daisy scouts ??

[bsblady01]

I'm sorry you feel the leader has no clue. Maybe she doesn't. Maybe she is in over her head. Maybe this is her first year and she is still trying to piece together the pieces. Do you think she needs more adult help? I was a Brownie leader for 3 years (when it was for 1-3 grades) and a Daisy leader for 1 year (back when it was just for K). The first year can be overwhelming. It's a big job to take on a troop for an entire school year. You must attend several training session with your service unit and put together the plan for the whole year. You'd be surprised at how many leaders were never scouts, have full time jobs and more than one child. You must remember this is a volunteer position.

OP, I'm not trying to be mean, just letting you know it is from the other side. I'm sure your daughter will enjoy basketball - team sports are a lot of fun.

she was very frazzled the entire meeting. she was having a hard time getting the kids to listen to her. I don't want my daughter in a troop that has a leader that can't control the situation. I will try again when she is in second grade.

 

[Hrhpd]

I have an update. we went to the informational meeting tonight and we will not be doing it this year, the person running it has no clue what she is doing so I will either find another troop or wait till second grade to do girl scouts. if I had the time I would try and do my own troop but I was not a scout and have two other kids that need me as well.

so I think we will just do basketball this winter so she has something to do. I was thinking of getting the scout book and trying to do some things on our own to get her ready for girl scouts. do you guys know how much the book is and where I can buy it.

Didn't you say you lived in the Catskill area? Perhaps one of these Girl Scout stores is close to you so you can pick up the book.
http://www.girlscoutshh.org/en/our-council/shop.html

 

[bsblady01]

Didn't you say you lived in the Catskill area? Perhaps one of these Girl Scout stores is close to you so you can pick up the book.
http://www.girlscoutshh.org/en/our-council/shop.html

yes thank you

 

[Mizzoufan]

Could you offer to help her out? As a teacher maybe you could help you control the kids.

 

[Southernmiss]

I'm sorry you feel the leader has no clue. Maybe she doesn't. Maybe she is in over her head. Maybe this is her first year and she is still trying to piece together the pieces. Do you think she needs more adult help? I was a Brownie leader for 3 years (when it was for 1-3 grades) and a Daisy leader for 1 year (back when it was just for K). The first year can be overwhelming. It's a big job to take on a troop for an entire school year. You must attend several training session with your service unit and put together the plan for the whole year. You'd be surprised at how many leaders were never scouts, have full time jobs and more than one child. You must remember this is a volunteer position.

OP, I'm not trying to be mean, just letting you know it is from the other side. I'm sure your daughter will enjoy basketball - team sports are a lot of fun.

I get where op is coming from. I was a girl scout and loved it. Got my gold award.

Dd came along and I was excited she could start Daisy scouts. We made it through the first year. Nice lady a few activities, but so much focus on fundraisers for not the girl's benefit, but the council and national office benefit.

Thought we'd give it a go the 2nd year. Leader was a single mom school teacher. First meeting laid out the plan---fundraise for Disney. You' d think I should have been all over that. Nope. I am not a fundraiser and there should be more to scouts than that.

Dd signed up for soccer and has never looked back. I'm a little sad about the activities she missed in scouting, but not at the price of constant fundraising. It's not what it was when I grew up. I'm thinking it's an idea whose time is passing.

 

[Hrhpd]

Could you offer to help her out? As a teacher maybe you could help you control the kids.

That is an excellent idea. Since you are a first grade teacher at this school, many of the girls will already be in your class. So, you already have a handle on how to control them. You would be an excellent help as a co-leader.

 

[bsblady01]

Could you offer to help her out? As a teacher maybe you could help you control the kids.

parents are not allowed to stay for the meetings

 

[bsblady01]

That is an excellent idea. Since you are a first grade teacher at this school, many of the girls will already be in your class. So, you already have a handle on how to control them. You would be an excellent help as a co-leader.

all of these girls are in k. and I have no time to help.

 

[dotfurio]

If you want to do some of the stuff on your own anyway, you could register her as a Juliette ( a girl scout not connected to a troop). That way she could still earn awards, go to council events, etc.

 

[NewRVLady]

All Scouts have 2 leaders at every meeting - Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts
I am guessing Daisy Scouts have 2 also??

 

[bsblady01]

All Scouts have 2 leaders at every meeting - Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts
I am guessing Daisy Scouts have 2 also??

there was only one person at the meeting tonight, so I don't know if she has a helper or not.

 

[NHdisneylover]

she was very frazzled the entire meeting. she was having a hard time getting the kids to listen to her. I don't want my daughter in a troop that has a leader that can't control the situation. I will try again when she is in second grade.

I think it is totally fine not to do scouts if it does not appeal to you. Not everyone wants to or needs to be a Girl Scout. But, I think your reasoning is wrong.

