Guiders' staff room - tea, wine, chat and optional dancing around the toadstool

I have a question and I can't find anything on GO, so I hope that someone here can help . Does anyone know if there are any guidance notes available on becoming a Brownie helper/what the role entails - I'd really like something that is aimed at the girl rather than the adult. I can't find anything in the G File and I'm not sure where else to look.

Thanks!
Jenny

Yes, we've got lots of newbies this term, because we've also got our biggest ever group moving up to Guides together. We also gave several outings this term.

::drowns in paperwork::

Just waking up the thread in readiness for a new term.

I've got 5 newbies starting Brownies including one with SEN who'll have a Support Worker with her. This is new territory for our pack. We've met with her at home and talked lots with her & her parents. Most of the girls already know her through school, so I think we'll be OK!

Meanwhile DS is moving from Beavers to Cubs and DD is off on an watersports-based Guide camp next weekend.

Oooh, I'm glad someone's breathed life into this thread!

That joint activity sounds fabulous, gointoexplodesoon. We don't have any Beavers nearby, otherwise it'd be great to do something similar.

Sorry to invade! Scout leader here. I'm also a Browie leader (I have camps every week it seems). I'm currently planning activities for a coordination between Beavers and Brownies. If anyone else wanders onto this site, even if it's monhs after my post (it's already months after the start of this conversation) can anyone give me ideas? I was thinking survival skills, den-making, catch-the-flag kind of game, putting-up-tent competitions, kayaking, raft-building and ghost stories.

Have you looked on here for ideas. I expect there's lots actually, if you dig deep enough, given Our Chalet is there!

I made on of those safety pin badges with the Swiss flag on, when I was at HQ last year. I was with Brownies and they all managed.

Please do! It would be lovely to have some regular Guiding chat particularly after the drubbing the Baden Powell groups got on the recent Woodcraft Folk thread.

Don't have any Swiss ideas, though, apart from growing edelweiss or cooking with cheese!

Can I resurrect this thread (please!). I am a Guide leader in need of inspiration. Ideas for a Switzerland-themed craft anyone?
Thank you!

Anybody who gets disheartened at how little Guiding seems to be valued by some (I stress, not all) parents might want to look at the AIBU thread about Beavers. The comments there about the value of what the volunteers contribute are really uplifting.

oooooo!

Hi madwomaninthe attic,

I'm in Scotland, so our half term break was last week! I'm sure my Brownies would love to write to yours - I've PM'd you.

our tawny owl is leaving at christmas, so i'm in full-on recruiting mode. unfortunately, don't think there any other mners in this neck of the woods!

He he! Top tip - I just scrolled through to see what I was saying, and in one of my very early posts, I suggested getting my best mate Kbear into uniform. She catagorically said no.

She's in uniform....... Brownie unit helper uniform.

oh gawd, it is, isn't it. i'd have bored myself rigid doing that for a week.

do let me know if you find a willing pack!

(and if not, i'll resort to combing the thread and pm-ing everyone who has confessed to being a brownie leader - you have been warned!... )

Oh and it's half term, so most Guiders are probably drunk under the table, celebrating a week off!

Gotta love your perssistance!

I am a Rainbow leader, but of course, I know plenty of Brownie leaders! I will enquire if anyone is interested for you!

aren't you all back from brownies yet and partaking of and mn?

bump

hello, lovely ladies, i'm going to gratuitously keep bumping this as i'm looking for a UK brownie pack that would like to receive pen pal letters from a brownie pack in Canada so that my girls can earn their 'pen pals' badge as part of their 'all about me' key - purlease! purlease! at least one reply back would be (as they say here) awesome...

i've got 20 girls at the mo (i enrolled 16 brand newbies last night from sparks - rainbows equivalent) and they are very enthusiastic! and it's snowing here, and i might even send y'all some chocolate mint girl guide cookies to share if i haven't eaten them all myself by then!

pm me if you might be interested...

and look out for the bumps until someone succumbs...

(oh, and i would really like someone to get me a proper toadstool as well, can send uk cheque. they are all brown here and i would be the envy of the region if i had a red and white one... )

How do you make marshmallow and chocolate caterpillars?

::need new make-it ideas::

Well, I think we may have solved the problem now. DD1's going to join the other unit with her friend, which I actually think will be much better all round. She's often better if I'm not there - no chance of hiding behind me which forces her to be a bit braver. It means me making a mad dash home from school with her and her friend, tea and then straight out to Rainbows, but friend's mum will bring her home and deliver her to DH while I am on my way out to run the other unit!! The complicated things we do....

Had a good night last night - Bring a Friend night went well so it's just fingers crossed that some of them actually want to join! They made marshmallow and chocolate caterpillars and then butterfly fridge magnets with nail varnish and sequins.

That's a really tricky one, Mascarpone. I insist that my daughter calls me Brown Owl like all the other Brownies do and make a point of not working with her group when we split into groups for activities. But it is difficult, as everyone knows she's my daughter. I'm probably harder on her when she misbehaves than I am with the other Brownies, just because I can remember being in units where the Guider's daughter was Brown Owl's or Captain's (yes I'm that old) pet.

Hi I've just found you all! I've been a Rainbow Guider for the past 5 years and before that was a Brownie Guider. We've got 2 units in our town which pretty much run back to back - the leadership team is shared across both, so we all plan together and both units do the same activity.

At the moment we're really low on numbers so we are doing a recruitment drive and a Bring a Friend night next week (faints just at the thought!). It seems to go in waves with us - either we're completely over subscribed or struggling to fill the spaces!

We've just had a little girl join us from South Africa who was a Teddy there, so if anyone knows any South African guiding songs which would help her feel at home, that would be great!

I've just got my overnight licence so we'll be planning another sleepover in the new year I think. I must be mad....

Also DD1 will be joining Rainbows next month which I think will be interesting. Any tips for what to do with her when she becomes a limpet and will only refer to me as 'Mummy'??

Hmm. I've heard it said before that Cubs 'poach' girls but, really, girls (and parents) make the choice. I guess that on the whole Cubs may be more adventurous than Brownies, if only because (again, on the whole and with exceptions either way) Scouting groups seem to meet in bigger halls with bigger outdoor spaces and can offer more in the way of outdoor rough-and-tumble games. I've also seen it said on MN that Scouting groups take a more laissez-faire attitude to health and safety (I have no way of gauging how true that is) so that, coupled with the interests and preferences of the respective leaders, may also create a difference.

Our Brownie groups finish at 7.30pm, which parents do seem to think is quite late enough for girls who are only just 7. Then again, my friend's daughters attend a Cub pack which ends at 8.45pm.