Make ''Girl Scout'' Mean Health! Strength!
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Gl Vol. 4 APRIL.19!7 No.4 Make ''Girl Scout'' Mean Health! Strength! Joy! By Sally Lucas Jean, Health Consultant HAIRS and tables were beinc cardully ar The table is set for the purpose of feeding the fam ranced by teVeral girls in Girl Scout uni Oy; what is to be placed in the dishes l The interest of form as a visitor entered the CIOIIIIDunity the occasion is one that should not be lost; stress the bOUle of a c:rowded district one eveninc riaht foods and the vital part played by diet in accom • not long ago. They retUmecl the ltranl pliabing our desired goals. Make the lesson a definite er"s peetiog cordillly and one girl stepped forward of one; mention the details of a good menu and be sure it ferittl to -call the --captain, no 'WIS -engqecl in an ad is a well balanced meal, including mOk in some form, joining room. The visitor, really wanting an oppor green vegetables or fruit, perhaps both. The imagina tunity to be with the girls, said she would wait. After tion of the girls will quickly fill the plates, cups and her coat had been taken and the moat comfortable chair gl..es with the foods indicated. Very little guidance sugested, the girls went on with their preparations for wm prepare them to present a good breakfast, lunch or the meeting. Girl Scout hoste~~eal dinner menu for a faau1y of two adults and three chO A aal1 bed was 10, 10 carefully lifted from a doeet, dren. The discussion can readOy be directed toward a1moat reverendy handled, and the girls explained, "This the foods they themselves require. It p moat important is our 'demonstration bed'. We are going to learn bow to stress a few definite foods u essential for normal to make it so we can p• our test.'" Dishes, knives, growth, for beauty, for strength: milk, butter, fruit, forb, napkins, and other table appointments were con leafy vegetables. The setting of the table can thus be Yeniendy placed. come the center of a fundamental health project. The capable captain arrived and the meeting began. Sleep, enough sleep for growing chOdren, is one of the Interest, and an earnest desire to follow directions, moat difticult accomplishments with which we are faced to participate properly, were evident, though securing here in America. proper equipment wu obviously somewhat of a problem. Dr. Thomas D. Wood gives the following u mini The captain knew the resoui'Ciel of her troop and plans mum requirements: far JNJrcbaaing this and that were auggated in practical Girls from 10-11 yean old should sleep 11 houn fasbibL •• •• 12-13 •• .. •• •• 10~ •• Then came the setting of the table. These potential •• •• 14-1S .. •• •• •• 10 •• women, learning bow to perform properly one of the com •• •• 16-17 .. •• •• .. 9 .. monplace functions of a homemaker, were • excited • The interest in bedmaking can be used as a medium tbouda preparing for a basketball game. for carryinr over 10111e definite instruction and enthu Then came the bed-baking. The interest wu in siasm for using a bed wisely and well. What sleep does creued, largely because the materials to be bandied were for us and bow much better we feel when we have as miniature-email sheets, blankets. pnlow alipe-we much sleep u we require, is the direction the dilcussion all love small reproductions of faau1iar objects and espe should take. Be very sure that each girl leaves the room cially is this true of chOdren. conlcious of the number of boun she requires for growth These performances are famniar to you all but I and accomplishment. want to stress h~"" thl"ir relation to our health Pl'Oiftlll Girl Scouting bas made it courageous to walk and for they offer all leaden an important basis for health exercise in the open air and what a splendid uhievement teacbinR. this is, a great step in advance for American woman- 2 THE GIRL SCOUT LEADER hood, but we still have to impress upon our Girl Scouts the out-of-doors, take long walkb, and keep a health rec the importance of rest and sleep. ord." These are all factors in a health program but are It requires real fortitude to lie down a full half hour not enough to insure a healthy body. hefore or after meals, as may be ordered by a physician, The all-round health program includes: yet we have not, up to the present, evolved an honor for An annual physical examination (see article by Dr. this really self-~acrificing and self-controlled act. It has Donald B. Armstrong in the January, 1926, number of been found that rest is one of the most important fac the LEADER) . tors in bringing children below weight for height and Correction· of physical defects. age up to average weight and it is most worth while for Personal health