First Meeting Parents

Flyer to the community. Given to teachers.

A New Scouting Year is upon us and the first order of business is (1) to recruit new girls and (2) meet the parents.

I was able to reserve my community pool house room for our meeting times, which is perfect since it opens up to a grassy area and has its own kitchen.

Our troop plans to meet every other week and have at least one weekend activity a month. I find that the busier the troop, the best experience the girls have while making lasting memories.

I wanted to speak to the parents, but also give the girls an idea of how the meetings will run. We opened with the pledge and the Girl Scout promise, which they repeated after me, before giving them a little something to do. The activity did not take them long so they had a little time to play and get to know each other. The snacks were out informally for them.

I put together a craft for the girls to do while I discussed the paperwork with the parents and the way the troop will operate. This includes the dues and uniform pieces. I gave out a packet of papers: a welcome letter with lots of information and our website on it, Uniform pieces and badges to purchase, a Health Form, an Annual Permission Form, and a half sheet of paper about their volunteering ability. I was very happy to have one parent offer to help with Cookies and another offer to do anything needed.

I also showed them the folder I was putting together for each girl. The blue (of course!) folder will be their "Journal" and a way to send/bring papers to meetings. I purchased them for the bargain price of 15 cents each. It will also take the place of the Daisy book, since I see no need for each girl to invest in it. As the year progresses, their journal will grow with their coloring pages and handouts. My girls are all first graders so their Journal will be a nice keepsake of their year as they get ready to bridge to brownies. I will discuss their Journal in another post.

I had to run out early to make the first Service Unit meeting, which was scheduled after I had planned this meeting, so my co-leader collected the completed forms and locked up the room.

For the girl’s craft I had them weave yarn through a daisy to make a necklace. They had to share one pair of scissors to cut out the Girl Scout promise and then share glue to stick it to their necklace. The other side was for them to decorate and write their name.

The next meeting for the girls is the last week of September, and now they have the promise to take home to practice! 

After collecting the paperwork, I am very excited that the troop is finally coming together. We are starting out with 6 girls and a calendar of meetings and a few activities. Hooray for a new beginning!