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KEEPING GIRLS IN SCOUTS
A Compilation on
keeping 7/8/9th graders happy and convincing 11/12/13
year olds to stay in Girl Scouts
Plan a trip for the end of the following year,
something that will just knock their socks off, then
they will have to stay!
Have the older girls (14+) come and talk about
the fun they have, what they have done, and the
opportunities available.
Almost all women I talk to who stayed in GS to
the end, at some point they were encouraged by their
parents to remain active even though they wanted to
quit. Once they get over the middle school ickies, they
come back to earth and are very happy staying in GS.
Others have said that they wish their parents had
encouraged them to stay in it longer and they regret
dropping out. I am encouraging all my parents to be a
guiding force here.
Plan a summer bridging (or year kick off) event
with other girls the same age. Once they see they
aren't the only ones (and they are very likely to find
friends who they didn't know were GS), they are more
likely to stay
They are stuck in between being a little girl and
being a more mature teen. Give them a bit of slack and
really push the idea that they are in charge. Also,
approach the conversation like you would with any
adult. They will notice the change in tone and they
will notice that you are trusting them to know what they
want. No, they are not adults yet, and no, they won't
start acting like it for many years, BUT they crave the
respect, the opportunities, and the trust. Tell them you
completely understand how they feel (validate) and that
others all over the US feel the same way
(inclusiveness). Ask them what are their ideas for
solving this dilemma? Maybe someone wants to go by a
code word instead of GS (Gamma Sigma, "music lessons",
etc) so others won't know that was what you were talking
about. Maybe they want to back off and only meet
twice a month or even once per month. ACCEPT all the
ideas that they give you and try to put many into
practice. This proves to them that you want to give
them what they want.
Really kick up the FUN factor. Tell them we are
taking a break from badges, awards, and service for a
few months. Ask them what strictly fun things they
might want to do. This is OK - spending time together
and building relationships is just as important as
earning badges. Schedule as many as you can, maybe even
doing one or two over the summer (no meetings, just a
fun activity) to keep them interested. Half the time,
for my troop, the conversations we have in the car
going to and from an activity are more worthwhile then
the activity itself!!
Blend your troop with another in the SU,
neighborhood, region, or even Council. Either for
everything (troops meetings, cookies) or just for
ongoing trips/activities. Have a planning board or
something to help plan events for the larger group.
This uses the best of all your combined resources,
allows you to provide a program that is a step up from
the Br and Jr regular one-leader-show program, and the
more girls involved with each other, the better! It is
much more fun to have a swim party and sleepover with 35
girls instead of just 10.
Simple crafts, thrown together service projects,
and lectured badge activities are not going to hold
them. They need more complicated and in depth stuff.
They need details, explanations, and hands on
activities. Instead of making tray favors for meals on
wheels, offer them to go and help deliver the meals or
visit at meal time at a nursing home. Get them sewing,
crocheting, throwing pottery, painting ceramics, making
their own jewelry. Have them attend as many hands on,
expert run programs as you can. Think quality, quality,
quality. As Brownies, whatever you gave them was just
terrific, now they need more substance to keep them
interested. Call in the experts
you are not expected
to know everything!
Have an occasional alternate meeting place like
a coffee house, diner, pizza place, ice cream parlor,
etc. Feels more like a club and a bit more grown up.
Since they are older and in a new age level, maybe they
are ready for a change of scenery.
Find out what events you could attend that Boy
Scouts will also be present. No, we don't want to
totally give in to the boy crazy attitude many of the
girls this age have, but if preparing for a camping
competition against the Boy Scouts gets them excited,
then go for it.
We have Monday morning donuts. Because all mine
go to the same school, they come to a classroom as the
bus drops them off and we have donuts and juice...keeps
them connected.
Does your local Middle School, Junior High, or
High School now have a certain numbers of service
required? If so, GS is the perfect way to take care of
that requirement with no problem. Most years, a Brownie
troop could easily make 20 hours per year if they tried
a little bit. Think of how many older girls could do.
This is a perfect match to the Bronze, Silver, and Gold
awards.
Get them connected with older ladies that used to
be Girl Scouts, maybe through your local Red Hat Society
or Senior Activity Center. Have them do a simply
activity or craft together and just allow them to chat.
Discuss what it used to be like as a Girl Scout when
they were girls. Ask them if they felt the same way
about GS not being cool.
Being a Girl Scout looks good on resumes
(part-time AND full-time jobs), college applications,
scholarship applications, and more. Even if you don't
earn the Silver or Gold employers know that being a
Girl Scout MEANS something. They will get an employee
who understands the basic values of being an employee
hard work, honesty, etc. I know that if I had to choose
between two resumes, one GS and one without, I would
choose the GS in a heartbeat.
Did you know that girls who earn their Gold Award
and enter the military, not only start at a higher rank
(similar to the BS Eagle) but also at a higher PAY
rate. It may only be a bit more pay then their peers
for a few months, but that extra money adds up!
Drill this idea into them Never waste your time
imitating someone else. You were born a unique
individual, why die a copy? Acknowledge and talk about
the peer pressure to NOT be in Scouting. We spent an
entire meeting talking about stereotypes of Scouts and
why they are, or are not true, and finally, talked about
what Scouting can give a girl, and asked if the
stereotypes mattered to them. My girls said that
stereotypes DO matter to them, very much! But they
still
wanted to stay in, if they could find a way to work this
out. One way we dealt with this (and some will cringe
at this!!) was to allow our girls to choose a code word
for Scouts so that they didn't have to broadcast to
their non-Scouting friends what they were talking about.
