calling all girl scouts, HELP!!

[kidzmom3]

Please reassure me that everything will be allright. I agreed to start a new brownie troop for my 1st grader and attended the Starting out meeting last night. YIKES! Everything seems so much MORE than I thought it would be. Just the registration alone seems a ton of work. Please reassure me that this is a fun activity that will not take over my entire life. I love my daughter and really want to do this (i have commited and will not back out), but I am feeling overwhelmed. Do you love being a leader? Does everything fall into place? Should I have the girls get uniforms or just sashes? What do you do about ceremonies? Any ideas, suggestions, encouragement would be greatly appreciated by this mom/brownie leader.

 

[Marla Hellwig]

For my dd's troop - they went with either the sash or the vest for Brownies - when they flew up to Juniors - they all got the sashs

On the paperwork end - I can't answer

 

[RUDisney]

So, I agreed to be a Daisy leader this year since evidently I am one of the only mothers who works until 5:00 in my area.

I'm starting my meetings at 6:00 and running until 7:00. Our first meeting is October 7th and we're only going to meet every other week.

I've been toying with the idea of just having everyone get a t-shirt from AC Moore that we can decorate and add our petals on instead of the apron-type thingy they have for Daisies.

I hadn't expected to start as a leader until Brownies, but alas, I am committed, too. One thing is certain, though, the most fun years you will have with the girls is when they are Daisies and Brownies. By the time they are Juniors, they're starting to discover hormones and can become quite ornary. At least that's what I saw with my sister's Junior Troop. Plus, from my Mom's experience as a leader, the parents respond better to your requests and outings when the girls are younger.

The paperwork seems harder than it is. You'll have it down in no time and be asking yourself, "I worried about this because why?"

Good luck with your troop. We'll have to check back here often for hints and suggestions for projects.

 

[amid chaos]

30 years ago when we were scouts it was realistic to have one leader.

Now with so many women working having one leader is totally unrealistic and unreasonable.

Get a group of the moms so it isnt one mom doing everything. Assign meetings so one mom completely does one meeting or badge. Every mom in the group should take a meeting and a badge.

Assign a mom to do registration, another one to do cookies, QSP, another one to go to the admin meetings.

Call this a "leadership team" and delgate, delegate, delegate.

 

[CarolA]

I am an assistant in a first year Brownie troop. It will be OK.

I strongly recommend the vests. (Girls that age tend to have the sash drooping off them and onto the floor a LOT!)

You MUST convince another mom to do cookies! That is rule one.

We only meet every other week so it is not overwhelming. Have you had a service unit meeting yet? At the next one, try to find a 2nd year Brownie leader and get some ideas from her.

 

[d.kurz]

Definitely try to get some more moms involved. When I was doing this, there were 3 of us, which was a good thing since the troop ballooned to more than 30 girls. We had them for 5 years. The head leader was paperwork/administrative, one assistant did crafts, I was camping. Another Mom (who did not come to meetings) did cookies. We all worked together, but those were our general duties.

It was a a lot of fun. I still get together with the 2 other women. I like the vest idea.

You and your daughter will get so much out of this....and you can always talk things out here on the CB!!

Best of luck!!

 

[RUDisney]

I don't want to make you stress more, but make sure your Cookie Mom is someone that you trust. My Mom always kept that responsibility for herself, even though she was also the leader. Last year, she let another mother who begged her do it.

When it came time to get the money from her it became quite a chase. GSH was also involved in trying to collect it. The mother finally gave over the money, but never let anyone know how many cases, yes, cases of cookies she had left over. The troop had to realize the expense for these and then those whom my Mom trusted and worked in offices and factories took them in to sell to recoup the troops loss.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, Know Your Cookie Chair. Delegation is key, but not when it can cost the girls in their activities.

