Short and Sweet

Homesickness Help

Homesickness can happen to any of our girls. It’s most likely during an overnight trip, but can even happen on day trips for some girls. You may have girls who experience some homesickness during most overnights and others that haven’t previously, but this trip is an exception. In the moment, it can feel overwhelming so we’ve put together a list of ways volunteers can help girls with homesickness.

  1. Notice when girls are homesick. Homesickness usually strikes during slow parts of your outing, times when the girls aren’t “busy”. Preparing for bedtime, during or after meals, time between activities, or during an activity she’s not that interested in are common times for it to strike. Homesickness can manifest in many ways. Girls often look sad or detached from the group. They may be crying. Some experience stomach pain or headaches, even. If a girl didn’t experience homesickness the first night, don’t assume she won’t experience it later in your trip. 
  2. Prevent the spread of homesickness. That’s right, homesickness can be “contagious.” It is a very emotional experience and your sisterhood of girls will want to help their friend. Unfortunately, this can get them thinking about how much they miss home, as well. Never be alone with a girl, but take her off to the side for your talk. This provides her some privacy and you avoid an outbreak.
  3. Help her calm down enough to talk. If a girl is crying too much to get words out, have her drink some water. It’s very hard to continue intense crying while sipping on a water bottle. It will help her regulate her breathing. Then you can focus on some deep breaths until she can talk.
  4. Talk it out. It’s good for girls to talk about their feelings. Some girls are homesick because they miss their mom or dad. Some miss their little siblings. Some miss the dog. Knowing who or what she is missing will help you comfort her and offer soothing advice.
  5. Think about tomorrow and set a goal. Talk about the schedule tomorrow. What will you be doing that’s exciting? Is there something yummy for lunch? When will she be going home to see her family? Talk now about what she is excited for. Most girls are still excited to do things on the trip, they are just struggling with being away from home. Talk about how excited her family will be to hear about her adventures. Consider setting a goal for tomorrow. For instance if you have pool time, maybe you’ll plan a cannonball contest together.
  6. Redirect her energy. Keeping girls busy can keep their homesickness at bay. Have her help you with a task, or assign her to help a friend. If it’s down time before bed, this can be more difficult, but maybe she can write a short letter that she will share with her family when she gets home. She can write about what she’s done so far and what she will do tomorrow. If it’s time for lights out, think of some happy things for her to dream about. Write them on slips of paper and put them under her pillow.

The most common question we get from girls is: can I call my parents? For most girls, if you walk through these steps with them, they will not need to talk to their parent. You can say things like, “let’s just talk about it for now.”  If a girl’s homesickness is very persistent, call the parent first, without the girl knowing yet, and fill them in on what’s going on. The parent knows the girl best. You want to talk about how your goal is to keep the girl with her friends at the overnight. The parent might have some extra information to share with you to help, or they might say that if they talk to their girl, they can help. 

What other homesickness tips have worked for you or your co-leader?

Outdoor

Summer Safety

Summer is here! Which means we could all use a few reminders about how to stay safe during our sunny, super fun activities.

Fun in the Sun

We love the sun, but it doesn’t always love us back. 

  • Make sure to regularly have girls apply sunscreen. Set a timer if you need to make sure you don’t forget, especially if you will be in the water. 
  • Include sun protection in the packing list, things like hats and bandanas, shirts with sleeves that cover the shoulders, and sunscreen.
  • Be conscious of how much time girls have been in the sun. Opt for a game in the shade instead of one in the sun.
  • If you have younger girls, ask parents to have girls practice applying sunscreen to be sure they can get it everywhere they need.

Pesky Insects

Girl Scouts love the outdoors, but don’t love donating blood one mosquito at a time. The same goes for other bugs that can’t keep their antennae to themselves.

  • Add bug spray to the packing list and bring extra. Apply regularly.
  • Remind girls to do tick checks before bed, or when changing for swim time. You can remind families to do the same when girls get home. Girls should check where clothing meets the skin, like the waistband and sock-line, their hairline, and places skin overlaps or touches itself, like armpits.
  • Be prepared to remove, and save, a tick that bites. The CDC has information about tick removal for you to review. Saving the tick after removal can help if the girl develops symptoms of a transmittable disease. One of the easiest ways to do this is to stick it in some clear tape and give it to the family.

Safe Swimming

A trip to a pool, waterpark, or local beach can be so much fun. In addition to sun protection, here are a few more tips to think about.

