Girls Scouts Daisy Volunteer
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I just signed up. I have my first orientation on Dec. 8th. Anyone know what I can expect of this? I know very little about Girl Scouts so i'm kinda jumping in blind.
TIA
Are you going to be the leader or just a helper?
A co-leader. I backed out of being a leader for my first time experience. I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew. ;)
I am not exactly sure what you mean by "co leader" but in any case, I will explain what I did.
When dd was a daisy, I was just a helper, no big deal. The leader let me know what she needed help with and I helped her with what I could.
The next year, one of the leaders couldn't do it any more and they asked me to take her place. Not a big deal, I said no problem. LOL Honestly, I didn't think being a leader of the actual troop was too bad. We planned the meetings etc. What I thought was a bit much was all that the Girl Scout organization as a whole made you do. We have leader meetings, we had to go get leader training, we had to go get first aid training, permission slips for field trips, registering all those field trips with the GS council.... just on and on. It was all the GS official junk that made it a bigger job than it needed to be for me.
The main thing we did as Daisys was make sure they all earned their petals. There are certain things you have to do to earn each one and my the end of the year, they will have all the colors for the full daisy.... it will all make sense after someone in your troop gets the leader book. It really isn't a big deal, but it can be a big commitment as far as time goes.
Co-leaders help the leader, it is an official title LOL.. I always stayed and still do at my daughters girlscout meetings ever since she was in Kindergarten. She is in 4th grade and I still stay and help. Although, I am not the co leader. Usually when parents stay they just automatically help.
That is what confused me Jackie, she said she was a co leader, but "backed out of being a leader"..... A co leader was a leader, just not a leader alone. A helper helps, but isn't responsible for getting the required training etc.
But things might have changed since I was involved in it. Dd hasn't been in girl scouts for about 4 years now!
I'm as confused as you are, Vicki. LOL I just picked a title and figured I would learn more at orientation. Thanks for all the info so far.
Girlscouts is confusing at times. All I know is how it is here. Normally there is a leader and co-leader, the offical titles they have. The co-leader helps with the meetings as well, and the planning, and organizing. BUT...if parents stay, they have input as well.
I do know here, if there is no co-leader, then there has to be a registered adult in the room with the leader. This means(Like for me), I filled out an application for registered adult and paid my 10$ for the year. I am considered a register adult. So if the co-leader doesn't show up, the meeting can still go on as planned as long as the leader and a registered adult is present. The leader is NOT suppose to be alone with the girls without another adult.
Each meeting is run differently. Some troops you have a lot of extra adults who stay and "help", but they are not co-leaders. Depending on who your leader is, the parents who stay have a lot of input on what goes on.
Jackie- I think they way you described is how the girl i've been talking to explained it to me. You just put it in better English that I can understand! Thanks! LOL
This is my 10th year as a leader. Really leader, co leader is just semantics. Officially when registering, one adult is considered the "01" and one is the "02". You should always have 2 registered adults when meeting with girls.
Really it is pretty easy. As they grow you make decisions based on their needs. To be more merit or more social seems to be the question here.
As daisy's though, plan plenty to do, have some extra games that you can always do last minute, just in case an activity goes short or doesn't work out.
GS paperwork can be a nightmare. Really it is because of the united way affiliation and the insurance. I have been in two councils though and some are better than others. We now have a multi purpose permission slip, so we do one day of paperwork a year to cover for everything but camping.
Your training may or may not be useful. The big thing you should gain is where to get questions answered. A long the way, you will have some, you just need some names and numbers. The leader meetings can be a great resource for that also. But really it is volunteer led, some are great, some are just so so.
Update: I went to the orientation. They have talked me into being the leader, with another girl being the co-leader and one other helper.
Can I just say... I have A LOT of reading to do this weekend. I am beyond confused and hopefully will learn something with the stack of papers and booklets I got today.
And Kaye- I'm starting to feel you on the paperwork issue. Financial worksheets? Tax forms? Bank accounts? Permission slips, forms and everything else. Oh My!!!!
I have 4 classes scheduled for the next month and will hopefully have my parent meeting next week and start with the girls in January.
That is what I had said earlier too... it isn't so much being the leader of the troop that is so overwhelming, it is all the girl scout requirements and council stuff that makes it seem like so much.....
Melissa - I was a leader for 7 years and a service unit leader for many of those. I know Girl Scouts.
I have lots of ideas and would be happy to email you some of the different things we did. I still have sample newsletters, hadnouts, etc.
Word of advice: Use your council as little as possible. They are more of a hinderance than a help in most cases. I did the compliance things but then we pretty much did everything on our own.
Tayjar, that would be awesome! b o x z g r l at h o t m a i l dot c o m. Without all the spaces, of course!
Tayjar..AMEN about council! It is a real shame, but it is true.
Melissa, you can meet with girls starting now as long as all the parents are present. Remember at this age it is about being social and being helpful to others (which can just be in the troop). I would consider gather for a Christmas event, meet for hot cocoa, or have it at your house.
Also don't meet too much, once a month for their age is plenty. And get involved with the service unit. Some do some great stuff!
Tonight my service unit host caroling and cookies. They meet at the school, it is for families, but troop leaders can bring their troops if they wish. The do a craft and then they carol through the neighborhood. The end at my house where I serve cookies and hot cocoa. We have about 60 girls attend and a parent and some siblings. I think we will have about 120 carolers. Fun times! We do mother daugther events, father daughter dances, etc. They are your real source of help.
What exactly is the counsil? I'm still kinda lost on learning the terms and whos who. LOL
Once a month? Really? I was assuming weekly or biweekly just for small little craft projects or things like that. Ideally I was going to leave it as a majority vote between the parents and what they want.
I'm holding off initially because I still don't understand the process enough to be confident. I have the daisy program class (whatever it's called! LOL) next Wednesday and I was going to see what I gathered from that and work from there. I was assuming with the holidays that the families wouldn't want to add another "stress" before Christmas.
Okay well the way girl scouts work is you have a troop...it has a number. Directly about you is your service unit. This is usually a name. Mine is Stars. Council is who provides your trainings. So in Houston ours is called San Jacinto Girl Scout Council, in cinci I was in Great Rivers girl scout council. when you signed up all your paperwork went to council, they run the back ground checks and provide trainings. Someone in your SU (service unit) could do some of the trainings, but only if they were originally trained by council.
Don't let this stress you out! This is very easy and can be a lot of fun. As the get older there is plenty to do.
When we were daisies, we met once a month for a craft meeting and once a month for a field trip. Our SU had field trip opportunities and we did that so we didn't have to worry about all the paperwork stuff (they told us EXACTLY what we needed). It was a great fall back.
The program class will help you. Each council requires different trainings...your level, some basic leader training and sometimes a diveristy training. After than you could train regularly, first aide, camping, songs, etc.
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