Brownie Girl Scouts, ?keep going

[kidzmom3]

I have had a brownie girl scout troop for 3 years. 1 year daisy, 2 years brownies. My co-leader decided not to continue this past spring. Her daughter did not want to do it anymore, so what can you do? It was a tough year last year. No help from the parents, and I mean NONE. We had to cancel 3 field trips because we could not find even one parent to drive. I work 40 hours a week, have 3 children and a dog, and still find the time to complete the paperwork etc... these parents never do, never send in forms on time, don't send in money when its due. But that is the parents not the girls. The girls are great. Fun, happy eagar to learn new things and try new experiences. For them I want to do it, but its soooo much work. I have finally found some parents who are willing to help for one meeting every couple of weeks. What do you think, should I just put my daughter in another troop and offer to help. Or should I try to shoulder the whole burden myself, possibly becoming overwhelmed and frustrated like last year?

 

[kasar]

I was in the same boat a few years ago. Mine was more a problem with the girls (discipline) and I was so burned out from trying to get them to listen and participate. The parents were "shocked" when I sent a letter home saying that if I didn't get some help from them I would no longer be able to be the leader. I wanted to help out but I realized that I'm not cut out to be a leader (or cut out for the whole scouting philosophy, I'm afraid).

I never encourage my dd's to join up again the next year and they never asked - we got them more involved in sports which seems to work out better for us.

You're a better person than I am to stick it out when there's no help. I don't know how you do it! Only you can decide if you've had enough, but sounds like you should see if you can get more help before throwing in the towel. You sound like a great leader, it would be a shame to lose you.

 

[Kallison]

I hear ya, the same four Moms do all the work in our troop. I told the head leader we need to have a meeting and lay down the LAW! Everyone, I mean everyone must plan a meeting. We'll see how it goes! What I love is the Moms who do nothing and then complain. I've been cookie Mom for 3 out of the 4 years and one Mom always complains because I don't sign up for booth sales, I don't order extra cookies. So my leader said then you do it. Well I work she says. SO DO IIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!! I tell the Moms every year, if you want me to be the C.Mom then here it is -- you each get so many boxes, I want them sold do NOT give them back to me, no booth sales. I will help the Moms who can't get rid of theirs but I'm not going to spend my Saturdays sitting in the Acme begging people to buy cookies who don't really want them.

 

[WDWMom]

Since the girls are great, stick with it. I love my GS and they are in the 8th grade now. I have 5 great girls but can't always say that about the parents. At least they don't complain to me.

To get more adults involved here is some advice...

Try to find a college student.
Ask a grandparent or father, older sister, aunt
Talk to you Service Team Leader (The volunteer in charge of you area.) Ask her to talk to who is in charge at the council level and they should be able to help you.

If you can't get adults to drive then let your parents know there will be no field trips. Also let the girls know this. Let them know any adult who can drive can go on trips. This might help find someone.

Good Luck. You can pm me with any other questions. I've been in GS for a long time and have many resources to share.

Sue

 

[Amirah95]

Junior Troop Leader #617 and Cadette Troop #561 out of Washington Rock Council here!!!!

What I do is work with the girls who show up to the meetings, period. I found it harder to lead a Brownie Troop because they were younger and all they want to do is just play so naturally some parents don't take it seriously either (only one little girl of mine worked consistently on earning her try-its...which is OK with me because I was there to help whoever was interested). I move up with my DD in Girl Scouts so I don't have to work on the Brownie level anymore (whew!). Just to let you know Junior and Cadette levels are no picnic either. The issues are different of course and it's not easy to keep their attention because their mental and physical attitributes are changing so fast and some of them stay downright crabby! Some parents are involved, where some are not but my co-leader and I do the best we can with the girls on our own.

I commend myself and my fellow leaders because it's not an easy job to have, but if you can just reach a few of them then be happy at the end of the day. Don't stress out.

Oh, and I never cancel a field trip ever. I take the girls who show up. Why rain on their parade because of a few others?

 

[ErinC]

My daughters Brownie Troop is a great group. I love her leader she is super organized, and has great ideas. Our troop has a 12 girl limit. Cori (our troop leader) has guidelines. If your child participates, than each child's family is responsible for conducting a meeting, helping the girls earn a try it, or doing a service project. We had our organizational meeting last week. She had all the meeting dates posted and we had to sign up then for what meeting dates we would run the meeting for her. This works out to one or two meetings a year per family. I think that I signed up to do something with the girls in April. Last year, I did the Art to Wear try it with the girls. We made jeweled purses, and painted faces. The girls loved it. Cori is always at every meeting and is more than glad to help the mom of the week do what she has planned. If I were you, I'd put my foot down and demand that they participate, or their child cannot participate. I am a SAHM, but several of the other moms work, and they still have no problem with the plan. Either they leave work a little early one day of the year to help their Daughters Brownie troop,or possibly the dad does, and somebody else does it the rest of the year. I think it's a pretty fair trade. Good luck to you!

