Reply to How to handle too many girls for a Girl Scout troop?

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[quote=Anonymous]Do 2 troops.  10 is a great number for a troop.  They --the SUM-- will try to bully you into to taking "just one more" and then "just one more" and then "just one more".

I felt like I was the mother to all the girls in my troop when they were with me.  I was responsible for their safety and enjoyment.  I had to know who was allergic to what and who has issues with X, Y, or Z.  I had to know all the rules for whatever we were doing (council rules)... it just gets too chaotic to be heard (as the leader) or to give the girls a chance to have their voices/opinions heard if there are more than 10-12.

It was important to be to have the girls feel like they had a voice and that it would be heard in discussions.  It was important to me to be comfortable knowing each one and managing the whole group without being totally and completely overwhelmed.  Set your limits.  Some people can manage 20 and do fine.  Most people probably cannot.  If you take on more than you can handle, you will start making decisions to minimize your pain rather than to maximize the girls' experiences.  We had a great time as brownies and juniors -- went lots of places -- but if we had more girls, it would have seemed like more work to get everyone in or manage the carpools or whatever.  10 was great with brownies.  12 was good for juniors.

Start two troops.  This is the time when parents are most willing to lead a troop=-= when the girls are little.  Trust me, it gets harder to find anyone to help as they get older b/c leading isn't all about lessons on friendship, crafts and pouring the cool-aid.  As the girls get older, you as a leader have to start learning more so that you can lead/plan more.  Those leaders who don't grow with the girls have half-@ss programs that end up boring the girls.

Now is the time to capitalize on the interest and enthusiasm of the parents.  Tell them there is one troop and the first 10 girls will be in it.  They need to come up with 2 more leaders for the second troop and the next 10 girls will be in that troop.  Maybe you can join forces with the other leaders at times to do joint activities.  But, it is in your best interest and the girls' (imo) to have a troop of 10.

(Also, when it comes to selling cookies, larger troops are at a disadvantage b/c they get the same number of booth slots as smaller troops.  )[/quote]

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