One of the most important things you can do as a leader is set a good example. There is a lot of training out there to help you learn about how to be a leader, but, in my opinion, all that you need to know is in the Girl Scout Promise and Law. As easy as that sounds, it is really the most difficult part of being a leader.

A leader can be taught the lyrics to any Girl Scout song and can Google the internet to find some creative craft ideas, but demonstrating the core principles of Girl Scouting is more important, and there is no training that teaches one how to live the promise and the law.

The law point of "to be fair" has recently been on my mind in that I've witnessed some incidents that cried out for a adult to step and demonstrate the right thing to do.

At one recent Girl Scout event, several girls in a troop, wearing their uniforms, pushed into the middle of a long line that had been forming for over a half hour. To make matters worse, the people in line behind them (non-Girl Scouts) were so upset that they began by complaining to the Girl Scout leader, and when that did not result in action, they called event security. "To be fair" is in the first line of the Girl Scout law. In this case, the complaining adults were justified in noting that the leader was not teaching the girls to be good citizens by insisting that they line up at the end of the line, not in the middle, ahead of people who had been waiting for long period of time.

Another troubling issue to me is events that are non-inclusive. According to the Girl Scout website, "Girl Scouts of the USA is the world's preeminent organization dedicated solely to girls--all girls--where, in an accepting and nurturing environment, girls build character and skills for success in the real world." To me, a key here is that it is accepting of ALL GIRLS. That means that if there is a child in your troop who cannot afford to attend certain troop events, the troop steps in as an equalizer or the troop does not attend.

Likewise, if a Girl Scout event is not open to ALL girls, it shouldn't be a GS-sponsored event. My Junior troop has recently struggled with our Council's policy on excluding girls without fathers or significant male role models in their lives from "Father/Daughter" events. Even when I was a child, we had these special events but even girls without fathers, uncles, brothers, or grandfathers were welcome with the adult of their choice who could be female.

Today this exception seems even more important to me. In the 21st century, there are many single-parent households and excluding a girl from an event for a divorce or a death that was in no way her fault smacks of discrimination. It is frankly a crime that an organization run by women has failed to recognize that women sometimes serve as both mothers and fathers.

To round out this account of the struggle we have had and my admittedly strong opinions on the policy, I will conclude with my girls' responses to this situation. At seven, my Brownie daughter concluded "it's not fair" when I explained that one of her friends could not attend and why. My ten-year-old Junior and all of her troop mates not only said it wasn't fair but also concluded that "to be a sister to every Girl Scout," NONE of them would attend rather than leave their sister troop members at home. What I found sad, however, is that the issue that was so clear to the girls was not equally clear to the adults who have crafted this exclusion and upheld it to the detriment of the girls in their Council.