A total LACK of Take Action!

Well, I knew I'd been busy:  plenty of changes in the last month....sold my kitchen, closed my catering business, moved office stuff and props to the house, and worked on Mom's accounts...oh, and volunteered with Girl Scouts!  Whew!  No excuse, but I think I just lost my rhythm of when to blog. Fixing that, as of today!

I was at the GSOC Open House on Saturday. Oh my, but there sure were a whole slew of little Daisies and Brownies!  Fewer Juniors, and only a handful of older girls.  Many of you have heard me at training talking about how my hat is off to all you who work with those little girls!!!  They a are nice, funny, open, and sooo excited about everything, including tying knots.  We had fun, to be sure, sort of like herding cats!!!!

But it was while I was at the Awards table in the lobby, that I heard of a girl's Silver Award Project that was just not up to current standards of Taking Action.  I didn't say anything then, but I've been thinking about it, and wondering why an advisor would have approved it?

This girl was taking the flowers from after Saturday services at her Temple, and re-purposing them into vases/bouquets to take to various hospitals, fire departments, police stations, etc.  She had a very nice piece to say when she did it.   A nice service project, to be sure.  But Silver?  No way.

What issue was she addressing?  "Brightening up someone's day" is not an issue.  

What was the root cause?  Lack of flowers in an office? Why?

And who was her team?  Sounded to me like her Mom and the daughter were it.  Who did she lead?  How did she use her leadership skills to make a positive change in her community?

How did she make a measurable and sustainable difference to the audience she sought to help? 

You leaders/advisors are the ones to hold the girls to the standard!  And if you don't know if something is "good enough" or "appropriate", send me the ideas, I'll let you know!  And if they are not up to snuff, I won't cite your name. But if they're great, I am very happy to put your name and your girls/troop's name in the blog with big props!  

These girls can do it!  We just have to let them (or is that make them?) take the steps do it!

Dr. JoAnn Deak Speaks!

"The girl has to do the work to change the world" Dr. JoAnn Deak. 

Speaking at the OC GIRL SCOUTS VOICE FOR GIRLS Dr. Deak had plenty to tell us about the physical differences between boys and girls brains. 

 "Boys and girls are born differently. We have to fight nature to get girls to take the lead." She talked about how when faced with a challenge, the boy brains shoot out a glob of testosterone which gives the brain the cue to address the issue, meet it head-on and step up to the plate. When most girls face a challenge, her brain releases a glob of Oxytocin that stimulates her to care about others, wonder about how this is all going to affect them.  Our job as adults, parents, mentors and leaders is to get that girl to "hug the monster" and GO DO IT ANYWAY!  

In training we talk about how Girl Scouts is a "safe place for girls." It's an excellent place for girls to go do something, even if they aren't comfortable with that leadership role.  Dr. Deak said, "Make a mistake and trying to figure it out build the brain and strengthens the brain muscle."  Don't do it for the girl, get her to stand up on her own two feet and try to fix the problem, or address the issue or face her fears.  Practice at this strengthens her!

Dr. Deak had another powerful message to share. "7th and 8th grade girls have the highest testosterone they will ever have. They are also the meanest at this time." We create a safe place for these girls in Scouting, where they can fail and be supported by their troop and leaders.  To me, that quote also reinforced how great the aMaze Journey is for this age girl!  All that good stuff about relationships, frenemies, cliques, BFFs, etc. resonates with these girls at this age.  

As  a friend said, we all have to live through it!  I agree, but we also can't let down our guard and let the monster control us or our girls.  We need to encourage our girls to HUG THE MONSTER and take on big ideas that lead to meaningful big action. And we don't start in Cadettes! Dr. Deak says, "start early with girls. Let them learn the magic of doing.  Work on the monster!"

(Re-posted 5:00 p.m. to correct typos and expand on the topic.  First time I've ever tried to blog during a talk.  I need to hug THAT monster and learn how to do it better!!!)

The Dog Days are Over....thanks Florence!

Yep, the end of August is fast approaching...some schools have already started back up:  football practices and back-to-school shopping are all the rage!

It also means that Girl Scout troops who may have taken a hiatus for the summer are revving back up, and readying for  their parent meeting.  What a great opportunity to have old and new parents meet each other, offer to help, and take a piece of the work during the year.  Write checks for the Family Giving Campaign.  Give a big thank you to the leader for all her work in helping give the girls a great Scouting experience.  And in general, be supportive and caring.

Okay, so you're all laughing or snickering right now, wondering in what parallel universe I come from!

But I can hope!  I can hope that the parents have seen the benefits of Scouting for their daughters.  And I can hope that the girls/the troop has been really great about communicating the successes they've had in the troop.  Did you have a scribe per month?  And did she write about what the troop did/learned?  Did you email it to the parents?  That's one way to get the word out.  Did you invite the parents to your end of the year bridging/awards ceremonies to see the great work ALL the girls did? Was it a girl planned event, so that the girls used their leadership to put together something meaningful?

Are your girls planning a re-dedication ceremony to kick off the fall? It's a great way to come back together and re-commit to the values and sisterhood of Girl Scouting.  Your girls can plan it!  Maybe a Mom can help advise them.  Maybe your girls are planning it for all the Cadettes in your association?  Maybe there's some entertainment to help draw the crowd. The more success stories and girl-led program we adults see, the more we see how GREAT Girl Scouting is for our girls. Shameless promotion with a great end:  building girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place!

Have fun!