 

[Dream]

Lol! I remember being where you are! First....take a deeeep breath! It is normal to feel overwhelmed in the beginning...everybody does! The paperwork alone is mind boggling! Take it one form and one girl at a time. Do you have a mentor troop or leader who can help you get through this initial stuff? If not, pm me and I will answer any and all questions!!
Second...secure the help of your parents! Moms and/or Dads...some of my best camp helpers are Dads. Have someone handle cookie sales (cookie Mom), have someone be a phone Mom, a snack Mom if you will be having snacks at meetings...see where I am going? Anywhere you can delegate a task do so...from the very beginning! Everyone pitching in bonds the group and makes it fun...it is good for the girls to see their parents involved! I feel that a uniform is very important. Being in uniform identifies the girls as scouts and they feel responsible to act less "naughty" knowing they are representing scouting as a whole. It also builds pride and self esteem in the girls when they can show their pins and try-its that they have earned (even though they may not remember exactly what they did to earn it at this age! ). The vests work best and buy them BIG to last the full 3 years. Get your basic training and have one of your Moms get first aid and cpr trained. You can get that later.
Remember, the girls are as new at this as you are and they are thrilled with whatever you do!!! Keep it fun, learn as you go and ENJOY!!! It IS fun and so worth your time and effort. It can take as little or as much time as you want it to. This first year especially, keep it simple. There are TONS of websites to give you ideas on anything from crafts to songs to ceremonies to stories...a simple search under Girl Scouting will give you hours of great stuff to go through!! If you pm me with your email address I can send you a Leader Newsletter that is published online where there are many leaders available to answer questions and give fresh ideas. Good luck!!!! You will be great!!! All you need is a smile, a love of little girls and the willingness to try...the rest will all fall into place!

 

[AirForceRocks]

We have a small troop, now in its third year, and there is plenty of work to spread around.

We have a Cookie Mom, a money mom, a field trip mom, and the troop leader. The troop leader makes up a list at the beginning of the year telling each parent when he/she is responsible for the troop snack (our troop meets every other week after school).

The paperwork is time consuming, but not difficult.

Good luck and have fun!!

 

[jldriscoll]

Hey Dream...I vote you DIS Girl Scout Leader of the Year!

Great advice!!! I have very little to add, except, I just finished all that overwhelming paper work (Got everything into the TSD, even the stuff due in NOV ). This is my first year as leader and I got NO help form the former leader (My girls are 3rd grade). It was really not as bad as the former leader (who was a complainer anyway) said it would be!!! Just take it in small steps!!! Then once your papers are in....have fun with your girls!!!! It's just the best!!!

 

[kidzmom3]

Thank you so much everyone. I have been stressing out all day trying to figure out when to have the meetings etc.. I do have a contact person to come to with questions. I forget what they called her, but she did the intial training last evening. There are apparantly a lot of troops in our city, so much so that we are our own "neighborhood", but they did not give me anyone elses numbers to call for advice. Except for the "advisor" (still forget what they called her).
They reccomended that I have a parents meeting first, to get all the paperwork done. Although I am okay with kids, I feel a little intimidated by the parents. I guess I will just jump in and give it my best try. I am going to go tommorow to our council shop and get the leaders book, and the 2 books for my daughter. I think I will go with the vest for now. I kind of like the idea of the uniform, but I am not sure about the economics of all my girls. In fact, my DH was laid off 2 weeks ago, so we are not in the best position also. Because this is a new troop, we have no money. Luckily, I am totally into crafts, so I have a lot on hand. I don't think we will be doing the QSP fundraiser because they had the meeting last week, before the new troops were assigned. Thank you again for all the support. This is a new experience for me, I was never a scout, but I hope to have a lot of fun. And WOW! Some of the activities they list in that book are awesome. I can't wait to give a couple a try.

 

[kidzmom3]

one last question. did you have overnights with 1st graders? My troop will have mostly first, a few second and 2 third graders. i think the 1st graders are a little young, but I wouldn't want to gip ?sp the older girls.