As a leader, trying to run an informational meeting (aimed primarily at parents), I would not have planned to control the children--if any children are there, so are their parents and as it is not a girl meeting, I assume their parents will be in charge of them.
It is always very hard at such meetings when there are kids who are not behaving--some parents do nothing but then get upset if the leader says something to their child while on "their" time.

A girl meeting, for me, is totally different. I have plans and activities and games that and I am focused on the girls, not talking to their parents, so 95% of the time I don't even need to do more to keep everyone focused and well behaved (not having parents there helps too--kids behave better when mom and dad are not there, in my experience, possibly partly because then they are sure about whose rules to follow and who is in charge).

When I DO have a need to address poor behaviour, I always bring it back to the Girl Scout Promise or Law and we talk about how they are not "being considerate or caring" or "respecting others" etc----we learn that law at the first meeting--but at an informational night for parents none of the girls would have the frame work yet.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

there was only one person at the meeting tonight, so I don't know if she has a helper or not.

You could sign up to be a coleader. There should never be just one adult at a meeting.

 

[Mizzoufan]

parents are not allowed to stay for the meetings

I have never been to any sort of GS event parents weren't invited to stay.

 

[msjprincess]

I have never been to any sort of GS event parents weren't invited to stay.

My experience has been the exact opposite. Besides bridging ceremonies everything is strictly drop off. The only parents allowed to stay at meeting or events are registered parents who are helping out.

 

[Mizzoufan]

My experience has been the exact opposite. Besides bridging ceremonies everything is strictly drop off. The only parents allowed to stay at meeting or events are registered parents who are helping out.

I'm glad my our troop encourages parent to stay.

 

[mjkacmom]

I'm glad my our troop encourages parent to stay.

I was the opposite. Meetings were after school - in the gym. The acoustics! I was happy to let the leaders herd the kittens. When ds joined cubs scouts, and I found out I was expected to stay, I was not happy. I had 4 other kids to have to find childcare for after school. Fortunately, it wasn't his thing.

 

[nugov2]

My dd did it for 2 years, but she decided to play travel and would be missing too many of the activities. Parents were not banned from staying, but strongly encouraged to leave and no siblings. Honestly parents staying causes what you witnissed...kids acting out and parents ignoring it putting the leader in the awkward position of having to correct them or ignoring the bad behavior. My guess is that is what you witnessed and not a leader who is not good, but one with rude parents. As the pp stated it is the parents responsibility to keep their kids in check at an informational meeting not the leader. Probably not a good time to judge the leaders capabilities, but also nothing wrong with starting later either.

 

[foohpah]

Parents and siblings not staying is more about the insurance. Troops are covered under Girl Scout insurance but that only includes registered girls and adult volunteers. If a parent or a sibling staying at the meeting is hurt then technically the leaders can be held personally liable and GS insurance will not cover it. I always asked that any parents wishing to stay for regular meetings (not special events when we had insurance to cover) be registered. I believe the cost now is $15. Most parents chose to just drop off and go. The meetings really do run better without a lot of parental interference most of the time.

In order to officially be a troop you need 2 registered, background checked leaders who are unrelated and at least 3 girls of which 2 must be unrelated. You may also have adult registered volunteers which can be very helpful for a troop so they have extra adult numbers for safety-wise ratios at events if needed. If you do not meet that criteria you are not considered a troop and can become a Juliette - a kind of independent GS. I wouldn't really recommend the Juliette route for most kids until they are in higher grades - middle school and up. The greatest value in GS at the younger ages comes from working together as a group and building friendships, etc.. Plus the Daisy materials especially are not really designed to be worked on individually as much as the older girls badge work can be. There really is no "falling behind" in material by not doing Daisies if you decide to join GS later - what you can lose is the chance to form those friendships a bit earlier.

 

[DopeyDame]

I was the opposite. Meetings were after school - in the gym. The acoustics! I was happy to let the leaders herd the kittens. When ds joined cubs scouts, and I found out I was expected to stay, I was not happy. I had 4 other kids to have to find childcare for after school. Fortunately, it wasn't his thing.

That was me exactly! DS just started cub scouts and I was absolutely floored when they said every kid needs an adult at every activity. It sounds like a recipe for disaster to me, and so very against the goals of developing independence and maturity, which I thought were important parts of scouting.
We'll see how it goes - so far DH has been able to make the meetings and he's excited about joining on the camping trips, so if it works for the guys, then I certainly won't stop it. But I'm not at all a fan.

As for Girl Scouts - just a pet peeve: Daisys ARE girl scouts!!!!! The girl scout structure isn't like boy scouts where you eventually become a boy scout. ALL girls, starting in K, are girl scouts. You can be a Daisy Girl Scout or a Senior Girl Scout, or everything in between (Brownies, Juniors, Cadettes) but you are still a Girl Scout from day one.