"That" Mom

No mom wants to be "that" mom. You know, the difficult mom that everyone hopes won't show up at activities or volunteer for their committee. I try really hard to be the supportive, hard working, not-afraid-to-get-my-hands-dirty, volunteer mom, but tonight I think I became "that" mom.


Tonight was Danielle's first Daisy meeting. This is the Girl Scout program for girls in K & 1st. Danielle had a nice time. Tonight they focused on learning the GS Promise, did a related craft, learned a couple songs, and read a story. The songs are where the problem started. First, though, here are Danielle's craft illustrations of the 3 parts of the GS Promise. I love her drawings.


Here is Danielle and God.

Here is Danielle welcoming home the soldiers like we did this past summer. (She liked the guys on motorcycles who were leading the way for the buses.)

Here is Danielle tying a friend's shoe. (She was the designated "shoe tie-er" in her kindergarten class.)

The girls learned Make New Friends, which I remember learning the one short year I was in Brownies. No problem with that song. The one I had a problem with, though, was supposed to go like this:

I wear my pink pajamas in the summer when it's hot

I wear my flannel nighty in the winter when it's not

And sometimes in the springtime and sometimes in the fall

I jump into my bed with nothing on at all

That's the time when you should see me

That's the time when you should see me

That's the time when you should see me

When I jump into my bed with nothing on at all

Nosy, nosy what's it to ya?

Nosy, nosy what's it to ya?

Nosy, nosy what's it to ya?

When I jump into my bed with nothing on at all.

I didn't realize it at the time, but the lady teaching the song changed the words somewhat. Instead she sang about "playing between the sheets with nothing on at all" and "Glory, glory what's it to YOU?!". It was enough that it really sounded much worse than just reading the lyrics as they're written here - which I'm still not crazy about. When you add the disturbing body movements she included while singing it, it just seemed to be the wrong setting for such a song. Of all the fun Girl Scout songs to sing, I'm not crazy about Danielle singing about jumping around naked between the sheets, telling people they should look at her, and then asking "what's it to ya?" For the record, the other 2 moms I was sitting with cringed, too.

I really didn't want to be "that" mom, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt like I had to be. It's my responsibility as Danielle's mom to decide what I think is appropriate for her and to take a stand when necessary, even if no one else agrees (and I know there will be someone who reads this who thinks I'm overreacting). It's also important to raise a daughter who is not afraid to stand up for what she believes, even when no one else stands with her. So, afterward I approached the song leader and asked if we could not sing that song anymore. Guess what? I became "that" mom. The lady was dumbfounded and just stared at me. Finally she said, "It's a very traditional Girl Scout song." I replied that with so many traditional Girl Scout songs to pick from, maybe we could pick something that didn't talk about little girls being naked between the sheets or being rude. The lady just stared at me with her mouth hanging open ...for quite awhile actually. Our "conversation" ended when she finally turned around and walked away. I could have handled an adult conversation about the song, and was even willing to accept that they might still choose to sing it despite my opinion, but there was no discussion. Just pouting. And I'm the one who left feeling bad. I was "that" mom.

Later I got an email from the GS leader, stating they felt that song was a poor song choice and that they would be more careful to screen their songs in the future.