Were you a girl scout or brownie leader? Give me your advice...

Anonymous
OP here -- thanks for all the great ideas and advice. Please keep it coming!

Anonymous
OP you are getting great advice!

I was a Daisy leader this year. I agree that the Journeys as written seem really boring and below the level of our girls. We did the Animals Journey and it just seemed to go on for EVER.

The only thing you can do is just not take them seriously. Treat them as a general theme, not to be taken literally. Did the girls learn a little something new, that they couldn't learn in school? Did they have FUN? Hand out the patch.

I also agree it was hard to have two grade levels in the same troop, the way these flower patches and Journeys are written.

I think it is best to just stick with one grade level, one group of girls, and build up a good community of parents to support you, especially if you and a co-leader are willing to put in a few years. You definitely need someone to do camping training and first aid training, someone to handle the budget and paperwork.

Anonymous
13:03 here.

I agree with all the other posters. Especially 9:17. Don't take it too seriously, and begin as you wish to go on. If you start out all gung-ho and spend your own money, do all the work without asking for help, etc., it's what the parents will expect of you and it will wear you down FAST! set limits on the amount of time/effort you are willing to spend. Anything beyond that would need to be implemented by the parents. For example "here's the list of field trips for the year. If you have another idea, feel free to plan one for the troop. I'll work with you to figure out if troop funds will pay or if we need to raise extra money." Make sure the girls know that their year is over when the money is gone. If they don't want to sell cookies or do any other fund raisers, their year will likely be over by January.

Just see how you like it that first year. You've heard horror stories about certain councils and parents. Maybe you will have similar experiences, but maybe you won't. After that first year, you will know if you want to return again. I was always pretty happy with my troop parents. A co-leader would have been great, but as long as I had a cookie mom and a camping mom, I was ok with doing the rest. I pretty much ignored council. I paid attention to crucial info from the meetings, but never participated in their events. We didn't have mandatory international day like the PP.
Anonymous
OP here again:

I have a couple of questions. I see now that there are "new" badges and "discontinued" badges. Can we do the old/discontinued badges and ignore the "new" badges if we want? There are a number of discontinued badges that I'd like to do. Also, is there any rule about doing a badge from another council?

Lastly, I see in the safety checkpoints that there are activities that are "not recommended" for certain ages (i.e. daisies and brownies) and then there are activities that are "prohibited" for certain ages. If an activity is "not recommended" can we still do it? It seems that there must be a difference b/t "not recommended" and "prohibitted."

Anonymous
21:12/22:41 here. Regarding badges, we have designed activities for the troop - with the input of the girls - and only AFTER several "units" worth of activities do we look back and consider which badges the girls have earned. We have done almost none of the "recommended" activities for the badges - I have the book and I check every now and then, but my co-leader and I feel that our activities, designed by the girls with our input and guidance, are much richer and more meaningful than those we see listed. We definitely do not correspond 1:1 activity:badge. Usually a series of sessions around a topic merits a badge or sometimes two, but we have tapered off a lot on badges as our troop has matured. We do not find that the girls need or even see the badges as motivators.

Also, I will admit that I have never read the full "rules" of anything so I am sure we are in violation of GS rules all the time. Our troop is careful about adult:child ratios and careful about the buddy system, but other than that, we are really laid back. My co-leader and I share a deep interest in the troop and its development but less interest in "Girl Scouts" as a larger entity except as it enriches our girls' experience (i.e. through Thinking Day, which our girls love). It's possible we will get more "organization" oriented as the girls grow older, but right now, our troop is pretty much about itself and what the pledge and promise mean to our girls, rather than being part of a larger entity. We do community service but more as a troop than as part of our service unit. I don't even attend service unit meetings so I have no idea what we "should" be doing on that front.

We did do cookie sales this year for the first time, but ONLY because another mom agreed to do the cookie thing and also, we did not do incentives but instead allowed the girls to sell together, which was very fun for them and meant that there was no competition - it was all the spirit of doing it for the troop. It really worked well for us.

Overall, we leaders got into this because we wanted our daughters and the troop to have a wonderful and meaningful scouting experience. We did not get into this to be hampered by a large organization and its rules. Hope this is helpful.
Anonymous
[quote=Anonymous
Overall, we leaders got into this because we wanted our daughters and the troop to have a wonderful and meaningful scouting experience. We did not get into this to be hampered by a large organization and its rules. Hope this is helpful.

OP again: This is how I felt, but then I started reading all the rules and I got the feeling that the council level is really more of a roadblock for doing things that the troop wants to do. However, being new to the leadership role, I don't want to screw up and get in trouble. That's why I'm trying to get a feel for how a troop works in reality. Thanks.



