My five year old daughter joined the Daisy Troop of the Girl Scouts in Shanghai. Their next exciting event is the World Thinking Day.
World Thinking Day (WTD), or Thinking Day is celebrated each year on February 22 by all Girl Scouts around the world. It is a day when they think about their sister girl scouts in all other countries, a day to celebrate international friendships, a reminder that Girl Scouts of the USA is a part of a global community. It is basically a special day to think of each other and give thanks to each other.
The theme for World Thinking Day 2013 is “together we can save children’s lives”, based on the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals, one of which being to reduce child mortality rates around the world.
The local Girl Scouts in Shanghai celebrates this day on Saturday, February 23.
For the Thinking Day Swaps, the Daisy troop decided to make pins. My friend Sophie, the co-leader/mom came up with this idea, since I don’t have the tiniest craft bone in my body.
Listening attentively …
Last week we got together in our home for a little craft fun, to make pins.
To make sure the girls know what this is all about, Sophie asked the girls what World Thinking Day is, what it is about, and what the Swaps is about, etc.
This is part of the conversation:
Sophie: So if another girl scout comes up to you and wants to swap something with you that is not so pretty, or you don’t like, what do you do? Would you swap with her?
Girl 1: No …
Girl 2: Not really … because hers is not good.
Girl 1: Definitely not something ugly. No, I won’t swap.
Girl 3: Not me either. I don’t want to swap.
Sophie: Well, let’s do a little role play. … I have some real cool stuff here, and yours is not so cool …. Suppose you want to swap with me, I say no to you, how is that supposed to make you feel?
Girls: Not so good …
After the role play, all the girls realized it is not considerate of them to reject the other girl’s not-very-cool craft, which is against The Girl Scouts Law.
With a little prodding and prompting, the girls exchanged more ideas about the Thinking Day, the Swaps and the significance of it … followed by craft making.
All kinds of grains – black rice, mung beans, red beans, black beans, soy beans, lentils – are glued to the pins.
My daughter’s favorite pattern: lentils with a red bean at the center.
After everybody left, I said to my daughter, “It’s so great you learned all about World Thinking Day, so what is it about?” Proudly, she declared, “It’s about exchanging for things you don’t like!”
I honestly hope my friend Sophie won’t see this particular post – she has put so much effort instilling the WTD spirit in the girls, mine included!
What a great post! Love the photos!!!!
Thank you!
Your friend Sophie’s breath and your effort might not have been wasted entirely. You at least helped the girls change their perspective — a little baby step towards altruism, I suppose. (-;
Yes, they had lots of fun trying crafts.