  • Only swim at locations with a lifeguard. Maybe that means providing your own or maybe the location has someone on duty.
  • If you are using a local beach, do not use if the beach is closed. Flooding, algae blooms, or other water management issues sometimes close waterways. Follow those recommendations.
  • Know your girls swimming abilities and set appropriate limits. Talk to families or ask girls to demonstrate their skills. Set limits based on swimming ability.
  • Review rules like no running, no diving, and anything else relevant to your activity.
  • Always follow Safety Activity Checkpoints for any water activities. Contact your council for details.

Keeping Cool and Hydrated

Whether it’s hot or not, girls and adults (yes, you too, don’t forget) need to drink lots of water. And when it’s hot outside, you’ll need to keep an eye out for heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Here’s how you can prepare:

  • Know the signs and first aid for dehydration, heat exhaustion, and heatstroke.
  • Take regular water breaks, and don’t forget to make sure the other adults and yourself are taking part, too!
  • Take breaks in the shade regularly.

What are you favorite ways to make summer safety FUN?

Featured

Team Building and Problem Solving

Team building and problem solving are important additions to the whole experience of Girl Scouts. Girls learn to work together and support one another in their Girl Scout activities. By doing this, groups will develop trust within the group and will feel more comfortable sharing ideas. The troop leader’s role is to foster this team-building and ensure that each group has the opportunity to develop as a team.

Some characteristics that an excellent team should display:

  • Girls share information relevant to the activity at hand
  • Girls coordinate with each other when appropriate
  • Girls know, appreciate, and use one another’s specialties
  • Girls cooperate and back-up one another when necessary

Troop leaders promote teamwork through their own interactions:

  • Leaders model teamwork by practicing attitudes and actions
  • Leaders help girls become aware of one another’s varied experiences
  • Leaders encourage girls to interact with one another about their experience, interests, and skills
  • Leaders reward girls for teamwork with socio-emotional rewards
  • Leaders help develop pride in the group

Leaders also improve teamwork through several formal procedures:

  • Help establish shared goals
  • Establish regular structures through which members may communicate with one another frequently
  • Help clarify roles and role expectations
  • Help identify problems and establish problem solving procedures

How do you build a strong team environment in your troop?

Featured

Teaching Games

Why do we play games in Girl Scouts?

  • To help girls and leaders get acquainted easily and enjoy being together.
  • To meet some of the needs of the whole group and of individuals. For example, games can give girls a chance:
    • To be active and noisy after a time they had to be quiet.
    • To learn teamwork and fair play.
    • To learn to win or lose in a good natured way.
    • To be both leaders and followers.
  • To present new information or skills in an engaging way.
  • To review or practice skills in an enjoyable way.
  • To help girls understand and appreciate both similar and different games of Girl Scouts in other countries.

How do we prepare to teach games?

  • Choose games to teach according to:
    • The ages, interests, and abilities of the group.
    • The special purpose you want each game to serve.
    • The size and type of play space available.
    • The weather – during hot days, choose less active games, a shaded space, or water based games if possible.
  • Know the games you want to play well enough that you don’t have to refer to a book or notes.
  • Start with simple/familiar games and work up to new ones that are harder.
  • Alternate between quiet games and exciting games.
  • Collect all necessary equipment.

How do we teach games?

  • Get the attention of the group and have them get into formation for playing the game.
  • Explain or show the game briefly and let them play right away.
  • If the game is hard, show them one part at a time, letting them try each part immediately.
  • Let them have fun with the game before you check on mistakes, but stop when necessary to make rules or actions more clear.
  • As soon as the girls are able, let them carry on the game themselves. Help them only if questions or disagreements arise which they can’t settle.
  • In competitive games, encourage the girls to play for the fun of the game and for their team and to applaud or otherwise recognize the winning team.
  • When teaching singing games, be sure you have practiced the song so everyone knows it.
  • If a competitive game is coming to a close and you can feel the rivalry getting out of hand, take a group time out and ask, “how do we act when we win?”, “how do we act when we lose?” and get the girls input on what good sportsmanship looks like. Then continue and finish the game.
Featured

Episode 7 – Building Girl Relationships

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Girl Scouts has always been about building strong relationships. Good troops provide exciting activities. GREAT troops provide opportunities to make friends that share in the excitement. Troop leaders are what makes the difference.

