Brownie Girl Scouts Behavior Tips

[nicolewi]

I'm a GS co-leader for my third grader. We have a truly nice group of girls. BUT...we meet right after school and they are antsy, and we meet in the "cafetorium", so a big cafeteria from with a stage on the end. Now that they are bigger, we notice they are a little more wild than they used to be. 

This week we're starting the "my best self" badge and we wanted to include troop behavior in a positive way as part of being "my best self." What we typically do is start with something like a word find/coloring activity when they come in (this goes well). Then snack while we talk about what we will be doing and/or finish a project. Then we do activities sometimes rotating in 2-3 groups or as a large group. The activities themselves are fine, but every time we finish something, or finish early, they take off running around the room and want to go on stage. Last time, one girl just did a flip out of nowhere over the hard floor, which freaked me out.

Basically what we want is...
--no running off wildly every time we finish an activity; stay in the "meeting zone" and wait for instructions
--no going on the stage until the meeting is over; if we have time and had good behavior they could get "stage time" at the end
--no gymnastics
--we will probably address again that we are "all friends at Girl Scouts" and there's no fussing over partners or groups 

We want this to be positive and girl-led but also effective. We will have them talk about these issues and think about solutions and guidelines. But...what can we steer them towards?? I have heard of the "secret scout" where every meeting a girl is the "secret scout" and gets a prize at the end if she was following the Girl Scout Law. If she wasn't great, no one knows who it was, and name goes back in. 

Any tips? 

[wanderingback]

Can you incorporate running around in between the activities?
No flipping is a good rule so no one gets injured but kids are restricted from running/playing all day so seems like a great time to incorporate movement into these activities since that seems like what they want/need.

[sdlaura]

Good PP feedback around letting them get wiggles out first and often.

My other feedback would be to frame the rules as positive rather than negatives - so ‘keeping our hands to ourselves’ or ‘sitting in our seats’ or ‘being open and inclusive to new friends in our groups.’ Rather than ‘no this’ or ‘no that.’

[186momx]

I would restructure and do an activity that gets them moving first instead of asking them to come straight from class and sit down and do paperwork. Most aftercares here give the kids a snack and then they go spend a good amount of time outside on the playground before coming back inside for homework club.

[nicolewi]

We do try to do some thing active after the very start. But at the very start, the coloring works fine when they first come in, and it lets them all come in slowly and get settled at different times, and also lets us get set up. And then we can do snack at the tables right away also, because usually they are hungry. And after all that, we try to do something active. But we can be more intentional about making sure we always get some kind of game in right away.

[VillainV]

Instead of coloring, could there be some kind of loosely structured physically active choice for girls who would prefer it? I’m thinking jump ropes, 4-square, stuff that doesn’t require a ton of supervision but are also relatively tame/safe while you’re trying to get stuff set up. Or they could choose to do coloring if they want. If they’re in 3rd it’s possible they’re close to aging out of coloring anyway.

I think some safety rules are definitely in order (and I like the idea of framing them as “do” instead of “don’t.”) Walking feet. Save gymnastics for outside (?). Hands to yourself. Make safe choices.

[Jalapeñomel]

Play games for like 20 minutes.

Then eat a snack.

Then if you have time, activities.

lol

[thebreakfastclub]

My son's 5th grade class does yoga in between their long blocks of learning to help get some energy out. It's been such a hit that all of the classes are now doing it too. Point being, they should start the meeting with something to get the wiggles out IMO.

[TR]

You know how during Covid, people were putting stuff on sidewalks like “do a silly dance”, “hop on one foot”, “skip”, etc for people walking by? What about something like that as they come in? They have to do this series of silly physical things as they make their way to the activity tables?

[UMaineTeach]

Work to tighten up the structure. Maybe start with snack as they filter in and then do movement when they are all there?

Have tasks divided up between adults, so transitions are smooth. One person leads movement, the other sets up activity one. Goal of limited unstructured time. Kids will fill it if they have it.

Have the girls come up with a list of rules or norms or agreements (whatever you want to call them) for meetings (facilitating to get things worded positively and not a laundry list) and have everyone sign. Have a few to suggest that you really want and try to act like it was actually up for discussion. Refer to them early and often.

I’d say zero stage.

If possible, shrink the space to give boundaries. Arrange the tables and chairs in a particular way and reduce visual distractions as best you can.

Have a predictable routine. Like, always snack, movement activity, “business meeting”, activity of the day, and an appropriate closing.

[wesleycrusher]

I have very clear memories of playing red light, green light and what time is it mr wolf during my brownie meetings in the cafetorium as a child!

