★ ☆ ★ ☆ Girl Power! ★ ☆ ★ ☆

Blog soundtrack:

Never Underestimate a Child

I have the privilege of being the Girl Scout Leader for a fourth grade troop. I have 22 girls in my troop and they are all high spirited and energetic.

Today we ventured to the YMCA in Hopkinton, MA for a High Ropes course. The girls have been waiting to do this for two years! Mother Nature was on our side and she provided us with a beautiful, just the right temperature kind of day. The girls were jumping around, laughing and playing Blob tag as a warm up game.

They then met with the facilitators, Cassie and Daniel, two young enthusiastic experts who were there to run the course. Cassie and Daniel made it clear to the girls that sitting out was not an option. The goal was to have the girls push themselves beyond their comfort zone, even if it meant just climbing to the top of the ladder rather than doing a tightrope walk 100 feet up in the air.

Eagerly, all the girls donned their, what they liked to call “diapers” which in fact were their harnesses. We started with the rock climbing wall. The goal was to make it to the top, give a “whoop” of victory and then the girls were to surrender their descent to the capable hands of Cassie and Daniel at the other end of the safety rope. Every girl did her best. Some made it to the top, some made it only as far as half way up (and that’s nothing to sneeze at!). Every girl pushed herself to do “one more step” above what she felt comfortable with.

The next exercise was a truly terrifying endeavor. The girls were to climb a retractable ladder on the side of a tree up to some large staples that they then continued climbing until they got to a wire, yes a wire hovering 100 feet up! There were two ropes they could hold onto that ran parallel to the wire, and they were supposed to walk from one tree to the anchor tree (about 150 feet long) on this tiny wire. You would NEVER have seen me up there!! But up there they went.

Some girls made it all the way some made it only up to the top of the ladder. A common theme for the girls who only made it part of the way before their survivor instinct took over was “Oh, I want to do it again. I know I can make it this time!!”

Our final exercise, Peony would like (and me, too) simply because it was called “the cat walk.” Again, the girls had to climb a ladder, up to some staples then climb the staples until they got to a wide beam that went from one tree to the next. They weren’t as high in the air this time, but they had nothing to hold onto as they walked across the beam to the other tree. The trickiest part of this exercise was maneuvering from the ladder/staples onto the beam. A great leap of faith came into play as the girls had to hug the tree they were climbing in order to get their bodies up on the beam and facing the right direction. Once they reached the other tree, they were instructed to hug it and give it a kiss!! My Girl Scouts love to be thought of as environmentalists!

Anyway, some girls went all the way up and across then flew downward with trusty Daniel on the other end of the line, and some girls only made it to the first staple. Two girls stood out in my mind. One was a thoughtful, natural leader who was terrified of the whole thing. She didn’t really want to participate in any of the activities; she was just too scared. And when she did try, she insisted no one cheer for her, and we all had to turn away and not look.

Well, she cut the line waiting to climb because the wait was making her too nervous. She started climbing the ladder. Two steps from the top, she yelled to Daniel that she didn’t want to go any further. He urged her on, saying “Are you sure? Can you take just one more step up?” And guess what. Not only did she take one more step up, she took another and got to the top of the ladder. We all thought that was it; she had done more than she or we thought she would do.

Then she listened to Daniel, dug deep within herself and got onto the staples. This might not seem like a big deal to you, but to her it was an accomplishment of epic proportions. Her face as she repelled down was indescribable. If you had asked her before the meeting if she thought she could have done that, she would likely have laughed in your face!

The other little girl, my little girl, started climbing like a squirrel. She got up the ladder, then the staples, then got her right foot on the beam. But then something happened. She started to think, and then she became afraid. Luckily, the YMCA hires some really great people. Daniel coaxed and coaxed her to hug the tree and get her left leg on the beam. And after what seemed like a really long time and with legs shaking, she did it!

Her original goal was to go half way down the beam before repelling down. She started scooching along, slowly but surely, keeping her head high and aimed at the opposite tree. She got to the halfway mark; everyone was cheering. She made it to the opposite tree, gave it a hug and a kiss, and then started back on the beam to where Daniel had them go to repel down. As she turned to make it to the jumping off place, you could see her legs shaking! Yet there she was 50 feet up, trying her best to complete the exercise. With a leap of faith, she followed Daniel’s directions, let go of the safety of the beam, and flew to the ground to rousing cheers from all the girls who were watching.

Now, some of the girls did these tasks with ease; it was great fun to see them, and when they came down from their exercises, some told me they flapped like chickens, some kicked their legs, and some pretended to be graceful birds. But for many of those girls, this was a huge stretch for them.

I believe they all came away with a renewed respect for their own ability to tackle and accomplish a goal and something that was hard for them. As for me, I was amazed and proud of every single girl; I knew watching them, that the future looked bright for this world with these courageous girls as our future leaders.

Guest Blogger Note: If you would like to be a guest blogger, contact me @ nantucket.alaska@gmail.com. You can remain anonymous if you are in the witness protection program or are just plain shy. ♥