For a successful troop, make time to build relationships between fellow girls, girls and their leaders, and girls with the greater sisterhood of Girl Scouts. Here are a few of my favorite ways to do that.

1. Learn a few good icebreakers.

Play icebreaker games that help girls learn something new about each other. Start off your meetings each year by helping girls find out what they have in common as well as interesting things that make them unique.

Download our collection of name games and icebreakers, with something perfect for each age group.



2. Choose “favorites” – one at a time.

Each girl should feel that they are getting special attention from you, the leader, at one time or another. Pledge to give every girl your undivided attention for a few moments each meeting. Be conscientious about which girl you sit next to during and activity or snack, or who you call on first. Keep mental notes about which girls you need to assign special tasks or choose as a buddy.

3. Eat snacks, and meals (during trips or day long outings) with your troop.

Our meetings are so packed with activities, that snack time is one of the few “down-times” that you have to sit with your girls, in a circle, and chat.

4. Praise in public, critique in private.

Praise girls in front of their peers! Say something positive to a girl’s parents in front of her when they pick her up after the meeting. Always give your girls a chance to shine. This builds confidence, reinforces the value of respect, and strengthens your relationship with the girl.

Things don’t always go smoothly, and there will be times when you need to address issues. You may be surprised how much girls will listen to you when you respect their feelings and address issues away from their peers. Have a quiet conversation off to the side for smaller concerns, or a family meeting with parents for larger concerns.

5. Create a group identity.

Make being in your troop something special. Girl Scouts already has a uniform and handshake, but you can add something special like a troop cheer, special snack activity, or wearing matching bandanas or t-shirts.

6. Love being a leader!

Have fun with your girls- it’s really ok to enjoy yourself! Tell jokes. Share appropriate stories, participate as a member of the group, and get excited about what you’re all going to experience together.

Featured

Large Group Attention Getters

These tools are perfect to get the attention of large groups, particularly during the start of a meeting or activity.

  • Establish a “quiet” sign. Many Girl Scout troops use either the promise sign or a raised hand. Whenever an adult member uses the sign, girls must also do the sign and be quiet until everyone is quiet. Practice a few times when you introduce it.
  • An adult raises their hand and calls out, “When the hand goes up…” and girls answer, “…the mouth goes shut!” You may need to repeat a couple times until everyone is quiet.
  • The adult tosses a ball in the air. While the ball is in the air, everyone screams. When the ball is in the adult’s hand, everyone is quiet. You can make this scream/quiet transition very fun. Fake a toss, drop the ball, etc. It’s a little game before you start.
  • One adult calls out across the group, “Hey, Steph!” Steph responds, “Hey, Alice!” “Hey, Steph, is it really loud in here?” “It sure is…” and so on. You can improvise as you see fit. But the girls will quiet down pretty quickly as they watch the dialogue with fascination.
  • Talking softly in a stage whisper with an instruction. A popular one is “if you can hear my voice, clap once” and increasing the clapping each time. You could also try, “if you can hear my voice, put your hands on your head, put your hands on your toes, touch your nose” and so on. Be sure to keep your voice relatively quiet.
  • Clapping in a pattern and waiting to see who follows. Repeat with new patterns until everyone has joined in.
  • Snapping until everyone is snapping their fingers.
  • Holding up your hand and starting a countdown.
  • Agree on a fun call and response chant to get their attention. Like, “Hey Girl Scouts!”, and they respond, “Hey, What?”. They could even make their own silly version.
Featured

Teaching Songs

There are many successful approaches to song leading. Singing is a fun activity in troop meetings, during outings, and especially at a campout. It helps keep girls and adults in a positive frame of mind. You can sing during cookouts, bus rides, waiting for your next activity to start, or walking from place to place.

Select a teaching style that matches the song.

There are three main styles for teaching a song, and each has its own introduction that is easy to understand. Using this introduction consistently will increase your girls’ ability to sing along.

“This is a catch-on song!”

This is perfect for songs with very few lines that repeat. A song like “this is the song that never ends”, “down by the bay”, or other repetitive songs are perfect for this.

“This is a repeat-after-me song!”

This is for songs that are call-and-response and where the girls say the exact thing you said.

“To teach this song, I’ll sing a line, and you’ll repeat it!”

For songs too long to be a catch-on song, this is perfect. Teach the song line by line, with girls repeating you for each practice line. Then, sing it all together at the end.

