OT: anyone with a DD in girl scouts?

[holly7347]

Hi all,

A girl scout troup is starting up at DD's school. Actually it is a Daisy troup for kindergarten and first graders. Anyone have a child involved that young? What types of stuff do they do? How often do them typically meet?

I work evenings so I'm trying to decide if it is even worth signing her up. DH watches the girls while I work and even if he was willing to take her I'm sure they wouldn't want little sister tagging along all the time. Grandma might be willing to take her to some stuff and then DH could stay home with DD#2.

I was a brownie for a year or so but that was SO LONG AGO I really don't remember what we did. Any info would be appreciated.

 

[happymommy]

My DD was a brownie one year. She wasn't into it. It was cute. That is all I can give it.

Honestly, family time is more important IMHO.

My DD was in 1st grade. She did it to please me I think. It was just some cute little activities. They talked about not smoking, and other stuff, but mostly it was no big deal.

Next year, she said she didn't want to do it. No argument from me.

 

[LisaNJ25]

Junior leader here and service unit manager. I will have a daisy troop next sept when my youngest dd turns 5 so I will have 2 troops. They will probably meet every 2 weeks for an hour/hour and a half. . As kindergartener its usually crafts/snacks/working on the daisy petals and possible short local trips. There is also a new program called journeys they will work on. They get more involved as they get older.

Things have changed this year and Daisy's can sell cookies and nuts/magazines so be prepared for that.


A great troop is made up of good leaders and parents that help. Your leader will need parents help from time to time. If y our husband will be the one there have him register as GS. I have 4 dads registered and is my certified troop camper.

As far as your younger dd, I dont like tagalong siblings. It gets to distracting and depending on the meeting location it may not be allowed.

 

[imthatgirl]

my daughter has been in brownies since the first grade. she loves it. this year they meet at a time when i can be involved, but before this year my husband has had to bring her. he didnt stay. it was an hour and a half long so he would take my younger kids out for dinner.
my daugher loves it. they do so much!! besides the endless crafts and activities they do in the meeting, they also do lots of things in the community. her troop runs a can drive, runs a halloween event at a local church, they go to the elderly homes and visit and do things for them like bring them cookies or even for one lady they took her dry cleaning for her .
its just a great experience! i recommend it to any girl.
we meet every monday night. then we do things many weekends.

 

[Schmeck]

My DD was a brownie one year. She wasn't into it. It was cute. That is all I can give it.

Honestly, family time is more important IMHO.

My DD was in 1st grade. She did it to please me I think. It was just some cute little activities. They talked about not smoking, and other stuff, but mostly it was no big deal.

Next year, she said she didn't want to do it. No argument from me.

Honestly, that hour a week with peers, having fun, learning about all kinds of interesting things, working towards certain accomplishments, and getting a sense of pride in the community certainly never cut into our family time at all.

 

[imthatgirl]

Honestly, that hour a week with peers, having fun, learning about all kinds of interesting things, working towards certain accomplishments, and getting a sense of pride in the community certainly never cut into our family time at all.

ours either. in fact there are many times that we do things as a family with the girl scouts. siblings are not really welcome at the meetings, but the outings are often a family affair, of course depending on the outing.

 

[The Disney Bunch]

I am co-leading a daisy troop this year for my youngest dd. She is in kindergarten. We have our meetings once a month right after school. The parents generally don't come unless we request it. They will be doing craft, a couple of local trips working on their petals. It is fun!

 

[skw444]

I'm a Daisy leader this year and we're meeting the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month for an hour. Parents have the option (and are encouraged if they want to) to stay during the meeting. Or they can choose to drop their child off and pick her back up at the end. We'll be doing crafts and activities to work towards earning our petals and journey patch. We'll also be doing 1 or 2 field trips a month.

 

[mickeylove2]

My youngest DD is a 1st year Daisy and my older DD was a Daisy in Pre-K and K and a Brownie in 1st-3rd, In my older DDs Daisy troop they met once a week for an hour, they took field trips, do a craft and work on their Daisy petals...they also worked on other fun patches. They went Christmas cadoling, marched in local parades, went to the local pumpkin patch and did the hayride and such, went camping...they did doing all kinds of fun stuff. My younger DD is meeting every week for an hour and they have all kinds of exciting activities planned (she's only had 3 meetings so far)

 

[mommy3]

I'm a leader of 3 troops (1st grade, 4th and 6th) - so I'm probably a little partial. The younger years are mostly fun and throw in some community service projects. As they age, the benefit of Girl Scouts really shows, as they take on more and more responsibility for the troop and gain some valuable leadership skills. All 3 of my girls love it and I'd say try it and see how she does. The meetings should be fairly short, and tag-a-longs (siblings) usually aren't recommended at normal meetings. At this age especially, the scouts are easily distracted and sibs make it very difficult for the leaders to keep control.

