Why traditions?
Whether you realize it or not, your troop has traditions.
Those traditions began with your first meeting and will continue
throughout the life of the troop. Some traditions are ones
that all Girl Scouts share, like openings and closings, using
the quiet sign or the talking sign, or singing/saying grace
before snacks. But, within those universal traditions are
the ones that become part of your troop. Perhaps it’s
the way you do your opening each meeting, or how your troop
does the friendship circle at the end. Or maybe your troop
has developed its own way of singing a song, or there is one
special recipe you must have at every campout. Those are troop
traditions. Having traditions is a source of comfort to girls
as other things in their lives change so rapidly. These things
that you might think are silly, or a song that you wish you
never heard again, are the very things that make your troop
special. It’s what keeps the girls coming back.
If you’ve read this column very long you know that
I have a troop of seven girls that are now seniors in college,
yet they come back once or twice a year for a “troop
meeting” and we revive our traditions at that time.
Regardless of the time of year, we have our traditional Thanksgiving
dinner, with the menu that began in 1989 when they were Daisy
Girl Scouts. They sing the same grace and enjoy the same silly
ending. Yes, we have added different elements to our dinner
over the years, but the tradition of “Thanksgiving Dinner”
is one that we all look forward to no matter when we celebrate
it.
Traditions are what make Girl Scouts so special. We share
a common bond and in that bond, we find life-long friends
that become family.
Ideas for traditions
Take a look at your Girl Scouting year and see what areas
could be sources for special traditions. We celebrate Juliette
Low’s birthday on October 31. A troop birthday party
would be a fun tradition. You could combine it with service
and hold your party at a retirement village. The holiday season
is a great time to find your own traditions like a caroling
party, a holiday parade appearance, or making gift bags for
the VA hospital.
Girl Scout birthday on March 12 is always a big reason to
have a celebration, and we are coming up on 94 years in March.
Campouts can be the place where many traditions are born.
Dutch oven cobbler, raccoon cookies (recipe available upon
request!), rambles, special campfire songs and all that goes
with camping are great memories. And that is what traditions
are for, to create great memories. You can put the picture
in the scrapbook, but reliving a tradition year after year
is priceless. Start some today. |
The Girl Scout Law
In this issue of The Golden Link, you will find several
articles about values and how we try, as Girl Scout leaders,
to instill values in our girls. One of the best ways to do
that is to take the Girl Scout Law and really learn what it
means. Instead of saying it by rote, take it apart and discuss
each phrase. Have the girls talk about what it means to be
“Honest and Fair” and really let them discuss
it. Have some dictionaries available, maybe a small book from
the library about fairness, and some paper. Let them write
or draw their ideas about honesty and fairness. Girls love
to be dramatic, so let them get creative with skits and puppet
shows. You can do this with every part of the Law, and while
they may not be able to recite it back to you in correct order,
they will know what it means and have a better idea of the
values we, as Girl Scouts, should strive to uphold.
Questions and Answers
I recently did a Basic Leadership Training and thought I’d
share a few of the questions that came up at that training.
The new leaders asked about finances and how do you handle
the situation when one girl sells many fall products or cookies
and another one does not. The question was if the girls share
equally in the profits, and the answer is, yes they do. Troop
money is just that, troop money. All girls in the troop share
equally in the profits of a money earning activity –
there cannot be separate books for girls based upon their
product sales participation.
Another question was about religious recognitions. The leader
asked if that was done by the troop or the church. While religious
recognition programs are available for nearly all faiths,
earning one is a private, family decision, not a troop decision.
Troops are made up of girls from all faiths and ethnic backgrounds
and, as a leader, you cannot decide in what program a girl
will participate. We encourage the girls to earn these awards,
and we like to put their pictures in The Golden Link,
but as Girl Scout leaders, we don’t promote one program
over the other.
Remember, if you have a question, don’t be afraid
to ask. There is always someone around who could answer it
for you. Start with your service unit consultants and administrators.
If they cannot answer you, they will try and find out the
answer for you. If that does not satisfy your question, you
can submit your question to the Forum found on the CIN (Council
Information Network) under Leader Resources. You’d be
surprised what you find there! |