02-02-2004, 02:06 PM
That's a great idea, Lonehunter. You'll not only create memories for yourself but your daughter and other Brownies as well.
I was a Girl Scout leader for three years in Santa Clara, CA. By the start of the second year, the troop went from 9 to 23. My "girls" didn't go for finger painting, tie-dyed t-shirts or glitter cards, they were into bait casting, tying knots, knife safety (with paper knives), photography (went through lots of Poloroid film), animal tracks and other outdoors activities. My oldest daughter was also in the troop and led the way with the activities. More than a few of the scouts came from single parent families and had no father figure to teach them such things, so I unofficially adopted an even dozen 7 and 8 year olds. When we went on weekend camping trips with other troops, we were the ones out in the woods gathering leaves, identifying edible plants, animal tracks, handling grubs (the big, yellow bananna grubs native to the Santa Cruz Mountains) and other things that the other troops turned their noses up at. And they had a blast doing it.
Having local fishing experts, Wildlife tracking experts and even a professional photographer come in for an hour or two perked them right up. You never saw a more attentive group than these girls when the tracker showed plaster tracks and asked them to identify them. And casting a rubber plug the length of the school cafeteria (with one wrapped around a light fixture), their eyes just lit up like a road flare.
To this day, my former Girl Scouts will still stop my daughters (now 28 and 25) and tell them that they had their best three years in my troop. Now that is a memory. One young lady, now 26 and happily married with two kids, admitted that she didn't accept a proposal of marriage until she watched her future husband fish. No fish, no ring.
Now that's a memory.
[signature]
I was a Girl Scout leader for three years in Santa Clara, CA. By the start of the second year, the troop went from 9 to 23. My "girls" didn't go for finger painting, tie-dyed t-shirts or glitter cards, they were into bait casting, tying knots, knife safety (with paper knives), photography (went through lots of Poloroid film), animal tracks and other outdoors activities. My oldest daughter was also in the troop and led the way with the activities. More than a few of the scouts came from single parent families and had no father figure to teach them such things, so I unofficially adopted an even dozen 7 and 8 year olds. When we went on weekend camping trips with other troops, we were the ones out in the woods gathering leaves, identifying edible plants, animal tracks, handling grubs (the big, yellow bananna grubs native to the Santa Cruz Mountains) and other things that the other troops turned their noses up at. And they had a blast doing it.
Having local fishing experts, Wildlife tracking experts and even a professional photographer come in for an hour or two perked them right up. You never saw a more attentive group than these girls when the tracker showed plaster tracks and asked them to identify them. And casting a rubber plug the length of the school cafeteria (with one wrapped around a light fixture), their eyes just lit up like a road flare.
To this day, my former Girl Scouts will still stop my daughters (now 28 and 25) and tell them that they had their best three years in my troop. Now that is a memory. One young lady, now 26 and happily married with two kids, admitted that she didn't accept a proposal of marriage until she watched her future husband fish. No fish, no ring.
Now that's a memory.
[signature]