 

[cttjones]

My daughter is now a junior (4th grader) and she has been involved in Girl Scouts since (1st grade). It can be a lot of work, especially as the kids get older, but she would not stop for anything. It also depends on the troop leader to how often you meet etc., but in my experience the younger the girls are the fewer the meetings.

My daughter LOVES Girl Scouts, and especially the friends she has made over the years. This group of eight girls are very close even though they are from different schools and backgrounds. They attend each others b-days, sleepovers, and of course Girl Scouts. My daughter has told me that at Girl Scouts she can be herself. No pretending or worrying about what others think. I love that she feels like she has a place where she can be herself with her friends.

Girl Souts is a good opportunity to have your daughter participate in an organization that sponsors citizenship, community involvement, and friendship. This is also a good way to really know her "friends". This will be more important as she gets older. I know the group of girls my daughter is closest too very well. I know these girls parents and the types of homes that they come from, and it makes me feel good to know these are good girls. I am glad she became a Girl Scout for that reason if nothing else.

Good luck!

 

[allison443]

my daughter has been in brownies since the first grade. she loves it. this year they meet at a time when i can be involved, but before this year my husband has had to bring her. he didnt stay. it was an hour and a half long so he would take my younger kids out for dinner.
my daugher loves it. they do so much!! besides the endless crafts and activities they do in the meeting, they also do lots of things in the community. her troop runs a can drive, runs a halloween event at a local church, they go to the elderly homes and visit and do things for them like bring them cookies or even for one lady they took her dry cleaning for her .
its just a great experience! i recommend it to any girl.
we meet every monday night. then we do things many weekends.

This is a great recommendation! All my girls were in GS from kindergarten into middle school. It was a lot of fun, good opportunities for community service, lots of good trips too! Good luck!

 

[happymommy]

Honestly, that hour a week with peers, having fun, learning about all kinds of interesting things, working towards certain accomplishments, and getting a sense of pride in the community certainly never cut into our family time at all.

For us, the timing wasn't the best. But we have had some friends who really do enjoy the girl scouts.

Sorry if I sounded harsh. My daughter just didn't think much about it one way or the other. The troop leader and helpers were super sweet though. It was a nice small group.

 

[mjkacmom]

Dd's Daisy/Brownie troop met once a month, after school, for an hour, and did crafts - no biggie!

 

[princesspiglet]

I was a Senior Cadet and am now a Daisy Troop Leader. DD is in the daisies in her second year. We have weekly meetings every Monday for 1.5 hours. We start out our meetings with a song, then we have circle time where each girl gets to talk about their past week, then we do a craft, have snack time and then it is time to go! The girls all love it and get so excited when they see each other. My DD has developed great friendships with other girls outside of her class at school through girl scouts and I have developed some great friendships with the parents.

We also do alot of seasonal activities. Last Halloween we took the girls to Hersheypark to go trick-or-treating and we visited a farm for a fall festival. At Christmas we chose a family and all went together and got presents for them. We also went caroling at a senior facility and had a "snow" day where we went to a local hill and went sled-riding together. On the first saturday in June we all meet at a local playground and have a picnic. We do so many fun things it would take forever to list them all!

I am a die-hard Girl Scout fan. I believe I have become what I am because of scouting. I learned responsibility, dedication, loyalty and independance. I loved going away to sleep-away camp every summer and still keep in touch with alot of my fellow Girl Scouts from those days. We always had an incredible leader and I hope to follow that tradition.

 

[ajh88]

Hi all,

A girl scout troup is starting up at DD's school. Actually it is a Daisy troup for kindergarten and first graders. Anyone have a child involved that young? What types of stuff do they do? How often do them typically meet?

I work evenings so I'm trying to decide if it is even worth signing her up. DH watches the girls while I work and even if he was willing to take her I'm sure they wouldn't want little sister tagging along all the time. Grandma might be willing to take her to some stuff and then DH could stay home with DD#2.

I was a brownie for a year or so but that was SO LONG AGO I really don't remember what we did. Any info would be appreciated.

My DD *just* started Brownies and she loves it. I think the frequency and content of meetings will really depend on your leaders and what the parents want. Her Brownies group only meets once a month for about an hour - it's right after school (and meetings are held AT the school!), so it just means I pick her up an hour later. They do have other activities/projects that take place outside the normal meeting, but the first one isn't until November.

I didn't know if DD would really like it after the first meeting, but she came home just bursting with excitement.

 

[holly7347]

Thanks ladies for all the personal experiences. It sounds like it could really be a good time for DD. I just didn't want to take her to the informational meeting and get her hopes up if it wasn't going to work out for us. Since I work evenings being able to drop her off would work out great for DH that way he can stay home with DD#2 (the school is less than 5 minutes away from our house) and wouldn't need to find a baby sitter.