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Elementary School-Aged Kids
Reply to "Were you a girl scout or brownie leader? Give me your advice..."
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[quote=Anonymous]I just finished my 3rd and final year as leader. I took over after another leader already had the girls for 2 years. She had an "all just for fun" attitude. I wanted it to be more than the glorified play date, and planned to make it more enriching for the girls. I always struggled with that transition - with both the girls and parents. So set the tone right off the bat. Figure out what you envision for your troop - focus more on fun? skills? service projects? outdoors? then decide what you want from your parents. I would insist on a co-leader (I never had one), a cookie mom, and a camping mom. Figure out what you will expect from each girl for cookie sales (such as 125 boxes per girl). Have a meeting with parents only before they complete registration, and make all of this crystal clear. Some may back out if they don't agree with the direction you would like to take the troop. That's ok. better off if they aren't involved. We did a journey one year. Never again. It gets very complicated, and the girls got tired of it. these are take action projects instead of service projects. the difference: a service project is collecting food for a food pantry. A take action project would be starting your own food drive that will continue after your involvement. Yeah.... In our council, the leader decides how much to ask for troop dues (which is in addition to $12 registration fee). Not sure if it's like that everywhere. I always asked for $50, which is very high compared to some troops. But then I would avoid any troop activities that required the parents to pay throughout the year. I thought it was better to have them pay it up front when they can choose to back out if they think it's too much. I would sometimes ask the girls to bring $5-$10 to pay for their own meals, but nothing more than that. When events would come up that I couldn't pay for with troop funds, I would bring it up as an individual event if possible, that the girls could go to on their own if their parents chose to pay for it. Never did anything as a troop that we couldn't pay for with troop funds. I never had a parent complain about the $50. Easy and big money makers for us were garage sales. the girls learned a lot and could easily make $600-$700 in a two-day sale. Don't slack off on some of the formalities, such as saying the GS Promise at the start of each meeting, wearing their vest/sash, Kaper chart. It reminds them what it's all about. We used to meet for 1-1.5 hours twice a month, and then had a field trip about once a month. the last two years, we kept up the field trips but only met for 2 hours once a month. we all liked that A LOT better. the meetings were much more efficient, and we all liked having an extra free night each month. I tried having parents take turns leading the meetings. It never went very well. Many of them simply weren't that comfortable working with the kids or even being in that mode. It lacked any continuity since everyone's style was different. Maybe have designated tasks that parents rotate helping with at each meeting - such as bringing snacks, help with set up and clean up. But you don't want to give them any tasks that the girls are able to do. Have the girls help with everything they possibly can. Enjoy this experience! [/quote]
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