practices, such as eating green leafy the growing girl to maintain her average weight. vegetables, fruit and taking milk, in some form, every One of the simplest ways to sustain interest in sleep, day. well balanced meals and other personal health practices, Cleanliness within and without. is to have a pair of scales available in the meeting room. Clean, sound teeth. If this is not practicable you can have a record sheet on Exercise and rest in their proper relation. which the girls enter their individual weights month Sufficient sleep. ly, always comparing them to the weight for height and The new health questions and answers department in age standard. Friendly rivalry among the girls who The LEADER offer you an opportunity to secure assistance especially need to gain adds zest to the game. in developing the health program of your troop. This A group of Girl Scouts were asked if they thought has been planned to meet some of the problems leadel"i Girl Scouts wrre healthier than other girls and they im are facing and to help bring nearer the day when Girl mediately chorused yes. When questioned and stimu Scouts will be synonymous with health! strength I and lated into thought they said "because Girl Scouts love joy! First of all, she can have a very definite idea about Yarns why she wants to yarn and what she hopes to give her We borrow the following from The Girl Guide Gar.ette Guides through her yarns. I can suggest three good because it applies to us all as captains. It points out the reasons for yarning:- captain's shining opportunity for keeping her touch with her (I) For the fun of it-sitting round the Camp Fire girls alive and meaningful and for opening and stimulating ( real or imaginary) , resting after a busy day (or meet their minds. In reading substitute Girl Scout for "Guide", ing) -a collection of cheerful, like-minded people sit ~nd J.LD.DP for "company". ting around in happy comrade:.hip. HEN we started Guidin11:, yarn-telling was (2) For trying to develop the artistic sense of your the method chiefly advocated. Its possibili company, trying to get them to recognize a good tale ties were put before us at every conference. when they hear it, and to cultivate a desire for well · It scared most of us stiff. It frightened told stories. Under this head comes also the desire to • some of us off. Some of us tried very hard widen their interests and make them notice nature and to use this method. 'Ve sat our long-suffering companies art and current events. down upon the ground and, with a thumping heart and (3) For teaching Guide Spirit and the Guide point a dry tongue, we told them the sort of tales we thought of view about life. ' they ought to like. And because they were very new Never try to tell a yarn from a sense of duty. You and rather shy and very conscious of having promised to must do it because there is something which you are so keep the Guide Laws (including the fifth), they heard keen about yourself that your most urgent desire is to us out politely but heaved a sigh of relief when it was pass your pleasure on to the children you love. Per over. So did we. Gradually we gave it up altogether. haps you will say that you have searched and searched There seemed to be plenty of other things to do. through the books which are recommended for Camp And yet ... and yet ... hasn't the passing of yarn Fire yarns and that you have not been able to find a ing perhaps got something to do with the coming of effi single story which inspires you in this way. Well, the ciency (in its least desirable sense) ? Perhaps your com real answer to the question, "What on earth shall I pany has grown up and become a collection of rather yarn about?" is, "Anything in the world which really sophisticated young ladies with gleaminf! rows of Ser interests you-birds or raffia-work or Angora rabbits or vice Stars. It is useless to trv on them the obvious sort Shakespeare or artificial respiration; it doesn't matter of Guide story. Can't you- imagine the chorus that what it i~. so long as you yourself are rrally keen about would greet you? "Oh, come off it, Captain, tell us it." ~omething lively I" Neither will the very delightful type Keep on pondering over the Guide Law with its ap of nature myth meet the case. Your little ones will en plication to yourself and to your company, keep on be joy hearing "Why the evergreen trees never lose their ing interested in all sorts of things outside Guiding, leaves." But your fifteen-year-olds will be frankly bored keep on reading widely, and, week after week, keep oo -unless, unlt-ss you are extra specially good at telling telling your Guides what you have been learning and such stories and can do it in a really delightful way.