others during the holiday season. You are supposed to be a role model and teach your girls to be a sister to every Girl Scout. Excluding others is not a good way to go about this.
How do you handle the holiday season with your troop? Have you ever had an issue?