 

[Rock'n Robin]

The leader makes such a difference! DD#1 was in the second troop formed at her school--she was in a different school for K and wasn't in our school's Daisy troop, and they weren't letting any non-Daisys join in first grade. We went through 3 moms in 3 more years before her interest petered out. DD#2 has been in the same troop from Daisys through now (just went up to Juniors). They have 3 leaders for 15 kids. I am responsible for a snack once a year. I pick up DD and 2 other little girls after meetings (all 3 of us work, but I am home by 3:15). It is like night and day compared to DD#1's experience. That said, we'll probably only see it through 5th grade (she is just entering 4th) because activities really start to pick up at that point.
Robin M.

 

[m&m's mom]

I am in a similar position. Not much help from parents and no co-leader.
Another mother who is leader of her other DD's troop gave me a great idea. I assign a Try-It to every mother. They can choose what interests them, they plan and they also have that meeting at their house. It worked wonderful! Really gave the mothers a chance to shine in their DD's eyes and it was not overwhelming!
I admit I am not confident asking for help so a little bit my problem. I can handle a meeting w/ large companies CFO's but afraid of other mothers.
I also came to the conclusion that my DD cannot have the GS experience w/out being in a troop w/ other girls so I suck iot up some time so she can have the experience.
I work about 28 miles from our house and have a full time job. I am the only working Mom in the troop and the only one who was willing to be the leader.
Oh well!

 

[poohtown]

my daughters girlscout troop gave us a letter last year stating they were having problems because no one ever volunteered for field trips or anything. I felt bad because I love to go on field trips but have never heard they wanted volunteers. (I just thought they had their certain volunteer parents who always went and didn't want anyone else) Now they send each child home with a newsletter naming upcoming activities and what kind of help they need. A lot of parents are move involved now. If you need help - ask you might be surprised by the response.

 

[miche61]

I didn't realize how much work Girl Scouts is until I signed up to be a co-leader. I thought it would be fun. It sort of was, except my co-leader wasn't very available to discuss plans. Granted, she always came through at the last minute, but it was a little stressful for me as I am a big planner.

If you feel your heart is still in it.. try to make it work. Talk to the other parents, change the meeting times to a time it will work for everyone to be able to participate.

We didn't do field trips, because of the working parent's availability, etc. The girls didn't really care. If you really want to, you can do it. I'm not judging, I quit doing it after the first year. My dd was not into it at all, and neither was my heart. There were no hard feelings, only one mom who accused me of abandoning ship.

Good luck
Michelle

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Former veteran leader here...

First, do a rough schedule for the year. Plan your try its, service projects. Get a rough cost estimation.

Second schedule a "parent only" meeting. Share your concerns. Have the parents that want to help out, register with the troop. This is for insurance purposes as you know. Tell them you need xxx amount to sign up for field trips.
Ask them to donate $$$ to the troop as a start up cost. That helps tie in with the planning of events cost estimation you did ahead of time.

Now if they do not come to the meeting, which I have had happen...so don't ....you can then choose to dissolve it and have your dd move to a different troop.
At least you made a worthy effort.

 

[kidzmom3]

Thank you so much for all your advice. I honestly love the girls in my troop, and really wish my co-leader would have stayed on. Because she left , it left me feeling adrift. My biggest issue is the lack of help. I have begged, I have sent emails, made newsletters, invitations even. And it feels like hitting my head against a wall. I had one mother yell at me last year, because I did not call her the morning of Girl Scout Olympics and remind her to bring her daughter. If I commit, I won't quit mid year, but I really wanted to last year, so I just cannot decide if its worth it. But seeing the girls smile when they learn a new skill. That is worth a lot.

 

[mudnuri]

Not a leader, though a former girl scout myself!

I was running into a very similar problem with a lot of the Rec teams I run. Here's what I did for 1 that was the worse, maybe you can do this...

I held a MANDATORY meeting for ALL PARENTS whose children were going to "ski" the upcoming winter. One of the child's parents or adult- ie. grandmother etc.. HAD to attend this meeting ( I held 2, one on Monday and 1 on Wednesday)..

During this meeting, I went over what days we'd ski, the cost, how many chaperones were needed, both skiers and non-skiers, and the like.

By the end of Wednesdays meeting, I had the entire winter schedule filled, with chaperones, both on hill and in the lodge, and even had "bus parents"...

What I did after that was, if I had an email address, the Sunday night prior to, I'd send an email "dont forget, your chaperone A this week, please be at the high school at 8am for the bus. if they didnt have email, I'd send a note home through the school, and then call them on Wednesday as a reminder.

I tell ya- it worked! A lot of them truly wanted to help, just were "afraid" to ask....by telling them "I need A, and B and C, they were able to pick, help, and we had a great ski season!

Good luck!

Brandy