Were you a girl scout or brownie leader? Give me your advice...
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Anonymous
| My daughter just decided to stop. She has no interest in jouneys and bronze stars. She wants to go camping and be outside like her cub scout brother. |
Anonymous
I really see the distinction starting to take place between boys and girls -- with boys people/parents/leaders assume that you have to keep them ACTIVELY involved or trouble will ensue. With girls, they want to talk and share and read, but not much active DOING. |
Anonymous
PP, I think I was at least one of the leaders who said she just did meetings "her own way". Just for the record though, I am a life long Brownine- Senior/ Gold Award Girl Scout. I led a Cadette troop while in in college. I was thrilled to have a girl so she could be involved in Girl Scouting! Oh, and I have taught elementary school for 13 years so I am really familiar with this age group. I started off as a Daisy leader and the Journeys just really stunk, as written. I *did* look at the materials, but I could tell that they were NOT going to hold the girls' interest, as written. I searched on line and found that MANY other experienced leaders were having the same reaction all around the country. And in at least some cases, the response from GSUSA and their Councils was "Change is hard." But no recognition that this particular change was really a misstep. Which I truly feel it was. So when I say that we do our own thing -- it is because I care about Scouting. I want all my Daisies to bridge to Brownies. I don't want to lose them because they meetings were "just like school" which, if you look at the materials and the "lesson plans" being given to support them, they really, truly are. |
Anonymous
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Here's a great idea of something to do with your Girl Scouts next fall:
http://www.gshike.org |
Anonymous
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Back in the day, the troops at my school mostly did not do badges as a group. We did them with our parents, if we wanted them, and then reported on them to the leader.
Meetings were for crafts and games and socializing and field trips. We camped a lot. |
Anonymous
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Wel always did badges as part of meetings.
Once we reached Cadettes, we split up into patrols depending upon which badge we wanted to work on, though. But Jrs we did badge work together. Can't remember if Brownies earned badges back then! |
Anonymous
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I just wanted to post a "Summer Catch Up" Program I created for two new Daisys that will join our troop in the fall. I had my troop work on petals the first year and we will work on journeys the second year. The program is based upon what we did as a troop the first year. If anyone has suggestions or ideas to make the journeys more interesting, I would love to hear them.
Week 1: Daisy Circle. Have a personal meeting with the scout, discuss what being a Daisy and a Girl Scout means. Memorize the Girl Scout Promise. Week 2: First Petal: Lupe "Honest and Fair" Read Lupe's story. Play a game with your Daisy, explaining the importance of following the rules. Let her explain the rules of the game to you, even if you have played the game before. Week 3: Second Petal: Sunny "Friendly and Helpful" Read Sunny's story. Please go over the points mentioned at the following website: http://daisyscouts.org/petals/YellowPetal.shtml Your daughter can practice being friendly and helpful at home. Even a simple chore can give your daughter a sense of accomplishment. Week 4: Third Petal Zinni "Considerate and Caring" Read Zinni's story. Your daughter can donate old toys or clothes, care for a pet, or write a thank you card to a their kindergarten teacher. Week 5: Fourth Petal: Tula "Courageous and Strong" Read Tula's story. Make sure your daughter knows her phone number and address. Ask your daughter about her own injuries. Then make a list of the types of injuries mentioned and add a few of your own, including scrapes, cuts, black and blue marks, and burns. Ask children to discuss how they could have prevented their injuries. Elicit responses about being more careful, listening to parents and guardians, moving more slowly, staying away from hot areas, never using knives, and staying away from cut glass. Show your daughter a first aid kit, and explain that there are several ways to treat an injury that occurs. Hold up an adhesive bandage from the first aid kit, and ask students what its use is. Then ask them what else they can do to help heal the injuries that you listed. For example, they might mention that you should keep a cut clean and keep the bandage on, that you should put a small burn under cold water, or that you should put an ice pack on a black and blue mark to keep it from swelling. Explain the importance of alerting an adult about an injury. Week 6: Fifth Petal: Mari "Responsible for what I say and do" Read Mari's story. Abigail Van Buren said "If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders." Ask