Troop Meetings

I’ve heard some really great ideas at a Cadette Training class this year, and thought I’d start passing them on.  If they can work for you and your girls, GREAT!  And if not for now, maybe for later.

There was great discussion about how social these 6^th and 7^th graders are.  They want to be with their friends in the troop and they want to have fun.  These girls want to chat and compare notes.  But with only two troop meetings a month that are 2 hours long, they weren’t getting enough time to do it AND getting the work of the troop done.

The leader of one troop told us about how the girls voted to have their troop meetings on  Friday nights, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m., I think.  (No Friday football games, yet!)  And once a month, they would add a dinner from 5:00-6:00, then have the meeting from 6 to 8, and THEN have an overnight. She said the girls knew this was the plan, and it motivated them to get their troop work done, so that they could have fun time.

It sounded like some Fridays everyone was asleep by 10, and others went into the midnight hours.  Regardless, all girls were picked up at 8:00 a.m. the next morning, so there was plenty of time for their soccer/baseball/swimming/you name it activities on the Saturday.

When I told this to one training class, they were stunned that someone would have a sleepover at their house every month.  Then someone said, but what if it was scheduled per year, and every/most parents knew they had it one time?  What if meetings in May were at one house, June in another, etc.?  That would loop the parents into participating with snack/food/meetings AND not put the burden on just the troop leader and her family.

Another said, maybe once a quarter?  Maybe not once a month?  Whatever works for your girls, I say!!!  Use the idea or don’t!  See what the girls want, and how it can work.

Change it up!  Keep it fresh! Ask the girls for their ideas, and go from there….