I�m a girl scout. I�m prepared�I hope. I have bottled water because I just got a call from the property manager and she told me that the water system flunked this week�s well test. I have the lanterns. I suddenly remembered matches. I have the key to the cabin we are using. (My girl scouts have decided that there is a limit to how much outdoor experience they enjoy.) And soon I�ll be off. Just me, Day-Hay, my camping buddy, Mrs. Good Cook, and twelve of Day-Hay�s closest friends. I�m prepared. I�m eager. I�m crazy.

When I first agreed to lead this troop, back when the girls were in first grade, I didn�t really expect to still be leading a troop now. I knew that many troops did not make it past Brownies and even fewer made it past Juniors. Yet here we are as Cadettes and I have thirteen of the original twenty. We are one of the larger Cadette troops in the area. The girls are even talking about what we will do when they are in high school so I may be committed for the long haul. (Of course, I occasionally wonder if I should be committed in general anyway.)

Yesterday, as I was dropping off paperwork at the council, I was asked to become a trainer for leaders. I�m hesitant because I�m not sure I have a lot of time for it but I said that I would consider it. I think the council hopes that I can pass along my secrets of success but I�m not sure how many can be explained in a training session.

Go camping at least once a year. Steer away from crafts because you�ll do enough crafts anyway and it�s the other stuff that keeps them coming back. Let them run the show�except when it comes to safety and when you have a really, really, really, really good idea that�s good for them but would sound boring if you explained it. (Showing usually works better than telling.) Challenge the internal pecking order�but don�t buck it too much. Don�t preach directly about anything other than the need to remember an extra pair of socks or a toothbrush and only preach then before the event when it might do some good. Keep paperwork to a minimum especially if, as my troop does, you meet after school. (If it�s Friday after school and it looks like school work, you�re doomed.)

Other than that, the secret is to have a lot of fun most of the time. Not in the preparation, perhaps, not in the keeping the troop bank account, but at the meetings.

Fun. Crazy fun. Girl scout fun.
___
Note about yesterday: Mrs. Good Cook called apologetic this morning and she and the girls she is bringing are doing the shopping.

LAST YEAR: In London and not able to get to a computer.

LAST FIVE ENTRIES:

Delegation
Second String
Infinity
Little Orphans Annie (by Day-Hay>
Here I Am

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Copyright 2006 by Ellen