Anonymous
OP, the rules and regs are there for your protection in the event of being sued.

If you decide to take the girls horsebackriding or rockclimbing, and something bad happens -- GS USA insurance will cover you IF You have been following all the rules. If not, you will be on your own.

I think not recommended means -- most girls this age wouldn't be able to handle it. It's something you would want to look at and be sure you had a group of girls that had the experience and background to handle the activity safely.

Anonymous
Want to know why the new Girl Scout programs stink?

Here's info from the GSUSA website explaining the new Girl Scout Leadership Experience (the philosophy behind the new Journeys and new programs.)

"Developmental Assets?" "Outcomes"? "Search Institute Assets??"



http://www.girlscouts.org/research/publications/gsoutcomes/

The Girl Scout Leadership Experience (GSLE) sets forth a bold and aspirational model of leadership that encourages girls to Discover, Connect, and Take Action to make their world a better place. The GSLE framework specifies 15 outcomes – behaviors, attitudes, skills and values – that develop girls of courage, confidence and character.

This toolkit, Mapping the Girl Scout Leadership Experience Outcomes to the Search Institute's Youth Developmental Assets, summarizes and explains the links between the 15 GSLE outcomes and the Search Institute's 40 Developmental Assets. The Search Institute's framework, which provides a comprehensive guide to the overall supports required for positive and healthy youth development, is widely used in community, youth development, and philanthropic organizations.

By establishing the links between Girl Scout outcomes and Developmental Assets, this toolkit allows users to speak in a more common language and to identify broader connections between Girl Scout programming and the goals of funders and other community partners that use the Search Institute's Assets framework.
Anonymous
PP again -- it's like No Child Left Behind took over the Girl Scouts.

http://www.girlscouts.org/research/pdf/gsle_asset_map_2012.pdf

There's not a single "Outcome" listed that is any tangible skill or activity -- like "Girl Scouts will learn to build a fire, cook a meal, bait a hook, tie a knot, paddle a canoe."

It's all a bunch of touchy feely jargon to help find grant money for programs.

YUCK!


Example 1: Connecting Girl Scout Summer Camp Activities with Funding Priorities

EXAMPLE: DROPOUT PREVENTION
By participating in summer camp, girls:
D1 – Develop a strong sense of self
C2 – Promote cooperation and team building
D3 – Gain practical life skills (including the ability to make healthy life choices)
.
STEP 1: IDENTIFY Funder’s Priorities/ Objectives from the documents they provide.
STEP 2: IDENTIFY 3-5 GSLE Outcomes that are most strongly addressed by the Girl Scout program you are implementing. [Consult Transforming Leadership for a complete description of the GSLE Outcomes.]
STEP 3: LOCATE statements that explain the connection between the GSLE Outcomes and Assets that seem most relevant to funding priorities. [Copy/paste statements from GSRI Assets Map: Explanation View.]
STEP 4: CUSTOMIZE AND ADAPT the language in these Explanations to directly address the funder’s priority/objective. Be sure to reference the activities girls will do (and/or the processes they will experience) to achieve the GSLE outcomes.
Example
Relating D1 to Resistance Skills: Girls with a strong sense of self have confidence, autonomy, and a positive identity they wish to preserve. All of these may help them to resist negative peer pressure. Relating D1 to Positive View of Personal Future: Recognizing one's abilities and strengths enables girls to feel confident about what they can achieve. Rather than being paralyzed by insecurities, girls with a strong sense of self have the confidence to meet difficult challenges and overcome barriers that may be encountered as they pursue their goals.
Relating D3 to Resistance Skills: As girls learn to make healthy choices with regard to managing their emotions and physical and sexual behavior, they may be more committed to making better choices and to resisting unhealthy behaviors.

Examples of Customized Language for proposal or pitch:
Girls will develop a stronger sense of self by successfully completing activities and mastering tasks they thought they might not be able to accomplish (e.g., hiking, swimming, science and math activities) and by leading activities. Girls who recognize their value and strengths are less likely to drop out of school. Girls will gain teamwork by participating in activities (such as challenge courses and canoeing) in which they are required to work together effectively in order to succeed. Being able to work well with others and approach problems with a "can-do attitude" will help girls negotiate potential difficulties in school and avoid social alienation which could lead them to drop out.
Anonymous
As far as I know, the girls can still earn the old badges as long as you can find them. My girls are 5th graders and this is our last year, so we only worked on old badges this year. i found them on ebay and other websites. Are your girls Daisies? Not sure you can pull it off for 6 or so years, but you might as well start out that way and consider switching over to the new program when (if) they work out the kinks.

the thing about GS is that nobody is really looking over your shoulder. You can do whatever you want, really. As long as you fall in line with safety and finances, they will completely leave you alone. I know there are some troops that never ever do badges. I believe there isn't a rule against it.