If there is a rule, or pattern to the song, be sure to share. Common rules include:

  • Singing a song over and over, but removing a word each time.
  • Singing four lines repeat-after-me style, then all together, then starting a new verse.
  • Getting louder, softer, more off-key, etc, each time
  • Singing a song over and over, faster each time
  • Audience participation, like having someone yell out a topic for the next verse. If you have someone in the crowd who can show off an example, this should help.

Never underestimate how much silliness you can add to a song. Girls like to be silly and see you being silly, too. You can add more flavor to your song with:

  • Motions
  • Holding a note for a long time
  • Making funny voices when you sing
  • Keeping your energy high and having an awesome attitude!
  • Leading the song with another adult, not just by yourself

What’s your favorite silly Girl Scout song?

Featured

Flagpole Ceremonies

Flag ceremonies are often part of a larger ceremony or event. Some troops host a flag ceremony at every troop meeting. Others troops reserve ceremonies for big, important days like bridging ceremonies or end of year celebrations. At camp, a flag ceremony often starts and ends each day. Most of our flag ceremonies aren’t perfect, and that’s ok. Girls are learning and practicing how it’s done, which means mistakes will be made. Your goal as a volunteer is to set the tone and provide guidance to complete the ceremony.

Our flag ceremony reminders in this article are for ceremonies hosted around a flagpole, such as at summer camp. In this case, a folded flag is brought to the flagpole, and raised in the morning or beginning of the event, and retired in the evening or at the end of the event. These take place most frequently at camp, but you might find opportunities to do them at your school or for civic ceremonies.

Make a plan

There are a few decisions you will want to make before the ceremony. You’ll want to inspect the flagpole to make sure all the clips are working, and you will want to make sure you have a flag that is the correct size for the clips. You also want to decide what you want to include during the ceremony. For instance, determine whether you want to add the Girl Scout Promise or Law after the Pledge of Allegiance, or include a poem or song.

Prepare the Girls

Girls have different roles to fill during the ceremony. Each girl needs to know what she is responsible for doing, and what her cues are. You’ll want to set aside time to practice before the ceremony. Let’s look at the roles.

The color bearer (or flag bearer) is the person who carries the flag. During an opening ceremony, this girl will walk forward holding the folded flag with color guards behind her. She will pass them the flag, undo the rope from the pole, clip it onto the flag, and raise the flag. During a closing ceremony, she will bring the flag down the pole, and after it’s folded, will carry it away from the flagpole.

The color guard is a team that guards the flag(s). Any even number of guards may be used, but usually four or six girls are sufficient. During the opening ceremony, the color guard walks behind the color bearer. When passed the flag, they unfold it and hold it as it is raised until they can be certain it is high enough to not touch the ground. During a closing ceremony, they are passed the flag as it reaches them, and they fold it. Folding is a team effort, but the girls doing most of the folding are placed in the back of the line. Be sure girls have a chance to practice folding before the ceremony. And remember, they are learning. Sometimes stage-fright gets the best of them and the folding might not be perfect. You can always refold it after the ceremony, preparing for next time.

The Girl Scout in charge (or caller) is a designated Girl Scout who announces or calls each part of the ceremony. You’ll find an example of ceremony commands at GSUSA’s website.

Plan Reminders for the Audience

Because these ceremonies often happen at camp, your audience will be primarily other girls. Be sure to give them reminders like to remove any non-religious headgear (such as baseball caps) or how to make a horseshoe around the pole. If you sing a song, like Taps, during your ceremony, consider teaching it ahead of time.

Get to Know the United States Flag Code

Display of the American flag is governed by law to ensure that it will be treated with the respect due the flag of a great nation. This is known as the United States Flag Code. Some of the rules most useful for Girl Scouts posting the flag on a pole are:

The flag should never be allowed to touch anything beneath it, nor should it ever be carried flat or horizontally—always aloft and free.

The flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously.

When flown at half-staff, the flag should be first hoisted to the top for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff position. When retiring at the end of the day, the flag should again be raised to the top before it is lowered.

During the ceremony of hoisting or lowering the flag all non-military persons should face the flag and stand at attention with the right hand over the heart, or if applicable, remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Citizens of other countries present should stand at attention.

It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed 24 hours a day if properly illuminated during hours of darkness.

The flag should not be displayed on days when the weather is inclement, except when an all weather flag is displayed.

