Anyone a Daisy or Brownie leader?

[mefordis]

I just volunteered myself. Is it a lot of work? There will be 4 of us for the troop.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

No, thank God.

I was in GS's for 12yrs with my 2 dd's. Yes, it is a lot of work. However the more you plan the better it is.

It is a part time job basically. You have to committ to sitting down and putting the effort in. You only get out of it what you put into it.

 

[LisaNJ25]

I just volunteered myself. Is it a lot of work? There will be 4 of us for the troop.

We have a thread over on the Family board for Daisy leaders.. come join us

Are you doing both Daisies and Brownies?

I have a 6th grade Cadette troop and a 1st grade Daisy Troop. Last year I also had a 3rd grade Brownie Troop.

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

No, thank God.

I was in GS's for 12yrs with my 2 dd's. Yes, it is a lot of work. However the more you plan the better it is.

It is a part time job basically. You have to committ to sitting down and putting the effort in. You only get out of it what you put into it.

This.


I've been a GS leader for 4 years now. Yes, it is a lot of work, but if you only have 4, it shouldn't be too bad. I have 18.

Try to enjoy yourself - if it's not fun, it's not worth it.

 

[mefordis]

This.


I've been a GS leader for 4 years now. Yes, it is a lot of work, but if you only have 4, it shouldn't be too bad. I have 18.

Try to enjoy yourself - if it's not fun, it's not worth it.

No, I mean there will be 4 leaders and 18-24 girls. It's Daisies. First graders!

 

[mefordis]

We have a thread over on the Family board for Daisy leaders.. come join us

Are you doing both Daisies and Brownies?

I have a 6th grade Cadette troop and a 1st grade Daisy Troop. Last year I also had a 3rd grade Brownie Troop.

Thank you! Wow, you sound busy with two troops! I'd love to join you!

 

[LisaNJ25]

Thank you! Wow, you sound busy with two troops! I'd love to join you!

I am also a service unit manager

You will do fine with 4 adults. I suggest just just work on the petals since you will only have a few months at the daisy level. .. done even bother with the journey book.

With 4 of you, you can take turn planning a meeting. The daisy petals are easy. The internet is your best friends when it comes to looking for ideas.

 

[trip]

I was a Brownie leader for 3 years and Daisy for 1. It takes time but is worth it.

No, I mean there will be 4 leaders and 18-24 girls. It's Daisies. First graders!

Have they changed this? When I did Daisies, it was for Kindergarten girls and Brownies was for grades 1-3.

 

[LisaNJ25]

I was a Brownie leader for 3 years and Daisy for 1. It takes time but is worth it.



Have they changed this? When I did Daisies, it was for Kindergarten girls and Brownies was for grades 1-3.

yep.. daisies are now 2 years K and 1st. Brownies are only 2 years 2nd and 3rd.

I dont like the 2 year daisy program..

oh.. and all books are being redone and they are coming out with new badge books for every level except Daisies.

 

[msjprincess]

I was a Brownie leader for 3 years and Daisy for 1. It takes time but is worth it.



Have they changed this? When I did Daisies, it was for Kindergarten girls and Brownies was for grades 1-3.

I think it changed this year or last year.

That's a really big group for Daisies. Is there a reason they can't do 2 smaller groups with 2 co-leaders each?

 

[mefordis]

I think it changed this year or last year.

That's a really big group for Daisies. Is there a reason they can't do 2 smaller groups with 2 co-leaders each?

What size do you recommend for the group? I really don't want it to be 24 girls (6 girls for each leader). I think that would be too big.

 

[msjprincess]

What size do you recommend for the group? I really don't want it to be 24 girls (6 girls for each leader). I think that would be too big.

My limit has always been 12 girls for 2 leaders. This year I have 13 Kindergarteners because the mom begged to let her join and I felt bad. We have a couple of moms who are registered so they occasionally help out depending on what we're working on that meeting.

I think breaking in into 2 separate troops would be much more manageable. even though it would be the same amount of girls per leader it wouldn't be so many 6 year olds at the same place.

 

[LaraK]

We've had 15 girls and two leaders for the last four years. We're bridging to Juniors next year....last of the three year Brownies.