As your troop gets older (assuming they are little), you should know that you will need to do a journey at the junior level if you might have some girls who are very serious about GS. The highest honor of GS is the Gold Award which they earn at Ambassador level. In order to get that, they first have to earn the bronze award at the junior level (and the silver at cadette). I was told that a journey is required to earn each award. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.
Anonymous
My girls will be 3rd grade brownies -- they did one jouney this year as 2nd graders (I wasn't the leader). I will take over in Aug., so I'm trying to get info. on whether we should do a journey again or not. Looking at the ideas for try-its on line gave me lots of ideas... and then I realized that a lot of those try-its (now badges) are retired. I found one really cool one called "Every Vote Counts" from another council. With the presidential election this year, I'd like to do something related to voting/citizenship and get that badge if it's o.k. to do so. The space explore badge, math fun, and science in action are others that I'd like to do. All are discontinued/retired.

I can see how doing the discontinued badges might not be feasible down the road. Just thinking of the upcoming year .... I don't want to cause a problem for my brownies if wearing the discontinued badges is forbidden.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:PP again -- it's like No Child Left Behind took over the Girl Scouts.

http://www.girlscouts.org/research/pdf/gsle_asset_map_2012.pdf

There's not a single "Outcome" listed that is any tangible skill or activity -- like "Girl Scouts will learn to build a fire, cook a meal, bait a hook, tie a knot, paddle a canoe."

It's all a bunch of touchy feely jargon to help find grant money for programs.

YUCK!



That's what has been bothering me about the Girl Scouts. I also do Cub Scouts and I love the books. I may reuse my son's old Tiger book and adapt the activities for the Journeys for my Daisys. I believe that tangible and real skill activities are important.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:My girls will be 3rd grade brownies -- they did one jouney this year as 2nd graders (I wasn't the leader). I will take over in Aug., so I'm trying to get info. on whether we should do a journey again or not. Looking at the ideas for try-its on line gave me lots of ideas... and then I realized that a lot of those try-its (now badges) are retired. I found one really cool one called "Every Vote Counts" from another council. With the presidential election this year, I'd like to do something related to voting/citizenship and get that badge if it's o.k. to do so. The space explore badge, math fun, and science in action are others that I'd like to do. All are discontinued/retired.

I can see how doing the discontinued badges might not be feasible down the road. Just thinking of the upcoming year .... I don't want to cause a problem for my brownies if wearing the discontinued badges is forbidden.


I could be wrong but -- I don't think wearing the discontinued badges is a problem. It's just that as they run out of the badges, no more are being produced, so the girls won't be able to buy them anymore.

They are coming out with new badges for most of the age levels. They are listed in the Girls Guide to Scouting. But I canot find an actual list of them.

Here's a discussion of a few of them:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/10/12/141276815/new-girl-scout-badges-offer-different-choices-to-smart-cookies

This one sounds really ... touchy feely....

Perhaps the most intriguing-sounding new badge is one called The Science Of Happiness. Developed with help from a psychology researcher, it calls on girls to work for one month on a strategy generally believed to increase personal happiness — Niehaus suggests, for instance, being forgiving towards others — and then evaluating its effects on their psychological well-being.
Anonymous
If I was leading again this coming school year, I would figure out which discontinued badges I wanted to work on and I'd buy them asap. I would not go anywhere near the new program yet. I believe it's a train wreck so far. Nothing wrong with the girls wearing old badges. I'm sure GS actually wants them sell them! If anyone questioned it (they won't), I would just say you're waiting until they fine tune the new program and until you can afford to buy all the new stuff!
Anonymous
I finally found something online about the new Brownie badge activity sets:

http://www.girlscoutsnorcal.org/documents/Brownie_World_Girls_BAS.pdf

This one is from the Journey: The World of Girls


Letter Boxing
Pets
Making Games
Inventor
Making Friends


Journey: Brownie Quest
http://www.girlscoutsnorcal.org/documents/Brownie_Quest_BAS_.pdf

Family Story ( learn to tell a family story)
Home Scientists (do some experiments at home)
Computer Expert
Dancer (learn a new dance)
My Best Stuff (healthy habits)
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