[Patsy Baloney]

Beyond what you do with the kids, meet with the parents and have them sign off on behavior contracts, too. Express that their support of troop leaders and reinforcement of expectations is the team you need to build with them to have safe and effective meetings. Make them aware of steps that will be taken to enforce rules. Our escalation at that age was something like - reminder, sit out of activity for x minutes, accompanied by parent to meeting, referral to council for new troop placement.

I say this because we had to kick 2 out of our troop at various times. Their parents weren’t “bought in” and didn’t have great attitudes toward us. It showed in their kids’ behavior. We were taking a lot of abuse and it was good for us to be able to pull the plug and move forward with kids and their families who were interested in participating and not just acting like fools and beating up their leaders and peers for giggles.

[Patsy Baloney]

Oh also -

Do you do a Kaper Chart?

Some kids really thrive with a job. You can put stuff like Leader Helper, Clean Up Crew, Game Leader, etc. on the chart and assign each kid a job on a rotating basis. If they like that, as they get older, you can have them start leading meetings through that chart. Have a badge chosen to work on and each kid can lead a section.

Just another way to approach it.

[minzy]

I think you’ve gotten some good tips (maybe do the movement activity earlier, behavior contracts, kaper charts, etc.) but I just want to say it’s a tough age. Both of my troops went through the same thing. If your troop is like my two, you’ve maybe got a few girls with undiagnosed/untreated ADHD and they partner off with close friends and get really silly/rowdy while a few others get exasperated… I think it’s normal at this age though not ideal. Also of course some meetings just naturally go better than others.

For My Best Self for my littles a least we had a troop dad who is a school counselor talk about mental health. Having someone “different” than just the regular leaders tends to produce better behavior (I saw it again two weeks ago when a nurse did a puberty session for the fourth graders). I know we once did a clothing relay for my bigs where they had to put on dress clothes (over their clothes) appropriate for the weather scenario we told them, and I think that was for My Best Self? I remember lots of laughter from that either way.

Re. the gymnastics during free time, I’d probably let that go honestly. But I’m coming at that as a mom of a kid with ADHD who is a gymnast. While I think she is usually well composed during school, I could not keep her from moving her body if I tied her down. She basically has to get it out and she cartwheels and aerials all the live long day. There are a couple of other girls in her troop like that too. My daughter went to a sleepover once and the other three of us were at home having a very peaceful evening and after awhile I remarked that it “felt wrong” because no one (meaning DD2) had done a cartwheel in hours. Ha!

[livinitup]

You described all typical behaviors for this age group, time of day, and setting. I don’t have advice for improvement but I can say it sounds like you are are doing a great job for these girls. Well done.

[lilac05]

Oct 31, 2023 22:13:48 GMT -5 livinitup said:

You described all typical behaviors for this age group, time of day, and setting. I don’t have advice for improvement but I can say it sounds like you are are doing a great job for these girls. Well done.

I agree with this.

I also think this might be a situation where you could probably adjust your expectations a little. Give them movement opportunities at the beginning and in the middle and then keep in mind that they’re not little adults.

I would also consider setting up a “meeting zone” where they’re expected to stay within the area except when activities are happening. Being in such a huge space with a small group is really tough.

[mrshandy]

I wouldn't let anyone on the stage unless it is a structured activity like doing a speech or performance.

We have had the same thing in our space and it never ends well when kids are playing on the stage. It's so easy to fall and get hurt when playing on the stage.

[felicity]

My 3rd grader is so much like this after school, so echoing that it seems like totally normal behavior. That said, I still shut it down. I don't have kids in scouts so not sure if this would go over well, but what if you problem solved with them and made a poster or something of expectations during your time and ask them what they think some reasonable choices should be when they are done and want to move around. Maybe even let them take a vote on different parts of the meetings. Then when they start misbehaving you can remind them that their choices right now are xyz and keep the poster somewhere visible during meetings.

ETA: I don't think I'd do the secret scout thing. It seems a little negative especially for an extracurricular activity that's supposed to be fun. 

[dochas]

It's fine for "the stage is off limits" to be a hard and fast rule.

[rhian]

It sounds like they're telling you what they need via their behavior - opportunities to move their bodies. Like others have suggested, I'd build in ways for them to do that, set up boundaries around when/how they will be able to move around, and I bet will make it easier to set and have them follow safety rules. I think the no flips, no going on the stage rules you want are completely appropriate, and I suspect they're really only doing it now because there aren't any defined safe options for movement.

To make it girl-led, could you have a conversation with them about what kinds of active options they would like? Like would they prefer a structured game/activity or just an opportunity to run and play freely? Then you can all work together to set up the schedule and rules of the afternoon and all hold each other accountable to sticking with it (or discussing again if it's not working for some reason).