your child what responsiblities they have in their life. Being a good daughter, a good student, and a good sister are all good responsibilities. You also could have your Daisy read the story "The Boy Who Cried Wolf." Ask them what they think the story is about, then explain what might happen in real-life situations if they lie or exaggerate. To demonstrate "think before you speak," give the girls small tubes of toothpaste. Tell them to squeeze the toothpaste out as fast as they can, then ask them to put it back into the tube. This easy visual helps them understand that hurtful words spoken in haste are not easily taken back. Week 7: Sixth Petal: Gloria "Respect myself and others" Read Gloria's story. The focus is good manners show that you have respect for yourself and others. Let your daughter plan a small afternoon tea, create and deliver invitations (even if it is just a sibling). Let her set the table, greet guests, serve food and having polite conversation. You can discuss how to refuse food politely. Week 8: Seventh Petal:Gerri "Respect authority" Read Gerri's story. Visit a police station or just talk with a policeman. Or any authority figure, firemen, people in the church or school, etc. Week 9: Eighth Petal: Clover "Use Resources wisely" Read Clover's story. Discuss recycling in the home and how your daughter can help. Week 10: Ninth Petal: Rosie "Make the world a better place" Read Rosie's story. Take a walk in your neighborhood or local park with latex gloves and plastic grocery bags to pick up trash. Week 11: Tenth Petal: Vi "Be a sister to every girl Scout" Read Vi's story. Please learn the two following songs and don't forget the girl scout promise: Make New Friends Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, the other is gold. A circle is round, it has no end. That's how long, I will be your friend Taps Day is done, gone the sun, From the lake, from the hills, from the sky; All is well, safely rest, God is nigh. Thanks and praise, for our days, 'Neath the sun, 'neath the stars, neath the sky; As we go, this we know, God is nigh. |
Anonymous
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PP, that's fantastic!
We had a mix of grade K and Grade 1 Daisies this year and it was hard trying to redo the Petals for the K kids and do Journeys and other things for the Grade 1 kids! |
Anonymous
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I'm starting my third year as a Brownie leader, and would echo two things that have been said. First, get one -- (or more) co - leaders that you like-- especially if they have complimentary skill sets. Even an active troop isn't too bad if you are only doing 1/3 of the work. I'm not very crafty, but my co-leader is fantastic, so it works well. We also approached parents and asked them to undertake one extra thing a year, so the leaders didn't have to plan the Thinking Day project or the service project. It cut down on the work load, and the parents seemed more eager to help when they were "in charge" of something specific. Second, we sat down over the summer any made a rough schedule of major events and activities, and a budget, and got parents to write one check at the beginning of the year. Now, we are in a very affluent area, so this worked, but parents around here routinely pay $150 a month for gymnastics or ballet, so we felt ok asking for the money up front (with info about SHARE if needed). Then we paid for EVERYTHING as a troop-- GS dues, Campins, journey books, patches and badges. We even bought the girls their junior vests and start up patches at the end of the year with our surplus (and the parents loved not having to track down the parts. The best part-- we didn't need to chase parents down every time we needed $5 to attend a camping try-it. They never paid a single dollar after Seeptember.
As for the journey, we did water this year. At first we tried to follow the book, but it wasn't that great, so we made things up-- hydroponic farming, building a water filtration kit, swimming, saving water, and sleeping on a boat to finish thing off. It worked better once we started viewing the manual as a suggested starting place. There are so many fun things to do with water. |
Anonymous
| I have 2 troops of mixed level girls. I have daisies through Cadettes. What makes girls scouts different from a girls club is the leadership programs. The Journey is the curriculum for the leadership that GSUSA is selling the girls and parents. It's not important to follow exactly. Most have a page with list of outcomes. If you are sure to include the activities (or alternate activities that meet the same goals) then you've delivered the product. I find the line that is Earth & Sky, WOW, Get Moving, & Breathe are more interesting with all the science activities included. I think the 3rd (Take Action ) step and 4(evaluate and inspire) are the most important parts. |
Anonymous
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I stopped being a leader after 5 years - I hate the journeys! They are great for someone who has no idea what to do with the girls, but they are so basic, boring, and uninspiring.
