{"id":57673,"date":"2015-11-21T00:09:36","date_gmt":"2015-11-21T08:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/?p=57673"},"modified":"2015-11-21T00:09:36","modified_gmt":"2015-11-21T08:09:36","slug":"young-cultivators-merit-badge-thank-you-beginner-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/57673","title":{"rendered":"Young Cultivators Merit Badge: Thank You! Beginner Level"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tThe adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our<\/span> Sisterhood Merit Badge program<\/span><\/span><\/a>, now with\u00a06,724 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far\u20149,486 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Wondering who I am? I\u2019m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my<\/span> former life<\/span><\/span><\/a> \u2026\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

For this week\u2019s Young Cultivator Each Other\/Thank You! Beginner Level Merit Badge<\/u><\/a>, I enlisted my handy-dandy, go-to, MBA newbies, Piper and Andy. No, it wasn\u2019t just that they were the only two whippersnappers in my circle; it was actually their mother\u2019s idea.<\/p>\n

You see, she had noticed a bit of \u2026 well, negligent and perhaps slipshod behavior in her sweet little angels as of late.<\/p>\n

Okay, I candy-coated it. What she really said was,<\/p>\n

These gremlins who live with me and call me Mom have become entitled, selfish Twerpensteins with ATTITUDES. Suggestions?<\/em><\/p>\n

Suggestions? Boy howdy, was I the farmgirl for the job!<\/p>\n

You see, I too, have struggled with being negligent and slipshod <\/span>an entitled, selfish Twerpenstein, and have recuperated nicely.<\/p>\n

Hello, my name is MBA Jane and I am a recovering gremlin-with-an-attitude.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hello, Jane!<\/em><\/p>\n

I knew the root of the problem with the rugrats lay in their lackadaisical, cotton-pickin\u2019 hearts. They needed a job, a purpose, a sense of thankfulness.<\/p>\n

And maybe a cookie.<\/p>\n

\"\"

photo by Jason Lam via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

(Because everything\u2014including jobs, purposes, and merit badges\u2014go better with cookies).<\/p>\n

In order to earn their Beginner Level badge, they simply needed to start a Gratitude Journal.<\/p>\n

Easy peasy, lemon squeasy, righto? I mean, come on. Who doesn\u2019t like to journal things in cute, little, cloth-bound booklets?<\/p>\n

Evidently, Piper and Andy, that\u2019s who.<\/p>\n

You\u2019d think I was pulling their teeth or forcing them to drink kale juice. The sounds of whining coming from my kitchen table practically made my ears bleed, I kid you not.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Auntie!\u201d they cried, in unison, \u201cIt\u2019s SUMMER! School is over! We refuse to learn anything! Bloody murder! I won\u2019t do it! The pencil hurts my fingers! The paper smells weird! I need more cookies! This will give me Black Lung! You\u2019ll be sorry when we\u2019re dead!\u201d<\/p>\n

Yadda yadda yadda, etc. etc. etc., blah blah blah.<\/p>\n

Trust me: I\u2019ve toughened up since becoming an auntie. It\u2019s not a job for the faint of heart. You need a will of iron, a spine of steel, a big heart, and a whole lotta chocolate chips.<\/p>\n

After they realized I was not going to back down on this (and that their mother wasn\u2019t going to let them come home until their attitudes changed), they cracked open their journals and buckled down. Well, sorta. Andy banged his head on the table a few more times for good measure, but after it made his eyes cross and I didn\u2019t soften (but did hand him some ice), he sighed and got to work.<\/p>\n

They were kind enough to let me read their lists:<\/p>\n