The Brownies go to MIT
On Saturday morning I took Chloe to a girl scout event; well, brownies – over at MIT. Some women there wanted to demonstrate to girls how much fun science can be and hopefully get them thinking of science as a viable career path.
It was fun!
Mostly.
We left early and had breakfast at McDonald’s – just a dad and his girl. She loved every second of it, I think. And I have to admit that she’s really good company. I’ve always liked bringing her along on any errands I have. We found parking just fine and managed to get to the student center without any trouble.
There were little girls EVERYwhere! They were all eight years old, more or less and I anticipated a lot of giggling and shrieking and running around, but there really wasn’t any of that. They really kept themselves under control all morning. The girls from MIT who were running the show took over a dining room and split girls in to four groups. One activity was optical illusions, another was making play-dough from household materials. A third had to do with magnets and the fourth had the girls using baking soda and vinegar to fill a balloon with some kind of gas.
Chloe loved it. She was very interested in it and participated very completely. She was always right in the thick of things.
I was amused to see some of the gender differences between 150 little girls and 150 little boys. For one thing, they mostly stayed in their seats, or at least at their tables. Nobody hit any body. Nobody kicked anybody. I saw some tears, but they weren’t because someone had been smacked upside the skull.
At one point, the woman in charge was trying to get the girls organized for snack. She announced that it was snack time and asked everyone to please get in to lines so they could receive their juice and crackers and whatnot.
I cringed and looked away!
“AMATUER!!” I thought to myself. “What are you doing?! You can’t do that!”
Based on my years of experience AS a boy and my time spent working with boys in cub scouts and boy scouts I knew that the kids would all storm the snack tables and start hording as much stuff for themselves as possible. I had visions of cub scouts scrambling over tables and grabbing as many juicy juice boxes as possible for themselves while kicking away competitors. There would be crying and gnashing of teeth. Injuries would ensue. Have you ever wondered why boy scouts spend so much time on first aid? I assumed that it was because when you put that many kids together in one place that injuries (intentional and otherwise) naturally follow. In short, I foresaw a terrible and tragic bloodbath of little girls.
I was wrong.
Very wrong.
You’ll never guess what happened. The girls lined up.
Seriously. That’s what they did. They stood one behind the other in what is commonly acknowledged to be a “line”. There was no horde. There no riot. I saw little girls walk up to the table and start passing fruit roll ups down the line to make sure their little compatriots all received a proper ration of snacks (get this) BEFORE themselves!!
What sort of madness is this?!
Insanity!
At one point “Tim” the MIT beaver mascot came out for pictures with the girls. Again, they all lined up to get their picture taken with Tim. I assumed he would be mobbed and kicked and beaten in to cooperation.
Not so!
Tim was safe with these girls.
So I had a revelation about how girls are with each other. Sure, maybe I can’t stand the group-hug with which they terminate their meetings. But in the long run it seems like a much more civilized way to behave.
Chloe had a great time and spent some quality time with Dad. So I would mark it as a success.
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