 

[TLuvsD]

I had 24 Daisys the year my D was a Junior. No one would take the troop, and I didn't want the girls to miss out. D is now an Ambassador (she's a Jr in high school), working on her Gold Award, planning to help with our neighbor's Daisy troop. I'm on the Product Committee for our Council, SU Cookie Mgr, Troop Cookie Mgr for a troop of 39 high school students...I help out with some events in our Service Unit, too. I love Girl Scouts!
I agree with a previous poster...work on the petals. If you goggle Daisy Petal Help you will get a lot of ideas for each one. And there is a coloring book floating around that is a great "meeting starter". Each girl colors her page while you wait for everyone to gather...at the end she has the Girl Scout Law coloring book.
http://www.gsccc.org/Documents/Session Designs/Daisies/GS Law Coloring Book.pdf

 

[mefordis]

Is this something I can just do for a year or two then stop, or do I have to take the troop on until GS or beyond?

Thank you for all of the input! I am a little scared about the commitment and should not have opened my mouth without doing some research.

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

No, I mean there will be 4 leaders and 18-24 girls. It's Daisies. First graders!

Whoa! I would break up into 2 troops, as a PP stated.

We've had 15 girls and two leaders for the last four years. We're bridging to Juniors next year....last of the three year Brownies.

Your troop sounds a lot like mine. Half of my troop are 3 year Brownies, as well and the other half just bridged to Juniors. I took over the Junior side and my co-leader stayed with the Brownies. You're going to love Juniors.... I'm having so much fun with it.

 

[TLuvsD]

Op You are a volunteer. Around here many Leaders stay for the elementary years, then the girls combine troops through middle school, bridge into the exisiting senior troop for high school. Advisors for the older girls come and go, but the troop stands.
That being said...you can quit any time. It's best if you give everyone as much advanced notice as possible so new leaders can be found, usually it's that you won't continue the following school year.

 

[MrsPete]

I've been a scout leader for a lot of years now. Yes, it's a great deal of work, but it's very worthwhile. My own daughters get so much out of the program, and all their best friends /long-time friendships are within the scout troop. I really expect they'll room with their scout friends in college, be in each other's weddings, and get together for girls' weekends when they're my age. It's worth every bit of effort I've put in.

You need to get in touch with your local council office and see about training. There are four phases. If I remember correctly, the first is GS Basics, in which you learn about safety rules, financial rules, insurance, paperwork, scout holidays, uniforms, etc. It's a very basic intro for the person who knows nothing about scouting. Then there's Age Level Training (yeah, when they reach Juniors, you'll have to do that again), which teaches you about the badges, etc. at your age level. Then there are two outdoor trainings, which allow you to take the girls on day outings and then overnight trips. You need the first two trainings right away, but you don't need to hurry on the outdoor trainings. Also, someone in your troop needs to become First Aid certified (unless you have a doctor or nurse among your co-leader group or parents). This initial training seems daunting at first, but it lasts forever. Literally, I did mine when I was 18 years old, and although I've needed to do some new Age Level training as my girls have grown older, it isn't a burden to me now.

Find out what support your council offers -- you'll learn this in training. For example, our council has trunks that you can check out for various badges /Try Its. So if your Brownies want to earn the My Body Try It, you can check out the trunk, and all the materials you'll need will be right there for your use. Depending upon the subject, you might have books appropriate for reading aloud, compasses, night vision goggles, dress up materials, craft materials, etc. You might need to add some consumable supplies, but these trunks save you loads of planning.

Thinking back to when they were Brownies:
- Brownies earn Try Its, which are super-easy. You must complete four activities to get a Try It. You can pick up a copy of the book at your council's store, or you can order it online from GSUSA. This will give you loads of ideas. Typically you can earn a Try It in two meetings (2 activities per meeting).

- Always begin with a bathroom break (and if your meetings are lengthy, maybe one halfway through). If you don't, you'll have one girl wanting to go every 5 minutes, and you'll be frustrated.

