Starting a New Troop

[sheerluc]

I had a Daisy troop last year, it was part of a larger group of Brownies and Juniors. Some of my girls are staying with the old troop and some are going into my new troop that will be only Brownies

Comments

[book_bitch]

Dues... I've found that a smaller due twice a year is better than one large sum. Also, it's harder to forget about than bringing a dollar or two per week, especially if you send out a reminder to parents beforehand. Letting nosy parents look through the books is a good idea, too.

My troop always has a parent meeting at the beginning of the year, followed up by newsletters every month. Parent information is shared at ceremonies, etc. too because most of the parents will be there.

[jhdiddle]

I understand the frustration with dues, however weekly dues are a LEARNING tool for Brownies. The act of them collecting them and keeping the records themselves teaches them responsibility and is part of the leader/girl composition (you know the chart where girls do like 10% as brownies, but by the time they are seniors they're doing nearly 90%)...anyway, if you make it a regular part of your meeting, collecting and teaching, the peer pressure will help and the girls will become more accustomed to it, Also, you can make rewards for them remembering, our troop has patrols now (we are juniors) and the patrols earn points, as they get more points they earn special prizes, one way to earn a point for their patrol is to come to the meeting prepared which means, In uniform, with their dues and their books or other supplies...if they are missing even one of these things they miss out on the point for their patrol. It has really made a difference. It also helps brownies OWN their program, to see the money collected and learn how it is used.

[jencw]

I'm lucky. I have a co-leader that is willing to sit backa nd let me plan the events, etc. While she's talking to the girls about how their day went, I talk to the moms about what we are going to do at that meeting as well as what is going on in the next weeks. Gives me a chance to do little heart-to-hearts with the moms.

Plus, I do up a newsletter. Complete with little articles, pictures, dates to remember, birthdays, etc. I have a little corner of the paper called MONEY TALKS. And it says what dues will be (as they are only Daisies now), and what we plan to do with that money. The moms say how helpful that is to have to know what's going on.

[starshinedown]

I'll second the notion to keep dues; at the Brownie age it's more a learning tool for the girls and less about paying for all of the supplies you'll need through the year. What has worked for us was to have the girls rotate each meeting to hold the position of dues collector; it gives them ownership, and after a time they were more inclined to remember to bring their dues because they like collecting them

[sheerluc]

I love the Juliette Gordon Lowe's birthday idea! I saw a web site that sent the kids home on a scavenger hunt for arts and crafts items. Parents premission had to be recieved to take items of course! The kids were rewarded points...but I was unsure as to what the kids were suppose to use the points for. I mean if I bought do-dads for the kids as prizes wouldn't that negate the point of not having to buy the craft supplies?

[yankeesfan23]

I collected a "start-up" fee in the beginning of the year ($20 girl) and then charged dues of $1 per meeting. I asked my parents to have their daughter do something at home in order to earn that dollar. Then at the meetings each girl would tell us what she did in order to earn her dollar.

I also requested that each girl have her own pencil box with her own crayons, tape, glue, safety scissors, pen, pencil, etc. This way I would not have to take troop funds for items that most people already had hanging around at home.

And if you want to do field trips and can't afford to do it then either split the cost or have the parents pay for it. I was very upfront at my parent meeting in the beginning of the year to let them know that funds would be tight until cookie money came in. It all worked very well and I did not have any complaints.