Girl Scout Leaders Please Help!

OMG! One of my best experiences was being a Girl Scout Leader! It was so much fun bonding with my daughter and my other 14 troop members and their parents. First I will tell you I was never in Girl Scouts. So when my daughter said that there was no troop for her age, I was hesitant to step up. But boy am I glad I did.

We scheduled 2 meetings a month, one "formal" in our meeting space and one "community activity". And I wasn't responsible for either of them! Let me explain, most moms can't take on or don't want to take on the "responsibility of the whole group" but they would LOVE to take on one event or meeting. All I did was get all the parent together, ask them to pick "their date" and voila, we set up our schedule for the year.
Yes, I provided them with some resources - Girl Scout head office has everything! - yes, I took attendance and YES I got all the credit (LOL) but it was the moms that did all the work. I was the "manager" of the group and the moms were the "facilitators". Everyone LOVED IT!

If you want more specifics, let's chat!

B.
Family Success Coach

Hi S.,
I am a Daisy leader in KC. My co-leader and I started last year, our girls were first year Daisys. We were in your boat..we wanted our girls to be in GS but there was no leader stepping up for our age group so we did it.
It does take a lot of time to be a GS leader. You have trainings that are mandatory and you have to have a first-aid/CPR certified person at the meetings. My co-leader and I split that responsibiliby...she did the CPR and I did the First-Aid. For one thing, it's time consuming to do both and it is not free...I think we paid $25 ea. to do the training.
Once you can get past all the training (some of it is great because it gives you a network and some idea of how to get started and what to do!) it becomes a bit easier and you can concentrate on having fun with the girls.
I could go on and on....but if you would like to email me or call me..that would be great and we could chat. I could give you some time saving ideas. I am a SAHM of 2 and my co-leader works part time and has 2 kids. I would highly suggest getting a partner if you can! Especially because you work full time! It doesn't have to be hard or stressful...the fact that the girls can get together and they have another adult in their life to love and support them as people makes it worth it to them...and the satisfaction of being a positive mentor makes it worth it to the leaders!
I am new to this site so not sure how it works for us to talk "off-line" but if you know how..please feel free to contact me! Good luck and have fun!

I am a leader of a Brownie troop that started as Daisies three years ago. First of all, let me assure you that the leading of the troop can be as easy or as difficult as you want it to be. I was not a girl scout growing up, so really started from scratch on this. There is some mandatory training sessions to get started, but once those are done (and you can start the troop BEFORE you are done with all the trainings) how much more training you want is up to you. There are many activities arranged by your local council, like camping, science workshops, and the like, so you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Also, google daisy girl scout crafts or activities and you will have SO MUCH information it will be coming out of your ears. Paperwork occurs at the beginning and the end of the year, so it really shouldn't be a factor as to NOT to do a troop.

Our troop charges $40 a year per girl for dues, instead of doing it per meeting, and that makes it a bit more simple as well. Daisys don't sell cookies, so don't even sweat that yet. When cookies do come around, you can make a decision as a troop to sell or not to sell, it is NOT required. (And cookies are a pain in the patootie, I will not lie).

We have two meetings a month, and I spend about 2-3 a month planning meetings, getting supplies together, making sure the bank statement balances, etc. It really isn't as complicated as you may think. Our girls do a lot of crafts and earning Try Its, but there are charts you can download to help track things like that. Everything you might need for girl scouts someone else has already done and posted on a blog or website somewhere! :)

We also do a lot in our community, such as we had a spare change drive and one meeting was spent having the girls count out $101 in spare change. That money will go to our food pantry. Later this month we are officially adopting a neighborhood park. We also did a blanket drive for the homeless in December.

We have nine girls, and are not allowing anymore in the troop (that is your choice too--you can limit the size of your troop). When we first started, we limited it to six, but we got more comfortable, and allowed a couple new girls last year. I don't think we will go above nine. I do have a co-leader, but she works nights, and can't make all the meetings. She does help with the meeting arrangements, even when she can't come, and that 2-3 hours I quoted you is for both of us, not apiece.

I hope this helps. It is not for everyone, but I am not one of those "I just love kids, any kids" type of people, and we make it work, and really do have a lot of fun with it.

First of all you have to track any expenses. Make the monthly dues cheap, and be prepared for the kids parents to ask where the money goes, no matter how much it is. Also, get a really good kids book on the subject of crafts. This will help with activities for the meetings. Another thing that inspired me was to go to the Girl Scout shoppe and look thru all of the patches they can earn. It made it so that I got ideas for what we could do....
W. M.

My MIL is a troop leader (was cub scouts when my husband was younger) is girl scouts now for about 8 years (maybe more). Infact she is my daughters leader. I would not want that position for anything in the world! She spends a ton of time organizing meetings, craft, snack, who is doing what job, what fun activities to do with the troop, speakers, who needs to earn what to get petals (daisy) and badges (brownies, juniors, cadets,etc) and what to do to help them earn them. It is a mess. Plus all the paperwork (yikes) And she admits that she is going broke after so many years of scouts. Because she buys alot out of pocket and the troop often doesn't make enough in cookie sales to pay it back. She seems to be running to girl scout counsil alot too! Her co-leader basically comes to babysit her own daughter and does or says nothing to help out. I often help with clean up and set up if there is an invite or something (even meetings sometimes).
Also - it is not just your child who you have to deal with. Some people are just not cut out to deal with every child who comes there way. There is a couple in my daughters troop who I would not want to have to try and lead. (but that is why I am not a troop leader).
Also depending on the size of your town you may not get all daisys. My daughter and another girl are daisy there are 2 brownies, 2 juniors and 2 cadets in the troop. That is alot to keep track of and difficult to orgainze so everyone is involved in everything, etc.
I am sure for some people this is a wonderful experience - but not one I would want to take on!
Sorry to only be negative but this is how I honestly see it. Hope it helps :)