Any other Girl Scout Brownie Leaders out there? How do you feel about Try Its?

Question

I have two parents who really want me to do a new one at every meeting, but my girls (most are in the 1st grade) said they enjoy doing a more involved craft more right now. I know the try-its give girls a chance to try something they haven’t yet, but we’ve done a few and they’d really rather get messy (some aren’t allowed to paint or play with anything gooey so this is their only opportunity) right now. The more active try-its, like science, animals etc., seem like they’d be a lot of fun once we’re in the 3rd grade, but not so much now.

Would you please let me know what you’ve found with your own troop? My gut feeling is saying let them be young and have fun right now, we can wait on the try-its.

Also, I’ve spoken with other leaders in my service unit and they said they have the parents take turns getting the try-its together and doing them. Do you think that’s too much to ask? It already takes me hours to get the craft and game ready.

Thanks so much!

Answer 1

I have a daughter in girl scouts, I have to agree they are too young.Let the 2 parents do it get all the help you can,it`s harder than it looks.(I have a friend who is a leader in boy scouts)So, if parents suggest things, tell them that you have so much on your plate, that you`d be grateful if they did it,  Split them up in 2 groups.You could do your activity for 1/2 the time, they do theirs.-then switch. I don`t think it will go over, but you may be able to open the eyes of the 2 parents.

Answer 2

Ask the two parents to prepare a "Try It" and present it at one of the meetings.  That would give you two meetings where you did not have to provide as many activities.  They cannot expect you to take on the added responsibility of presenting their ideas.  Maybe one or both of these parents would like to be a leader?  We are always looking for leaders and assistants.  There is also a program which we must follow.  Do these activities fall into the realm of the activities which must be done?

Answer 3

You've got some really competitive, Type-A parents, don't you?  LOL!  Been there, done that!  Do what makes the girls happy -- but keep in mind that a lot of your craft projects can probably be incorporated in a try-it in some way or another. You just have to keep up with who did what when.  (Try Scoutmaster software -- fabulous software program to track this stuff over the years, so you might as well start now!)

When my girls were Brownies (they're juniors in high school, now), at the beginning of the year, each family was a assigned a workday each month -- usually on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon -- and the family could choose which try-it they wanted to "present".  The girls who could come came -- the ones who weren't interested, didn't.  It was just a fun time to a) be able to host a "party" with your Scout friends, b) earn some try-its, if that was your thing, and c) reinforce to the parents just how much work running a meeting is every other week -- they REALLY appreciate you after they've done a try-it day!!!  We had a meeting at the beginning of the year, and the families chose their try-its and their month, then.  (For larger troops, parents could choose to work together.)

My troop of Senior Girl Scouts put on a Badge & Try-It workshop every month during the service unit meeting during the year.  We usually have between 30 and 40 girls attending, and they earn a badge or a try-it during the meeting. It's a fund-raiser for us, we charge $10 per girl, and provide all the materials and the try-it or badge.  We tend to do the "messy" badges that leaders avoid -- things like science and art stuff :-D

Answer 4

Well, it really depends on how often you have the meetings. When I was a brownie it was once a week and we didn't do try-its every week, or if we did, we didn't know that we were doing them. There are a lot of try-its, and you probably will be able to find a few at least that fufill both the needs of the parents and the kids. I know that there is one involved with dressing up.