Happy Leader Appreciation Day

Because of all of you–leaders, co-leaders, cookie managers, volunteer parents–we are able to offer Girl Scouting to the girls in GSSJC. Many times leaders feel unappreciated, as though the efforts put in go unnoticed. Those two hours a week they promised at the rally have turned into many, many more. If you look at it just as time spent, that is all you will see. You will see that you spent several hours a week planning and doing for others with nothing in return. But, if you look at it as getting to help share in the lives of girls, and helping them grow into successful, productive young women, it doesn’t seem like much time at all. Your girls appreciate you, and GSSJC appreciates you. Happy Leader Appreciation Day on April 22.

Let them plan it
The end of the school year is approaching and with that comes the award and bridging ceremonies. It’s easy to plan a small ceremony and you can probably do it in just a few minutes. Go buy the awards, order a cake and boom, you have an event.
But, what will girls remember of that? Probably not much. But, if you let the girls help plan their own ceremony, they will remember it much more. There are things they cannot do like secure a site, drive to the Girl Scout Shop to buy the pins, patches and badges, or pay the bills. But, girls can decide on the theme, the decorations, and the refreshments. They can divide out who brings what, what poems will be read, what songs will be sung, and how to involve their parents. Girl planning is the way to teach girls responsibility. It is also the way to create memories, a way to make them feel

important, and that they are appreciated.
To quote a dear friend of mine, “Staying in Girl Scouts is the best decision you can ever make.” She says this because of all of the plans we made, the things we did that worked well, and the things we did that didn’t work so well. But through it all, we let them plan, experiment, fail, and get back up. And with that succeeding and failing, we created beautiful memories.

Girl planning is a learning experience, both for the girls and the adults. They will learn they can plan, and you will learn that you can let them. Letting them grow is what we are all about. And, you will create some wonderful memories in the process.