Is there any girl scout troop leaders in here? My daughter is going to be a daisy and they are forming a new troop and want me to be a leader. I was never a girl scout so I don’t know what it entails. I just know they sell cookies. I want to be an active parent and I want to but I also want to know what I’m committing to. And to make sure I’m capable of it, I know my girl is excited so I can only guess the whole troop will be
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Are you starting a new troop or taking over from an existing one? Basically you look through the scout manual for your age group and figure out which badges/activities are doable with your girls. You may or may not want to wear a uniform but at least you’ll want to buy a pin. Do you have a meeting location? What time & day do you want to have meetings? This comes first. Everyone seems to have sports on the weekend so weekdays work better.
With girls that young, a parent or other grown up should stay for meetings and help out where needed. (My son’s Boy Scout leader said he thought some parents thought BSA stood for BabySitters of America!
) Feel free to have parents sign up to be treasurer, cookie parents, badge helpers, activity leaders, field trip permission slip paperwork person, field trip & camping chaperones, driver parents, snack parents if you want to have snacks, etc.
If no one wants to volunteer, be bold about assigning tasks to everyone based on their schedule and abilities. Talented parents, friends and acquaintances or special guests you pursue (astronomer, doctor or nurse, artist, roboticist, engineer, coder, other specialist) may dictate which badges/activities you do as a troop. Also check if certain activities can knock out more than one badge at a time. Hiking at a park with a naturalist and learning about wildlife, or visiting a historic site and learning about gardening or cooking over an open fire for example. Ask around town if museums, libraries, other places offer Girl Scout badge activities and badges for sale.
You may want to develop a slush fund for low income kids who can’t afford dues or other expenses. Also check with previous troop leaders or other troops to see if you can find some hand me down uniforms. Keep a box for lost and found; young kids forget stuff all the time.
You may want to develop a routine of sitting in a group, saying the Girl Scout oath/pledge, reading something to them or having the girls read something related out loud, having a flag ceremony, doing a scout activity, singing girl scout songs and closing with taking down and folding the flag. Once you get everyone settled, have the girls take charge of various parts of the meetings, maybe in pairs.
Girl Scouts can go camping fairly young (not sure how young anymore), but you have to make reservations at Girl Scout properties as soon as possible. Girls this little should camp when it’s nicer weather and save the cold weather camping and long and more difficult hikes for older scouts. Most places have Adirondack shelters off the ground. If you go camping have several practice days of packing everything needed in their sleeping bags to me sure everyone is ready with all their stuff. Depending on your age, you may want to pack an air mattress.
Make friends and connections with other scout troop leaders and share special speakers & activity leaders, do joint activities and outings, and share tips, ideas & advice. You may have local or state leaders available to help you too.
Pick someone to be a co-leader or assistant leader as your back-up in case you can’t be at a meeting or activity or just when you want a break from being in charge. Again, let the girls pick from a few choices and make decisions. You may also have events with the larger group like international day or swaps events or jamboree type stuff with lots of troops. You’ll have to do your part, but the location, time, and agenda should be set by the local, regional or state leaders.
Good luck. The kids can be lots of fun & you’ll learn so much. And you can cite this for management and leadership skills on your resume.