I read a message board for Girl Scout leaders. I've found many interesting craft ideas as well as some great activities posted there.
Notice I said I read the board. I almost never post there. I would have nothing but dissension to add to the discussion most of the time. I'd like to reach through the screen and slap some of the women who post there. They want to be good leaders, and I can tell they're taking it seriously, but aack!
Bitchy old me.
I find many things that annoy me on this board, such as the fixation on grade levels and age grouping. I deal with the same close-mindedness IRL. People just don't 'get' how we can combine different age groups in one troop and be successful. Our own GS Council has a hard time with that one.
I recently filed the annual paperwork to re-register my troop. On the registration recap form, there is a line where I'm supposed to pick one level... Brownie, Junior or 11-17. (Don't get me started on that friggin' smarmy 'girls 11-17 thing' again...aackk!)
I attached a post-it note this time. "I refuse to pick just one level." Added a little smiley face. "You choose."
It will be interesting to see which one they choose.
But here I am, wandering way the hell away from the topic, which was supposed to be how I found something annoying on the board today. It comes up every year about this time, too. I'm talking about variations on 'how do I get my troop to behave?' These questions usually come from leaders of Brownies or possibly Junior Girl Scouts, so the girls in question are aged 10 or younger.
Ever meet a young girl?? Butterflies! (most of 'em) or at least possessing butterfly-ish characteristics. You know? Most of the women who lead troops have a daughter in their troop, so you'd think they'd know some of the characteristics of children that age. @@
Poster's ideas of misbehavior include things like talking out of turn, running, "acting silly" and not responding immediately to orders. Instead of wandering off the topic again, I'll let you imagine what I think about those 'bad behaviors.' (while you ponder that, I'll be banging my head on my keyboard.)
Helpful suggestions vary, but they're all eerily similar, and smack of the crowd control methods of public school, which makes me just a teeny bit edgy. (Okay, a LOT edgy.) That punish-the-whole-group-because-one-of-you-can't-conform crap. Pisses me off every time.
On the board at various times, I've seen several ideas for controlling behavior.
They're all based on rewards. If you're very very good, we can get ICE CREAM or have a party , or go skating or.... whatever. Um, hello?? This is a GIRL SCOUT TROOP... those are things that should be happening anyway, and not be based on behaviors for goodness sake!!
So first, everyone dangles some sort of reward in front of small children, then makes it difficult if not impossible to attain.
1. The Good Conduct Candle.. when it burns all the way down, you get a reward!
At the beginning of the meeting, a very large candle is lit. If the girls 'misbehave' during the meeting, the instigator... the BAD girl gets to blow out the candle. This makes the other girls angry at the 'misbehaving' child, and with any luck, the peer pressure of the other girls will force the bad one to change her ways!
2. The Bead String... same idea.
Every girl is issued a string. Each meeting, if they have been GOOD little girls, they get a bead. When they reach a certain prearranged number of beads, they get their party or whatever. Here's the really good part. When one girl acts up, all the girls lose a bead! Isn't that great!?? What a wonderful team-building exercise!
3. Marble Jars (ugh, variations on the same theme)
One full jar of marbles. One empty. For each good thing that happens during meetings (good lining up to wash hands for example) a marble goes into the empty jar. For every bad thing, a marble gets removed. This is a little better, I guess, since no one has suggested that the bad girl is the one who has to remove the marble. It's far more appropriate, I think, for the leader to demonstrate that she's lost her marbles. Ha.
Here's what I want to post, but won't.
Everyone has failed to address the real issue here.
The biggest problem in your troop is YOU, leader! How can you possibly think that making kids feel bad is going to fix anything?
It is your job to engage the girls and make them active participants in the experience.
If the atmosphere of your meeting is chaos without control, boredom from the girls, aggravation and anger from you, then you're doing a crappy job. Either get some books, some help and a different attitude, or get the hell out of Girl Scouts! You are passing on life lessons to these girls in the form of group punishments and rewards and otherwise not teaching them shit! If it's all about the conduct and your wish to control them, you may as well not bother with Girl Scouts. They will have their fill of that kind of crap just by attending public school.
It is the responsibility of the leader to capture their attention, their interest, their enthusiasm. If you are not doing that, no amount of group punishment or reward is going to provide a permanent fix.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rant temporarily over.
I have a feeling this is one of the posts that I'll read in a day or so and go back and edit, add, edit some more, get all grumpy again and rant, and finally quit messing with. I'm strange that way. Actually, I'm strange in a lot of ways.
::sigh::
Notice I said I read the board. I almost never post there. I would have nothing but dissension to add to the discussion most of the time. I'd like to reach through the screen and slap some of the women who post there. They want to be good leaders, and I can tell they're taking it seriously, but aack!
Bitchy old me.
I find many things that annoy me on this board, such as the fixation on grade levels and age grouping. I deal with the same close-mindedness IRL. People just don't 'get' how we can combine different age groups in one troop and be successful. Our own GS Council has a hard time with that one.
I recently filed the annual paperwork to re-register my troop. On the registration recap form, there is a line where I'm supposed to pick one level... Brownie, Junior or 11-17. (Don't get me started on that friggin' smarmy 'girls 11-17 thing' again...aackk!)
I attached a post-it note this time. "I refuse to pick just one level." Added a little smiley face. "You choose."
It will be interesting to see which one they choose.
