Daisy Girl Scout Leaders

[MarriedToAPrince]

Hi everyone! I am a first time Daisy Leader this year. Our troop has 17 girls in it! So far we have had one meeting and the girls earned their Promise Center. Next month we are doing out first petal. I wanted to ask, how frequently do you guys meet? We are doing once a month and I feel like there is so much to cover and not enough time. I want to do as much as possible, maybe I am being too ambitious??? My co-leader wants to focus on petals and keeping things simple and local, but I kindda want to dive in head first and give it our all, KWIM?

Any leaders do things with just their own daughter? There are a few activites that look like lots of fun that I want to take advantage of but my co-leader doesn't want to, would it be bad if I just did them with my daughter? My other thought was offering it to the troop but not making it required, like saying hey this is going on on this date and this location and costs this, you are welcom to join us. What would you guys recommend?

I was checking out Pinterest and I saw TONS of ideas for the SWAPS. Do any of you particiate in that? What would be a good way to do that? Maybe at the Camporee?

I also wanted to do something with Flat Juliette. Have any other troops done that and what did you do for it?

 

[BiancaBernard&Penny]

I'm not a leader but here's my thoughts- my dd troop meets twice a month. I guess once is ok too. I understand you wanting to do extra. Dd troop did petals and one journey and the leader skimped on the requirements/opportunities, IMO. DD and I spent extra time and earned Thinking Day, Financial leaves, and Global Action patches. We had fun doing it but if I found out the leader did it and didn't give others the option I'd feel upset, KWIM? Either set it up as an extra optional meeting or send home info like a lesson plan for girls to do with their families.

 

[TheCapellsMom]

HI! I am a GS leader and a Trainer for leaders in my local area (Northern Virginia) so I thought I would respond.

My troop is Bronwies/Juniors now but I have been with them since Daisies. We have always had 2 meetings each month- 1.5hrs each. We did the Daisy petals the first year and did a Daisy Journey in the 2nd year.

During those 2 years, we also did a bunch of other activities, outings, service projects, and events. We did a nature hike, toured the local grocery store, marched in town parades, planted flowers at the elementary school, watched a holiday dance show, etc. We also attended some of the events that were being hosted by our Girl Scout Council like a Movie Night, a Singalong, and a Campout.

Some of these things were troop events that we planned on our own and I encouraged the whole group to attend. Others were hosted by other people so I offered it as an optional activity where parents were expected to stay with their children. If most of the girls weren't interested or weren't able to attend, I did go with my daughter if she wanted to.

If your co-leader doesn't want to go overboard, it's probably because she is afraid to take on too much. What I suggest to the new leaders I train, is trying to get a "Troop Committee" organized so the parents can help to make the troop a success.

Send an e-mail to the parents asking them to help and be VERY specific about what you need. Say: "We are looking for parents to help plan the following events..." Every summer, I send out a list of possible field trips and ask parents to do the research and help organize them. If a few parents can plan outings for you, the troop can do more without the leaders being overwhelmed.

You really don't need to go far or do anything fancy for Daisies to have a great time. You can probably get tours at your local Fire Station, Police Station, Animal Shelter, Grocery Store, Ice Cream Parlor, Library, etc.

I would also suggest that you try to find an older girl troop to work with. The Daisies LOVE having older girls (even Brownies) come teach them songs and games! It's a super-easy meeting for you to plan and the older girls can fulfill badge requirements or service requirements by working with young kids.

As for swaps, we usually make them to trade whenever we do something where a bunch of other girl scouts will be there like Camporee, Council Singalong, World Thinking Day Celebration, etc. We also use swaps as "thanks yous" when another troop does something nice for us like when the older girls came to teach the girls about Girl Scout history.

I have heard of troops that did the Flat Juliet project and loved it- but all were older than Daisies. They colored their own Juliettes, wrote letters to go with her, and mailed her to friends and relatives far away. I think it might be best to wait until the girls are at least be able to read the letters that come when Juliet travels someplace new.

OK- I know I just wrote a novel- sorry!
Hope it helps!
Feel free to PM me if you want more ideas!

GOOD LUCK!