BREATHE at the August Kick-off

It's a Girl Scout weekend, to be sure!  Sunday is the end of our Breathe Journey series, and I'm very sad that it may be the last time I see some of these girls!  We had a GREAT group of 11 who earned their AWARE, have almost completed ALERT, and who will have another month to complete AFFIRM on their own.  I'm hoping we can schedule a celebratory meeting in September or October, so that they can share their successes with us and each other. 

And Saturday is the August Kick-off!  I'll be co-teaching a class with Susan Monk about Award Recognitions and the Attitude of Gratitude that we are hoping will permeate our council.  It should be a really good session, especially since we have plenty of time for feedback from our class members.  If you are not able to attend, you can see our Matrix of Thanks and a summary of our class on line.  I think Shellie said it should be up on the Volunteer Network next week, along with the other class info.

I'm also going to host a BREATHE break-out session in the morning.  And to be sure, I'll be bringing my props to show how we tried to infuse the girl-led piece into the Journey.  We had some success, some failure, and everything inbetween!  These girls are all about the snack and crafts, but they have also gotten interested in the topics surrounding the air we breathe.  One Take Action Project involves the creation of a coloring book and story about why smoking is bad for you. And the other is a girl-written satire of the Wizard of Oz, talking about how polluting the planet is bad.  I wonder if it's titled the Wizard of Ooze?  I'll let you know....

One of the happy parts for me, in getting ready for the Kick-off, was that I reacquainted myself with the It's Your Journey - Customize It planning guide.  Lesley Finch gave it to me 2 years ago, and I have to confess, it was tough for me to wrap my brain around at first. Now, after 3 Journeys and teaching the GSLE trainings, I've come to see the guide as a useful tool!  Pages 26-35 make sooo much more sense to me now!  Not only for troop meetings, but for a series as well. If you have a chance to buy/borrow a guide, I bet you'll find it helpful as well.

See you at the Kick-off!

August Kick-Off

Have you signed up for the August Kick-Off on Saturday, August 18th?  It looks like there will be terrific information there for every troop leader!  Parents too!

I heard from Shellie that there's going to be a new segment on doing Journeys, with a break-out to ALL the Journeys at ALL levels.  Woohoo!  I'm going to be with the Breathe Journey, for sure, then morphing over to Girltopia, if need be.  

Join us!  Learn about what's new for the coming year!  Taste the new cookie flavor that was just debuted at the OC Fair!  Choose a seminar to participate in!  If you're in the mood, join Susan Monk and me for an hour about saying thank you/showing appreciation.  We'll talk, then we'll all brainstorm together.  It should be fun as we talk about the new/continuing  "attitude of gratitude".

And if you sign up in time, you can reserve a Jersey Mike's Sandwich.  Or bring your own lunch in an ice pak...it's going to be warm out there!

So join us!  Leave the kids at home and come Kick-Off the new Girl Scout year! 

See you there!

Breathe in, breathe out, grasshopper....

Yes, still working on the Breathe Journey Series.  We had a fabulous time in Palm Springs touring the Turbine Farms as our guides gave us all sorts of information about energy and power.  It was awe-inspiring to see how huge those turbines are up close!!! 

The girls asked some good questions.  They had fun with the annanometer (sic) that measures the wind.  We were there on a relatively coolish summer day (101F) and a mild breeze (15 mph) coming from the southeast.  The girls had firsthand experience seeing what the Saint Andres Fault looks like, and what it's done to the topography around us.  They were also able to feel the wind and the monsoonal moisture still in it.  We didn't see a roadrunner or iguana, but we did keep our eyes out for those creatures of the desert.

I think that seeing the fault line area was sobering for many of them.  (It is for me, especially since we had that 11:30 pm quake last night, and a smaller one at 10 this morning, as I was talking on the phone!)  And I think it also got them to thinking about the scope of power and air, and how one thing can affect the other.  Elite Tours did a GREAT job in talking with the girls, asking questions, and handing out waaaay too many snacks!  Were I to do it again, I'd tell them one snack per girl.  The sugar high set off the giggles that were hard to control!!!!

Our girls have earned AWARE, and they have now chosen their Take Action Projects and their Air Car Teams.  I'm really looking forward to our next session where they send the ALERT and continue moving forward.  Since the girls won't finish in our sessions, we'll plan a Sunday in September or October, where we'll all come back together to finish AFFIRM and award them their 3 awards.    We want to give them a chance to celebrate!

I'm sure snack will be involved.....

Character Counts

“Character is what you are in the dark.” D. L. Moody

Evangelist and Publisher, 19th Century

Girl Scouting is all about "courage, confidence and character", and that's what we adults are hoping for our girls.  I think that one thing that unites us as adults, is that we only want the best for the girls we work with, whether that's a daughter, granddaughter, niece, troop member or stranger.  We want those girls to grow up strong, to make good decisions and to proudly go where no one has gone before.....  thank you, Captain Kirk.

When I teach the Cadette Essentials classes, one of the things we keep coming back to is that this is a leadership program.  And while it can mean that a future President of the United States is in one of our troops, it's more likely that a future married, mother of three with a part time job, two labs and a mini van is too!  Both will need to be leaders:  for the country and for their own lives. Both will need skills that they learn in Girl Scouts. And both will need the character to move forward.

We give girls a safe environment to practice their leadership skills, and to make safe mistakes while they're learning.  Girl Scouting also gives them the opportunity to practice their leadership as a patrol leader, treasurer, Junior Jam staff, destinations participant, Silver Award Awardee, and more.  In the process they develop that strength of character that fits into the young woman they will become.

Whether it's in nation-wide politics or home-based values and beliefs, we want our girls to succeed, and to be the same great girls at both the beginning and end of the day.