- Get involved with your local Service Unit. The older girl troops'll offer events, which your girls can attend. This is GREAT STUFF. For example, our area has Santa's Workshop coming up this weekend. Brownies come in and for $5 they make (and wrap) 5 gifts. Older girls and leaders help them, and their moms never see the gifts. Soon we have Thinking Day coming up, which is a world-wide holiday in which we "think about" our sister scouts all over the world. In April/May you'll see events like mall sleepovers, sleepovers at the science museum or the baseball stadium, and Mom-and-Me camping trips. Our council has a bus with programs that comes out to the various areas, and we have a science teacher who provides fantastic science programs (one on reptiles, one on dolphins, one on forensic science) at the council office. These service unit events are usually aimmed at the younger girls /give older girls leadership experience. They're very inexpensive, and all you have to do is sign up /supervise your girls while someone else runs the program.

- If you meet right after school (highly recommended), make it a troop expectation that one girl brings a healthy snack for the group. Get a tote bag and decorate it with instructions to "Bring to the next meeting with a healthy snack". Do not allow candy and soda with little kids.

- With your co-leaders, think through your parent expectations. Type them out, have a mandatory meeting at the beginning of the year. Ideas: $25 for yearly membership dues; that'll allow you to buy crafts, etc. to carry you through cookie money. This should cover all meetings. Trips will be in addition, but they should never be more than $10 or so per girl. Be clear on whether you want moms to stay at meetings / go on overnights. Be clear on whether you're okay with Tagalongs (younger siblings). Be firm on the need for picking up on time /signing out rather than the kids just disappearing into the parking lot. Making your expectations clear up front will go a long way towards making your troop successful.

- Some of the most successful events we did when our kids were Brownies: Book exchanges at Christmas, taking socks to nursing home residents, overnights of all types, Daddy-Daughter Dances, shopping at the Dollar Store to fill Salvation Army Christmas stockings, skating.

Take the leap -- you'll be glad you did!

 

[MrsPete]

Whoa! I would break up into 2 troops, as a PP stated.

We didn't break into 2 troops 'til we hit 60 girls and our space wasn't sufficient. It was a problem. Our half of the troop was very successful, had excellent meetings, did great things. The other half of the troop had bad luck in that many of their meetings were cancelled because of snow, and their main leader didn't show up sometimes. Bad feelings ensued, and some people were unhappy that they felt they'd been excluded from our troop. At the end of the year, we ended up just taking in the other-troop girls who still wanted to be scouts. It was a bad situation all around.

A large group is a good thing. Many of your girls'll leave you after Juniors, and if you don't start out with a large group, you may not have enough left to continue on to the Cadette / Senior level. Yeah, it's easy to say, "We'll combine troops at that point", but you won't. By that point, each troop will've developed a personality of its own, and you'll have friendships within the troops. Who says this? The leader of the biggest Senior troop in my county.

How to manage large groups:
- At your first meeting, make sit-upons. This is a requirement for the Girl Scout Ways Try It, which is the perfect intro-to-scouts Try It.

- Before the girls arrive, lay out their sit-upons in a big circle (or whatever works for you). Have their names written on the sit-upons, and separate girls who'd be problematic together. Have one leader greet the girls at the door and direct them to their sit-upons. (or if you do snack, have that, then sit down)

- Begin your meeting with the Pledge to the Flag, the GS promise, and songs. Do this all while they're on their sit-upons.

- For many activities, it works well to break the girls up into groups -- send 8 to table 1 to do a craft, 8 to table 2 to work on a word puzzle, 8 to table 3 to do something else. With four leaders, it'll be easy for you to have one adult at each station.

- At the end of your meeting, return to your sit-upons and sing Taps.

Once your girls get the idea that your meetings have structure (Opening, activities, Closing), it'll be easy to control such a big group.

 

[MrsPete]

Op You are a volunteer. Around here many Leaders stay for the elementary years, then the girls combine troops through middle school, bridge into the exisiting senior troop for high school. Advisors for the older girls come and go, but the troop stands.
That being said...you can quit any time. It's best if you give everyone as much advanced notice as possible so new leaders can be found, usually it's that you won't continue the following school year.

You can quit anytime, but -- emergencies aside -- you should consider it a one-year obligation. You shouldn't leave your troop mid-year unless it's absolutely necessary.