 

[ButterflyJen]

Here are my thoughts:

I lead a 3rd grade Brownie troop as well as a brand new K Daisy troop. My 3rd graders meet every other week for 1-1/2 hours. Right now, my Daisies are meeting once a month for 1 hour. We are jumping in nice and slow; getting the girls used to what it's all about as they get used to being in school full-time. We have been working on the Promise & will have our Investiture next month. After that we'll start petal work. After the holidays we will meet 2x a month & try to complete a petal at each meeting, if it's feasible. World Thinking Day is being worked in as well as cookie sales & leaves. We are busy!!

As for outside events, I pass along every one to parents & let them decide if they want to go. With our Daisies the parents are responsible for paying for the admission since our troop is still poor Brownies have one event "sponsored" a month from troop funds (up to $5 per girl). I have no problem with my girls going to events that I can't attend. I'm happy they can (and want to) go on their own! Anything I want to do with my daughters I pass along to the troop. I don't want the "why didn't we get to do this?" backlash!!

We've done SWAPS twice. I don't really see the big deal about them.

Haven't done Flat Juliette yet with either troop.

 

[RangerPooh]

I have a Brownie troop and we meet weekly for 1 hour. I co-lead DDs Daisy troop last year and they met as frequently as we do. I understand wanting to do more activities, we would see other troops at regional events whose vests were full of patches, while we had none. This year with the new age level my co-leader and I have decided to focus on one of the Brownie Journey's and then discover the try-its. As a parent I would have been upset to find out that our leaders daughter was earning badges that the rest of us couldn't. This is why I inform parents of upcoming events that they can participate in individually that offer patches or events that we can do as a troop outside of meetings to earn patches. I'm also thinking about sending a few activities home as part of their journey patches so that the process can be sped up, leaving no-one feeling like it's taking forever to earn.

As for SWAPS in the past we've made a few at meetings, and plenty at cookie rallies and other regional events. Tomorrow is our investiture ceremony and we'll be making SWAPS then.

 

[ButterflyJen]

I just had my Thinking Day meeting with my kindergarteners. They are adorable, but I swear I feel like I'm herding cats most of the time!!! Lots of reminders not to run, pay attention, etc. Is this common for this age group?? I'm tempted to see if I can use a smaller area to meet in so they don't have an entire open area that they feel is all theirs to romp in...

 

[Suellen]

What are your meetings like? How long are they? 5 year olds are hard to focus for long periods.

We would have a welcome activity that would last about 5-10 minutes
Say the pledge and the promise.

Next I would explain what we were doing always a story or reading of some kind.

I would always have a fun craft for them to do IF we got through the story without interruption.

Craft

Snack

Clean up

If there was time we would play Daisy to Daisy or Girl Scout, Girl Scout, Daisy.

Friendship squeeze - closing announcements and goodbyes.

We met for an hour - so we kept them pretty busy. Story time was always interactive too.

Just a thought - but at that age - 10 minute segments work best. Also dangling a carrot (the craft) always kept them focused to sit and listen and participate actively in story time.

 

[ButterflyJen]

We also meet for an hour. We do opening circle, Pledge/Promise, then talk about the petal/badge we are earning. Tonight there was no story but I am trying to have one @ each petal meeting. We did craft at the last two. Tonight we played a little game similar to Hopscotch, then had a snack (usually no snack), then closing. We are earning our Respect Myself and Others petal in 2 weeks and are having a tea party. I plan to read Tea for Ruby, make some sort of EASY craft, then have a little snack and emphneazise manners and such. I hope that will help...we'll see.

After the meeting is done is when I have a lot of issues. They like to play tag, duck duck goose, etc. and get a little crazy at that point. I guess I need to lengthen our meeting activities so there is very little downtime before they leave??

 

[Suellen]

Oh yeah / I wouldn't leave more then 10 minutes at the end. That gives them time to have fun but not really get out if control.

 

[Disney owl]

anyone like to keep in contact by e-mail?

I'm 51 & have been a member of Girlguiding UK for approx 40 years!!!

last year I finished running a Brownie pack (ages 7 - 10) and i now run a Rainbow unit (age 5 -7 ) here in our village in west Yorkshire, UK.