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Do girls need to experience risk? According to the Girl Scout Movement, they answer is yes. The R. in G.I.R.L. is risk-taker afterall.  Our goals is for girls to take appropriate risks, try things even if they might fail, and learn from mistakes. So how do you give a girl risk opportunities that don’t give you, as the leader, heart palpitations, and how do you make those risky moments count, so girls learn from it.

Use Safety Activity Checkpoints

Girl Scouts have already assessed risk for a ton of activities. You may have heard of a little document called Safety Activity Checkpoints. Each checkpoints covers safety guidelines for a different activity.

When girl-planning an activity, talk to your girls about risk. Whether you have them look at the actual checkpoint or not is probably based on their age. You can lead a discussion when planning about what you need to be safe. Check their list of reminders with the checkpoint. Odds are they will have come up with even more safety ideas. If they have missed something, you can introduce it and they can learn together.

Be Prepared

Ah, the Girl Scout motto never lets us down. Being prepared is all about managing risk.  

Did you make a packing list? Turn that task over to the girls. Add reminders where needed. Ask questions from time to time like, “What would happen if we didn’t bring that” so they can work out what the consequences might be.

Do you have an emergency plan? Have the girls practice the plan during a meeting, or even have them make the plan with you, especially if they have practiced one before.

Instructions and Reminders

Before an activity with safety risks, provide instructions or an orientation.

Once girls are getting the hang of it and are becoming comfortable, provide additional safety reminders to keep them attentive.

Don’t Let the “What If’s” Stop Her, or You

Yes, we want girls to learn about risk, how to reduce it, how to address it, but we also don’t want reasonable risk to paralyze them. You may find a girl who won’t do something because “what if”. What if I fail? What if I do it wrong? What if x, y, z.  A good way to address this is to walk through the “what if” with her so she can realize if the worst case scenario is really all that bad.

As for us adults, the what if scenario is good for us too. What if gets in the way for us letting our girls do things. Remind yourself of the safety you have put in place and your response plan.

Mistakes Were Made

The last piece of risk taking is accepting mistakes and recovering. Girl Scouts is a safe place to fail. We want our girls to be willing to try hard things and try new ideas, which means they will fail.