They call themselves the FBI, and just say, "Oh, its a
club," when asked about it. I know all the reasons why
some will say that is terrible-- but my goal is to keep
them in Scouting!!! They can be
proud of being a Scout later in life when being in the
right social group isn't such an all-consuming thing!!
Find a group of Campus GS in your area. Have the
girls attend an event or activity on campus with these
girls. What is cooler then hanging out on a college
campus?
Create some traditions for your group. Even if
they are as small as a special decorated stick for a
camp names ceremony, a special song you sing at every
meeting, or a photo album of past adventures. The more
connections, feelings of inclusiveness, and history they
feel, the more likely they will stay.
Have the girls pick a few IPA or S2B activities
and have them plan them for the group. They CAN do it.
At first, their presentations will be short and lacking
detail. Have a lessons learned after each one and have
the girls in the troop give positive feedback and
constructive criticism. Eventually, their activities
will have more substance and they will learn so much
from picking, planning, and running an activity on a
topic THEY care about.
Flexibility! These girls so used to over
planned, multitasked lives we can't always expect that
they will make it to every meeting or event and
sometimes other things will take priority. I have a few
girls each year that drop during soccer season but are
strong attendees before and after that time. I've had
some parents complain that I had offered too much for
the girls to do - but pointed out that they don't have
to do all the events. I told them that nothing is
required as long as they understand they may or may not
get the same patches and awards as other girls. Expect
to have Girl Scouting come last, or near bottom of the
list of priorities and graciously schedule your meetings
around sports, music, etc. when you can.
Progression & respect! Not be treated as
inferior: I see this all the time by leaders
automatically saying, "My girls can't do that" They
never tried, they never talk to them about it, they
never begin progression, because it is automatically
assumed that they can't do it. I have seen event
planners and troop leaders do so much ahead of time that
the girls basically step in and pick up an item and it
is done... Kids know more than we think they do- I know
I'm surprised a lot- but it can be degrading to them to
have people constantly assuming they can't do
something. It makes them not want to try.
Allow more time for socializing. In the early
years, I was pretty intent on making sure that meeting
time was tightly scheduled. We had activities planned
out and went from one thing to another. In Cadettes,
the girls told us that they wanted more free time. Time
to get to know one another better, to catch up on what
was going on in each others lives, to just talk and have
fun together. We listened, though I wasn't sure this
was the way to go (sounded like goofing off
to me!). Now we have at least a half hour for
gabbing/goofing off together at the start of each
meeting (usually while eating something), then get down
to business. When we get down to business it is quick
and intense. We decide what we want to do, divide up
the tasks, and move on. No dragging things out. Then
back to socializing! We take trips and go on outings
that are intentionally loose, not highly scheduled. A
wonderful side benefit of this is that by being present
when they are gabbing, my co-leader and I have learned
SO MUCH about what is important to them, what makes the
adolescent tick, what makes them angry, what gives them
joy, who is doing what at school, etc. It is really
eye-opening for us sometimes! By observing these
conversations-- indeed by being ALLOWED to be a part of
these conversations, I feel I know my daughter and her
friends on a level that most parents don't even get
close to! What a privilege!
Crowd Control is different for older girls then
brownies! One of the things I use is a "counter". They
are told that if I, or one of the co-leaders, start
counting that is the clue to be quiet. If we get to 5
then they lose their incentives during the meeting - a
tag break or a gossip break. The other thing we use is
the "quiet leader syndrome". If we're leading a
discussion or trying to get input/feedback for a project
and they get off topic - talking to each other about
unrelated stuff, too many talking at once, unnecessary
silliness - the leaders immediately stop talking and
wait. The longer it takes for then to be quiet and get
back on task, the more time they lose from their fun
break. We've only had to completely eliminate the "5
minute banshee time" once. They'll get the picture.
Be sure to let them know ahead of time what the
meetings and trips will be about! Schedule enough items
to appeal to a wide variety of girls and calendars to
ensure everyone can participate in something to stay
connected with the troop. One leader runs on meeting
types
Planning planning camping, events, sleepovers,
badge activities, whatever
Training First Aid/CPR, how earn your gold, how
to organize your paperwork, how to make an agenda and
run a meeting, etc
Field Trip to meet and go to an interesting
place together
Business to do troop business such as making
decisions, craft/service projects, sign up for events,
work in small groups on IPA work
IPA meeting - to work on a specific Interest
Project Award
Awards work meeting - for individual girls to
work on awards of all types with leaders around for
advice
Service project meeting - To get together and do
a service project (could be with other troops or groups)
Sleepover meeting - On a weekend night - could be
at the school, at someone' s home, at a beach chalet or
??? Activities could be any number of things
Restaurant meeting - Probably a business or
planning meeting but located at a restaurant (can you
think of other things we could do at a restaurant
meeting?)
Speakers meeting - invite several speakers to
come and speak to our troop about some topic
Crafts meeting - Devoted to fun craft projects with no
particular award in mind
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