But here I am, wandering way the hell away from the topic, which was supposed to be how I found something annoying on the board today. It comes up every year about this time, too. I'm talking about variations on 'how do I get my troop to behave?' These questions usually come from leaders of Brownies or possibly Junior Girl Scouts, so the girls in question are aged 10 or younger.
Ever meet a young girl?? Butterflies! (most of 'em) or at least possessing butterfly-ish characteristics. You know? Most of the women who lead troops have a daughter in their troop, so you'd think they'd know some of the characteristics of children that age. @@
Poster's ideas of misbehavior include things like talking out of turn, running, "acting silly" and not responding immediately to orders. Instead of wandering off the topic again, I'll let you imagine what I think about those 'bad behaviors.' (while you ponder that, I'll be banging my head on my keyboard.)
Helpful suggestions vary, but they're all eerily similar, and smack of the crowd control methods of public school, which makes me just a teeny bit edgy. (Okay, a LOT edgy.) That punish-the-whole-group-because-one-of-you-can't-conform crap. Pisses me off every time.
On the board at various times, I've seen several ideas for controlling behavior.
They're all based on rewards. If you're very very good, we can get ICE CREAM or have a party , or go skating or.... whatever. Um, hello?? This is a GIRL SCOUT TROOP... those are things that should be happening anyway, and not be based on behaviors for goodness sake!!
So first, everyone dangles some sort of reward in front of small children, then makes it difficult if not impossible to attain.
1. The Good Conduct Candle.. when it burns all the way down, you get a reward!
At the beginning of the meeting, a very large candle is lit. If the girls 'misbehave' during the meeting, the instigator... the BAD girl gets to blow out the candle. This makes the other girls angry at the 'misbehaving' child, and with any luck, the peer pressure of the other girls will force the bad one to change her ways!
2. The Bead String... same idea.
Every girl is issued a string. Each meeting, if they have been GOOD little girls, they get a bead. When they reach a certain prearranged number of beads, they get their party or whatever. Here's the really good part. When one girl acts up, all the girls lose a bead! Isn't that great!?? What a wonderful team-building exercise!
3. Marble Jars (ugh, variations on the same theme)
One full jar of marbles. One empty. For each good thing that happens during meetings (good lining up to wash hands for example) a marble goes into the empty jar. For every bad thing, a marble gets removed. This is a little better, I guess, since no one has suggested that the bad girl is the one who has to remove the marble. It's far more appropriate, I think, for the leader to demonstrate that she's lost her marbles. Ha.
Here's what I want to post, but won't.
Everyone has failed to address the real issue here.
The biggest problem in your troop is YOU, leader! How can you possibly think that making kids feel bad is going to fix anything?
It is your job to engage the girls and make them active participants in the experience.
If the atmosphere of your meeting is chaos without control, boredom from the girls, aggravation and anger from you, then you're doing a crappy job. Either get some books, some help and a different attitude, or get the hell out of Girl Scouts! You are passing on life lessons to these girls in the form of group punishments and rewards and otherwise not teaching them shit! If it's all about the conduct and your wish to control them, you may as well not bother with Girl Scouts. They will have their fill of that kind of crap just by attending public school.
It is the responsibility of the leader to capture their attention, their interest, their enthusiasm. If you are not doing that, no amount of group punishment or reward is going to provide a permanent fix.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rant temporarily over.
I have a feeling this is one of the posts that I'll read in a day or so and go back and edit, add, edit some more, get all grumpy again and rant, and finally quit messing with. I'm strange that way. Actually, I'm strange in a lot of ways.
::sigh::
You do realize that you are one of the major reasons that I told my kids I was okay with them joining a troop this year -- you gave me hope that not everyone in GS is a moron (actually, we used to be involved in a fantastic troop of mixed ages, some homeschooled, some not, but around here that's considered pretty radical, especially the part that homeschoolers can get along with school kids).
ReplyDeleteWe ended up in a group that's gotten so large they've split the Brownies from the Juniors, and also have Cadettes. But all at the same time in the same building.
And now this month I'm in charge of leading 2 meetings (a Brownie and a Junior), and also providing snacks. Damn you for creating so much work for me!
Well, you know that everything I do is solely to piss you (and others like you) off.
ReplyDelete:)
But I really didn't mean to create so much work for you.
I understand and can relate to your rant, but mine was with boy scouts. I like your strange ways, I don't feel alone. :)
ReplyDeleteI let my 7-year-old join a Brownie troop this year, run by 2 homeschooling moms. It's a homeschool-only troop, although I bet they'd let regular-school kids in if the situation arose.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading all your GS stuff as you post quite avidly this year, since I knew the Brownie thing was in my future.
When we got the invite to join, I asked the troop leader some pretty specific questions, all based on what you'd written, and she was amazed and assured me her troop was run quite a bit like yours.
So far, so good. But I am watching carefully to make sure it doesn't devolve into stuff you're talking about here.
Keep writing. It's a huge help for me. (And hopefully cathartic for you. :))
I had a mixed age troop too and it infuriated me how many council activities we could not do as a troop.
ReplyDeleteGirl Scouts as a whole has become so different than what it was designed to be. I was so happy to walk away forever.
At one point my regional leader came and told me that I should CONTROL every meeting and there should be "respectful" silence when I spoke. We preferred to have a quick(and very interactive) business meeting, make future decisions together and then have fun.