Featured

13 Ways to Help Girls Feel Good About Themselves

Catch your Girl Scout doing something awesome. Give praise, recognition, a special privilege, or increased responsibility for a job well done. Emphasize the good choices they make, not the bad.

Take their ideas, emotions, and feelings seriously. Don’t belittle them by saying, “you’ll grow out of it,” or “it’s not as bad as you think.”

Define limits and rules clearly and enforce them. But do allow leeway for girls within these limits. Let them take the lead whenever possible.

Be a good role model. Let girls know that you feel good about yourself. Also let them see that you too can make mistakes and learn from them.

Teach girls how to deal with time and money. Help them set reachable goals so they can achieve success.

Help girls develop acceptance toward those with different values, backgrounds, and norms. Point out other people’s strengths.

Give girls responsibility. They will feel useful and valued.

Be available. Give support when girls need it.

Show them that what they do is important to you. Talk to them about their activities and interests. If you see them at school events or performances, make a point of saying hello and commenting about their success.

Spend time together. Participate in group activities.

Discuss problems without placing blame or commenting on a girl’s character. If girls know there is a problem but don’t feel attached, they are more likely to help look for a solution.

Use phrases that build self esteem, such as “thank you for helping” or “that’s a good idea!” Avoid phrases that hurt self esteem such as “How many times have I told you?”

Show how much you care about them. Give them high-fives and have crazy handshakes. Tell them they are terrific and that you care about them.

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Episode 6 – Group Agreements

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Spring is the perfect time to revisit a group agreement. If you did one in the beginning of the year, your girls will have grown a lot since then, you may have added new girls, and you likely have some summer trips planned and revisiting what behavior is expected is a good idea. And if that doesn’t quite fit your group, you sure can save this episode for the start of the next year.

What is the point of a group agreement: The goal is to set a standard of rules, guidelines and norms, typically around behavior, that the entire group agrees upon and commits to. This is girl-led, so they set the rules.

Group Agreement Examples

The traditional group agreement

It usually involves a big piece of paper, and girls writing, or delegating someone to write, rules they think they should follow. They typically come up with things like be respectful and listening, but also traditions like they always want to do a friendship circle at the end of the meeting, and fun things, like a fun chant to encourage each other.

Once you have all the rules they think they need, and you have brought up anything they might have missed, it is time for signing. All girls and leaders should personally sign the big paper to agree to following these guidelines.

The “Be specific” group agreement

This time, you are going to take your big paper, and on one side your girls will brainstorm just like they did in the first example. After they have a pretty good list, we move to the next side. Here they will come up with examples of what that means. So, if they put respect on the first side, on side two, they think of ways to be respectful. If you think about it, some of these rules that all kids know are abstract concepts, so helping them think about what they look like can help a lot. If your group has a long list, you might talk about the top three and then go more into detail there.

On-the-go group agreement

All you need is your hand to explain this agreement, perfect for one day or short events as a quick reminder of what we need to focus one. It’s called the five finger contract. Each finger represents something different. Safety, commitment, attitude, listening, and encouragement. View our downloadable example of what to say and how to customize your own agreement. More details in the podcast too.



Once you have gone over each finger, ask if the group can agree to them. If they say no, talk about what needs tweaking. If they say yes, you seal this agreement with high-fives. Depending on group size, they can high-five everyone or high five at least x number of people. Adults should participate too.

A formal agreement

When troops do domestic or international trips, it is not uncommon to have a behavior agreement that is signed by the girl and her family. Your council likely has an example, so if your girls are approaching this style of trip, you can contact them. It generally involves terms for which the parent would be required to come get their girl in the middle of the trip for things like drug or alcohol use, inappropriate behavior, or similar things. Part of this is to set the expectations for the girls about what type of behavior would not be tolerated, and to alert the parents that they could be called upon to come get their girl. The need to use these is hopefully rare, but they are an important part of the planning process.

Ok, we have set the agreement, now what?

If you did a paper one, I recommend keeping it around. You could bring it and pin to the wall at troop meetings, or take a picture and reformat to a smaller size. The goal is not to do all that work and then forget about it. You want to use that agreement to reinforce behaviors and discourage some.

Keeping it handy means that their own rules are what’s monitoring their behavior, not yours.

When using the on-the-go contract, almost anything you want to correct can be related back to a finger. So you can have a conversation if needed or, and maybe more often, you can just point to your pinky and say, what’s this finger for. And they girls will answer safety and then rethink their choices.

Which group agreement style will you try next?