The other problem we had was that there were just too many girls in our troop to get anything meaningful done at our monthly meetings. (24 girls) Since it was a school based troop, my co-leader felt it was important to include anyone who wanted to join in the grade. I understand the sentiment of not wanting to leave anyone out, but the size made it really difficult. |
Anonymous
What happened to your troop when you stepped down? Did the co-leader keep leading? Did someone else step up? |
Anonymous
OP -- you can definitely do the retired/discontinued badges and you'll have to get moving to find them. There are councils out there that still have them, but they are getting lower and lower in their supplies, especially for brownies. I saved a ton of $$ by doing the discontinued badges (I paid 65 cents per badge) rather than $1.50 for the new ones. We did a lot. Regarding the safety checkpoints, I am absolutely certain that if it says "not recommended" you CAN still do it. It will say "prohibitted" if it is in fact prohibitted. I ran into this when the brownie troop wanted to try kayaking -- which is "not recommended." (never mind that white water rafting, ice fishing and inter-tubing on the back of a motor boat are apparently FINE for brownies!). Anyway, I had the association person in my corner and she gave the council person heck for telling me that we couldn't do it... oh, and the council has a picture of brownies kayaking on their "what's happening" webpage! people who hate journeys usually tried to do them as written over 10 meetings --- which would make anyone hate them. The girls can get the idea in about 2-3 meetings. We are probably going to do Amuse next year (Juniors) which is about stereotypes. We'll probably do one meeting, one get together at my house where we watch "Brave" (the movie) and have a discussion, and then one "take action" project meeting. Done! My best advice to you is lay down your expectations up front, don't try to be accomodating all the time, and be clear that if someone doesn't step up to do ------, you won't have -----. Trust me... no one will step up until the last minute. I use www.signupgenious.com for all meetings and all events. I have sent people home to get the permission slip if they don't have it. I often say in emails: no form = no go. Collect dues up front (if you are just staring up, you'll have to buy a first aid kit, file folders, scissors, glue, a flag, etc.). You will need more than you think. Don't be shy. Be direct. I treat my troop like a first rate program and the parents/girls absorb that. They don't help out, but they generally know I mean business... and they gave me a gift card to a spa for $180 last weekend -- so I think they do appreciate it. Out of 10 girls, I have 9 returning. |
Anonymous
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Speaking as a parent here--we stopped after a year of Daisies and a year of Brownies. I'd been a Brownie and a Girl Scout, so I thought I knew what we were getting into: badge work, socializing (in a good way--actually learning social skills), crafts, and camping. Not so, plus the parental commitment was through the roof--for an overly bureaucratic program that my DD was rapidly losing interest in.
IMHO, it's just too much. If Scouts is your DD's only activity, maybe you and she have the time to devote to weekly meetings, nature center visits on the weekends, singalongs on the weekends, parent meetings about upcoming trips, etc. I thoroughly enjoyed Scouts, and my mom's commitment was driving me home from meetings and occasionally signing a permission form. I didn't need her or another parent's presence at every turn. If that meant we didn't get to do <insert overly complicated activity here>, who cares? As with 99% of "children's" activities today, I find that Scouts has far less to do with the kids and more to do with the overachieving adults behind it. (I'm not talking the leaders specifically, although our own leader was a control freak--I'm talking about the people who design the programs. I think most leaders enjoyed their own Scouting days and want to share that with other girls, which I applaud.) Anyway, if you're not getting parental involvement, it's likely that they feel this way, too. If your troop requires that much participation, maybe outline *exactly* what will be required and turn away girls whose parents don't sign on (literally). |
Anonymous
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Not the OP -- but want to respond to 8:23 as I am a leader of a pretty active troop. First -- I have a lot of ambitions for the troop b/c there are SO many good opportunities. Second, in my experience, the GIRLS WANT to do everything! They are excited and want more. I know this b/c I've spent a whole meeting talking with them about their options and priorities. They want to do A LOT. The problem is the parents -- they, like you, want to "drop and go." I am in the middle of satisfying the girls and not angering the parents. It's just really sad to me that parents wouldn't want to be involved in their own daughter's exploration of life! It's not like the chance will always be there -- it's only a couple of years before the girls won't want to do these activities or won't want the parents around. Sieze the day-- right? Apparently not. I think it has to do more with the parents not valuing the experience (and yes, it involves commitment and effort), rather than lack of interest on the girls' part.
It's true that those who don't have dance, soccer, etc., etc. have more time to devote to scout opportunities. That's just the choice girls/parents have to make. Set your priorities. I have girls who are on competitive dance teams, tae kwon do, soccer leagues, etc. Those are some of the same girls who want to do EVERY single badge when we talked about it. If you want a less involved troop -- I'm sure you can find it. But, I really think it's unfair to chastise the leader for doing too much to help YOUR child have a great experience. |