Guiders Staff Room Part 3

Hi I am reasonably new to the Guiding family, having taken over a Unit last September. Trouble is that I was supposed to be doing mainly assisting, but have turned into the main leader/admin/accountant 😫

Just looking for support and ideas really, and is it ok to moan if I am finding it a bit stressful? Just pleased I have got through my accounts being audited and Census’s sorted really.

Mothering Sunday activities this week!

Yes, need warm here too. Scouts, Cubs and Guides for my 3 all cancelled yesterday. Going to give my unit a chance to finish their snow challenge!

R/B/G all cancelled tonight, it's bitter out there. Have told parents to show me a pic of their Rainbow playing in the snow and they can have their Growing Up Wild in Snow & Ice instead.

I want some warm!

I would definitely try to avoid the red and yellow card system drspouse. I'm comfortable using a system like that at school (secondary, where I know who has SEN and can use different strategies for those kids), but I'd rather not do that at Brownies. I do think we need to be clearer that disruptive behaviour will result in us speaking to parents though. Currently they seem to think there are no consequences for some pretty bad behaviour. None of the girls have SEN that we know about, but there is a group of very rude girls who don't listen to anything we say and frequently wander off from the activity to do handstands/cartwheels/mess about in the toilets. So I think they do need to start seeing some consequences. Old brown owl only left at Christmas, and she didn't believe in telling Brownies off, because it's not school and they should be allowed to have fun.

Welcome to new faces!

Oops DrSpouse!

Had the email to say my census cheque has arrived. That's a relief.

Behaviour wise, I use similar tactics to DrSpouse. It is supposed to be fun, but sometimes they need to learn to let go of themselves and try something.

We had a neighbour PCSO visit this week, his car was the biggest hit! Did you know you can fit approx 15 Brownies and a YL in a patrol car? Glad our meeting was Tues, Cubs, scouts & guides have been cancelled for tonight, also endurance 40 this weekend.

As someone whose DS has SEN and who is more or less the only child who has had a yellow card in Y1... please don't.
He alternates between excited that he has got something special, and anxious about his behaviour.

Don't forget you're a volunteer at Brownies.
Teachers get paid to teach - the naughty kids as well as the good kids. And they legally have to be at school.
With your volunteer hat on I think you're entitled to tell parents you're not prepared to keep a child in Brownies if their behaviour is difficult. I've only done that once in 15 years, but the child was impossible

We've been doing lots of praise for good behaviour and have a star chart for the sixes, with prizes at the end of a half term for the six with the most stars.
We'll do unit rules that the girls come up with themselves next week. We've been fairly relaxed about them going to the loo whenever they need to, but are going to insist on one at a time from now on as there was damage in there this week.
Then if we need to we may indicate the red and yellow card system.

Thank you all for your ideas. I am a teacher in a secondary school so have loads of discipline strategies, but they're all based on an underlying understanding that they are there to learn. Brownies is different as it's supposed to be fun, so we don't want our discipline strategies to be too much like school. So it's been great having your ideas to judge what's reasonable for Brownies.

If only it had snowed earlier in the week, we could have cancelled it, lol.

MrsAwesome we have a red and yellow card system. Getting a red card means having to miss a Brownie meeting, an having to explain to your parents why.
Just the threat of the cards seems to work. We've never had to issue a red one, and a yellow about once a term.
Occasionally, if we're out and about or something, we tell the girls we'll go straight to red with no yellow warning if they're naughty.

Don't blame you!
I'm plotting how I can do Brownies with minimal family disruption.
First though I have to find their unit cheque book to pay census (as I said I'd carry on doing accounts).

Generally we've gone with:
Loads of praise and attention for the ones that are doing what you are supposed to be doing (nice sitting, wow you're doing that really well, gosh you are trying hard, very cooperative there Flossie etc.)
There is no alternative activity - if you aren't playing this game you are sitting down doing nothing.
If you've finished you can do another one, or tidy up. Now take that bottle. Now put all the scissors away. Now get the bin from the kitchen. No, only one of you in the kitchen at a time.

Hi all. I've been on this thread before but lost you. I've been volunteering at Brownies since September (this time round, have done guides and rainbows before). The are 3 of us as leaders, all new to the unit.

I'd like some advice about how to deal with bad behaviour at Brownies. We don't want to be telling girls off all the time obviously but some of the behaviour is awful. A small group of them constantly want to be off doing their own thing and messing around rather than joining in with the planned activities. How do you deal with that without turning into an ogre? We've thought of spending some time writing unit rules with the girls input, which we will do next week. What other strategies have worked well for people? I've never had a group anything like this in many years of guiding, although I've just come back after 7 years off from guiding so maybe I've got my rose tinted specs on.

Oh dear, I'm thinking of taking over my old Brownies. I was supposed to be having a much longer break... DH will not be impressed.

Hi all! Can I join in, just started volunteering with rainbows and hoping to get my leadership ASAP. Having so much fun with the girls already!

Happy belated thinking day!

Happy Thinking Day!

Happy World Thinking Day, everyone!

The Swahili words one should work well for both guides and Rainbows

Hey. I was at Pax Lodge on Saturday and they had the mosaic as one of the activities. It was just normal A4 size, not blown up. They had 2-3 girls working on one at a time and it worked fine. They had a about 4 done by the end of the morning session. If you have them working on it in small groups while the rest do something else - and then also the Swahili words game in the pack is quite fun as a quick altogether activity.

Guiders of MN, I need your help!!

I've spent the past few hours (most of the school day tbh) trying to work out how to enlarge the mosaic image from the WAGGGS pack to make with my Rainbows with no luck :( My head is now fried and I have nothing to do with them tomorrow night! HELP MEEEEE PLEASE! What are you all doing?

My Guides are doing promise alphabetti and something(s?) still to be picked from the pack because I spent so long faffing with the laptop & printer

My trial invoice is eye watering. Lost a girl because dad's job changed and he now can't get her there. It's a shame, she's a fab kid. However it's a relief that I heard before the 19th!

My role as district administrator has been announced. Eek!

Doing World Guiding and Crime Prevention this term. Got a joint meeting after half term, then a visit from the police. Running a crime scene investigation later in the term, my friend is going to come in uniform to lead the investigation 😁