Day 116 – Granola


Today was a girl scout meeting day. We decided to make no-bake granola bars with the girls. These bars are actually made by a nutritionist for the running group I belong too. To quote her, they have the right balance of carbs, sugars, fat and protein for a post-exercise snack. Since no one is allergic to peanuts, we made them.

These girls are drama queens – my own daughter included. Always – ALWAYS – we are dealing with behavior issues. So, today, as I spit them into two groups, I decided to make the girl who can cause issues if not engaged one group leader – and the quiet, smart girl the other group leader. She was with several “know-it-alls”.  Hanging out with teachers has rubbed off in terms of how to address things like this. All was going well, but …. and there always has to be a ‘but’…..one girls decided to be queen of the drama queens today. EVERYTHING was a complaint. EVERYTHING. The girls were excited with the activity – they were working together – they were making something with very little adult intervention which is cool with you’re 7. But underneath it all was this whining….whining that threatens to pull people off task and destroy the good work they were doing.

After we got done – and got cleaned up – we were going to go outside to check on the progress of the peas we planted a couple weeks ago. And in the midst of everyone getting ready, the incident that broke Emmy’s back occurred, and I was DONE. Queen Drama Queen got bumped. When the person who did it explained it was an accident, she wanted to hear nothing of it. And this went on for about 20 seconds too long.  I hate role playing, but decided that this was going to end. This unnecessary drama – the inability to “let go and move on”. So, we demonstrated how both the victim and the other person interact. Didn’t matter. It was still escalating. Girls were on both sides. The kids who caused the issue were kinda dumbfounded as they, for once, actually handled things correctly. And they were still being punished. 

Needless to say, we did not go outside for a few more minutes. I explained that they were not acting like girl scouts. The lack of respect for each other needed to end. There was too much fighting, not enough cooperation, not enough listening. In the end, things got better. I had seven girls sitting around with their heads hanging because they knew I was right – and most of them were guilty of it. (I have two girls who are great and who were celebrating the fact I had raised this finally.) The rest of the meeting ended without incident. Queen Drama Queen finally started coming off her throne, and the parents showed up making me thankful we were done.

I fucking abhor girl drama! And these girls remind me too much of the middle school girls I coached – the exception was that these are 7 years olds. I hate seeing 12-15 year old behavior this early. And, like DJ’s leader, I will do my best to make sure that my girl scouts are the exception to this kind of drama as they get older, not the instigators of it.

I will have to say I did get a great compliment today – from Garbanzo. He was amazed at how I handled it. And we agreed, if this needs to be a recurring lecture at each meeting, so be it. I can only hope that it helps the teachers too. I mean, I know the issues these same girls are causing in the classroom.

Oh, and as a bonus, here is the granola bar recipe. Freeze them for best results, in my opinion. They are habit forming, so beware. And a little does go a long way.

3 1/2 cups whole oats
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup milk
*1/2 cup cranberries
*1/2 cup raisins
*1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
cinnamon, nutmeg or other spices as you wish
optional vanilla extract

extra additions if you want to substitute for the * items above: flaked coconut, dried cherries, dates, ground flaxseed, wheat germ, orange zest

Blend all the ingredients together with a hand mixer. If mixture appears dry or crumbly, add more liquid (milk, honey); if it appears runny, add more oats. Smooth into a 13×9 pan and refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Cut into bite size or bar size pieces.

One Comment Add yours

  1. Way to go! You will get some beer this weekend!

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