Celebrating The Ways Troop are Different
One of the biggest issues I've heard lately is that girls (or even parents) sour on the idea of Girl Scouts because the troop isn't meeting theirs needs. The truth is there are girls that want arts and crafts, others that want adventure and travel while others might not know what they need so they bounce from troop to troop.
One of the great things is as a leader, you have the choice on what your troop is "about". Just like picking a troop crest, leaders need to work with girls to find out what they love to do.
For instance, in my troop, we love arts and crafts, cooking and also gardening. I guess I would call us a "creative troop". This coming year we will earn a homesteading badge which includes learning to sew, make jam, bake bread and garden. We'll also take the brownie snack badge to a new level by learning to make our favorite restaurant foods into more healthy versions at home. The whole first half of our year will be spent being creative, learning new things and perfecting skills from the year before.
I know other troops that are more traditional. They will focus on camping, community service and being of service in other ways. I think that this is really important for troops to decide. As new girls come in, it's important to know what you're about and what you'll be focusing on. This helps parents as they are trying to find the right troop for their girls.
Twice this year I had girls move from another troop to my troop only because they heard about the type of activities that we do. There wasn't hard feelings on behalf of the other leader because we all see that the scout made a choice to do what's right for her!
It can be tricky to do this when you only have a couple troops in your area. In this case, think of creating focus groups within the troop and encourage co-leaders to lead them. You may have a troop of 30 and have 5 that want to work on cooking, 7 that want to work on artistic badge work and the rest wanting to focus on outdoor skills. This is where having a leader that shares that passion lead the group of girls and allow them to work on those badges with girls. Of course, you can still work on things as a group but empowering the girls to decide what they want to focus on is a great way to build critical thinking skills as well as decision-making skills.
This not only encourages adult leaders to lead with passion, but it also celebrates the fact that people are good at different things! Don't be afraid to think out of the box!
As your troop grows and changes, girls will have new interests, if you lead your troop in the ways I mentioned above, you'll easily be able to adjust as the girls get older.
How does your troop decide what they want to learn? Do you let them choose? Is it put to a vote or are they allowed to choose a focus?
One of the great things is as a leader, you have the choice on what your troop is "about". Just like picking a troop crest, leaders need to work with girls to find out what they love to do.
For instance, in my troop, we love arts and crafts, cooking and also gardening. I guess I would call us a "creative troop". This coming year we will earn a homesteading badge which includes learning to sew, make jam, bake bread and garden. We'll also take the brownie snack badge to a new level by learning to make our favorite restaurant foods into more healthy versions at home. The whole first half of our year will be spent being creative, learning new things and perfecting skills from the year before.
I know other troops that are more traditional. They will focus on camping, community service and being of service in other ways. I think that this is really important for troops to decide. As new girls come in, it's important to know what you're about and what you'll be focusing on. This helps parents as they are trying to find the right troop for their girls.
Twice this year I had girls move from another troop to my troop only because they heard about the type of activities that we do. There wasn't hard feelings on behalf of the other leader because we all see that the scout made a choice to do what's right for her!
It can be tricky to do this when you only have a couple troops in your area. In this case, think of creating focus groups within the troop and encourage co-leaders to lead them. You may have a troop of 30 and have 5 that want to work on cooking, 7 that want to work on artistic badge work and the rest wanting to focus on outdoor skills. This is where having a leader that shares that passion lead the group of girls and allow them to work on those badges with girls. Of course, you can still work on things as a group but empowering the girls to decide what they want to focus on is a great way to build critical thinking skills as well as decision-making skills.
This not only encourages adult leaders to lead with passion, but it also celebrates the fact that people are good at different things! Don't be afraid to think out of the box!
As your troop grows and changes, girls will have new interests, if you lead your troop in the ways I mentioned above, you'll easily be able to adjust as the girls get older.
How does your troop decide what they want to learn? Do you let them choose? Is it put to a vote or are they allowed to choose a focus?
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