Hiatus-ish

So, in case you missed it, I have been less than prompt about posting things lately.  Unfortunately, I have been super busy getting ready for National Convention (I'll post a pic of the uniform I am sewing! *grin*), and taking care of my Service Unit's Fall Product Sale.  Well, and with non-GS stuff like family and a new job.

I will be back to more regular posting after Convention (November 8-13).  You can look forward to posts about what I did and saw and Convention, Texas-themed SWAPs my troop is making to swap at Convention, and discussion about the awards and badges available in the new Girl's Guide.  I will be looking specifically at the Junior Guide, but because of the new more progression-based badge system, this will be similar to the other levels.  Perhaps if YOU have one of the other levels, you can comment and talk about the differences! :)

Got my Girl's Guide!

Well, we got the first batch of the new handbooks for our troop this week.  Our Council wasn't sure how many to order, so they just started ordering as soon as they were allowed and kept ordering every time National offered them, starting back in the Spring.  So our books are coming in waves, and we just finished the second wave.  Unfortunately, it turns out that the very first order I made was for 2 Brownie Handbooks. Gahhhh . . . Luckily, I made my second order for 5 books almost immediately after that.  I will have to wait until the last shipment for the rest of the books for my troop.

So, first impressions (second actually): They look really empty without the additional modules in them. But, I do like the modular concept.  I don't like the art, and I don't like all the purple, but I'm not really the target audience. :)  The art is similar to the art in the Journey books, and they are brought up all over the place in the Handbook.  For those of you who are hoping the Journeys are simply a phase, I think these books are a pretty definitive "no" to that.

First impressions from my daughter: She liked it.  She loved the stickers in the back and immediately wanted to stick them everywhere.  I couldn't see whether they were "supposed" to be used for something in particular, but I stopped her anyway.  Just in case. :)  I do like the fact that the first thing she commented on after looking through it and reading through some of the awards was, "I wanna be a Junior Aide".  She explained the steps, and told me she wanted to do this because she enjoyed working with little kids.  She came up with several different ideas on how to help out at a Daisy meeting, and asked if I would help her get in contact with a Daisy Troop.  

This is exactly what I want to start seeing during the Junior years - my girls start initiating projects that are actually doable for them.  They have such good hearts and high expectations of themselves that they think they can cure cancer, save the whales, and stop water waste all before dinnertime. :)  I would like to see them thinking more critically of themselves, not in a negative way ("I can't do that!") but in a realistic way ("I don't think I can do this by myself, or even with the help of my troop, but maybe we can talk to some adults in our community to find a way . . .").  It seems like a hard task, helping girls to grow into good strong women.  You want them to strive, to try, to reach for the stars.  You don't want to tell them a task is impossible, even when it is.  

You even want them to fail.  

At least I do.  I want my girls to learn that failing doesn't make you a failure.  It means you have another chance at completing the task, but that you need to come up with a different strategy.  It astonished me when I heard a Leader talk about NOT wanting to let her troop have a chance at failing.  Nobody learns from being successful all the time.  Failing is not a problem.  Having the wrong attitude about failing is a problem.

Training

Check out all the SWAPs I got! :)

Last weekend, I got to go to Girl Scout Training! ^.^ Now in my Council, they firmly believe that no Leader should walk into a situation feeling unprepared. We have trainings for EVERYTHING. We train you to be a Leader, to be a First Aider, to be a Troop Camper, to be a hiker, to be an archer, to ride horses, to sail ships, to sell cookies, to do arts and crafts, to sing songs, to cook over a fire, to cook when you can't light a fire. We even have training to train you how to train people!

I have talked to guys who volunteer with the local Boy Scout Troop and had to pick my jaw up off the floor when I heard that they don't really do training. Unless they want to go camping. Or become the head Scoutmaster. O.O

Yeah, that's not our way. Sometimes, the training is just stuff that NEEDS to get done. You NEED to know which forms you must have filled out every year by your troop's parents. You NEED to know how to run a meeting. You NEED to know different ways to try to build a young girl's confidence. You NEED to know what a SWAP is. :) Well, you do if you are in Girl Scouts for very long. . .

But then there's the fun trainings. This was what I did last weekend. I and 250 of my fellow Girl Scout Leaders and Volunteers met up at our Council's best camp and spent the weekend pretending we were girls. We didn't have to organize the activities, or come up with the crafts, and plan the meals, or even COOK the meals. I had a camp kaper to do, sang songs, and performed skits with my new friends around a fluttery fabric "campfire". I got to sleep in one of the tall cabin "treehouses" so coveted in our Council, and got swayed to sleep in the most perfect camping weather I have ever experienced.

And I got overloaded with information. It will take me months to digest all that I learned, and I only took about 10% of the trainings offered! I took trainings geared towards my troop's level: Bronze Award information, Field Trips, Extended Troop Travel, Geacaching (more on this next week), and a fun Texas-themed arts and crafts session.

I think that the information I gained is almost as important as the feeling of community I shared with all of these women (and 2 men).  I spent the weekend feeling like I was included in everything, like I was among friends.  It didn't matter that I had never met any of these people before in my life.  We were Girl Scouts.

I can't wait for the National Convention! :)

aMuse FC Red Carpet SWAPs

For the Final Celebration, our little divas will be walking the red carpet and celebrating all that they have accomplished during this Journey. Here's a SWAP to commemorate their celebration.

This is a simple SWAP, but it will still tickle your girls. Using sticky back felt makes this more expensive, but soooooo much easier and faster. Use the picture from the Leader's Guide as a guide for your trapezoid. Using the self adhesive felt, you could probably make about 24 out of a single sheet of felt, which puts each SWAP at about 5 cents each (including a scrap of paper and a safety pin).

Here's your recipe card: