What do I do for Thinking Day?

This question came up at the weekend. “I’ve only been doing this for two years and I don’t really know what to do with Thinking Day”.

Thinking Day, 22nd February, is Scouting and Guiding’s birthday, although the boys apparently call it Founder’s Day. (There are some countries where the units are mixed and the girls wear WAGGGS World badges and the boys wear purple WOSM badges – do they use both names interchangeably or does it depend who you’re talking to?). The date was chosen because it’s the joint birthday of Lord Baden-Powell and his wife Olave, the founders of the movements.

It’s a day when you think about your sisters around the world. That could manifest in many ways. In my district, we used to do a big day where we got together at a school or a big hall and every unit organised an activity based on a different country. We even did some bigger Division events occasionally. You’d probably do something in your unit meeting as well, probably something international-themed.

I’ve run our district Thinking Day a few times – too many times, you might say. A large-scale event like that works better with a committee but I’ve found myself doing it single-handed a few times. We did a Ranger-themed one in 2016 because everyone forgets the Senior Section and it was their centenary. It’s good to think about your older sisters as well as your sisters around the world. I’ve done some international ones as well.

Back in 2017, it finally occurred to me to celebrate at our local World Centre. The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts has five of them, in Switzerland, India, Mexico, Africa (I know it’s a continent, not a country. Kusafiri isn’t fixed and it moves around Africa to a different host country for each event) and our local one, Pax Lodge in London. I went for the weekend, I shared a room with adult Guides from Kent and Hong Kong and we did two or three sessions a day plus a campfire with various groups that came for the different days or sessions. I got a Norwegian Guide to write “Happy Thinking Day” for me in Norwegian, I exchanged badges with a Brownie unit from up north somewhere, I got my Pax Lodge pin and I earned my WAGGGS WTD badge.

Because that was something I hadn’t really realised until then. WAGGGS do an activity pack (with a badge!) every year based around a particular international activist theme. This year is the first of three based on Our World, Our Future and 2022 is specifically Our World, Our Equal Future – environmentalism meets gender equality. 2019-2021 covered themes on leadership, meeting diversity, equity, inclusion and peacebuilding. Our Region does an activity pack with a badge every year. Maybe your county does one.

So if you don’t fancy inventing activities based on countries around the world or using your imagination, you can download the WAGGGS pack and use their pre-planned activities and know that you’re doing exactly the same thing as other Guides and Brownies and Girl Scouts around the world while getting your girls to think about international issues, or use your region or county resources.

And of course, you can have a party! Someone I know online is doing a campfire tonight, where Guides of all ages will get together and sing, which is an old old thing and still one of the best ways to be together and to share your Guiding life. I know not everyone’s a keen singer, or not a keen public singer. I’m afraid I am. I love a campfire and I collect songs like I collect badges, so when we finish our district events with a couple of songs, I tend to get volunteered to lead them. Funny, when I was a Guide I was silent to the point of mute. Eleven-year-old me would have died imagining myself leading singing with 80-100 people. Adult me has become accustomed to it and now enjoys it. That’s personal growth and that’s come through being an adult leader.

Anyway, in conclusion: what you do about Thinking Day is entirely up to you but I reckon you should do something to get your girls thinking about how much bigger the movement is than the group that meets in your hall, or wherever you are, every Thursday, be it a sing-song together, a visit to a World Centre or a WAGGGS activity pack.

Happy Thinking Day and let me know in the comments what you’re doing this year, or what you’ve already done.