talk to me about brownie badges.

[3duracellbunnies]

Dd1 has been at brownies for a term, due to be enrolled soon. Brownie leader not great on communication, and always seems busy at drop off, and dh picks up say no more . I don't have her e-mail or phone number otherwise I would be asking her.

They don't seem to do many badges, it is more games etc, which suits dd1 more in a group setting, however I do think that she would like to earn some badges, and it might help her focus and motivation at home rather than just 'chillaxing', i.e. Slumping on the sofa practising for teenagedom. To put in context the younger two are always off organising themselves making a mess with craft stuff, train tracks, camps, rockets , dd1 needs a reason, goal and reward to get off the sofa.

I know from the website that some of the badges are individual ones. How would we she go about gaining one? For example I saw the hostess badge, I would be willing to let her organise some of ds's 3rd birthday party, which could cover many of the points, but how would that be independently verified and to whom (I don't think that one mentions showing anything to a tester, but I could have got it mixed up, certainly some of them don't); and how do we set up testers for the ones which do require them, presumably I ask Brown Owl to organise, but is this when she is ready, or a few months before?

I still remember doing my first brownie badge (book lover); making a book cover, reading the Lion, the witch and the wardrobe and discussing it with my tester, but I have no idea how it was set up.

IIRC you need to be enrolled and made your promise before you can start earning your badges. Usually the time up to enrollment is spent learning about brownies and the promise you are about to make. This is your first badge, so to speak.

We always did a lot of badges together as a group (showing my age here) such as hostess (we each set a tray for Brown Owl, having invited her for tea beforehand) first aid, homemaker and gardener, with elements of 'homework' to each. Others I gained from my outside interests, or because I wanted to.

sometimes a tester was brought in (St. John's ambulance lady, my philately mentor) sometimes I produced a report (book report for reader for example) but often the badge test was just done 'in house' by one of the Owls.

Obviously its a non-competitive atmosphere so, the emphasis on badges is relaxed to encompass all a abilities and ages, and while there were always a few packs with arms full of badges, some packs didn't, and most had a fair mix of both, depending on how the individual brownie felt about gaining badges. Plus there was always lots of other things going on to get involved in!

Some packs seemed to treat earning badges as almost a tickbox exercise, never seemed much fun to me tbh! And there weren't any rewards, other than a stiff arm lol. Perhaps, go through the book with your DD and see if there's anything she would like to start working towards when she's said her promise?

Her enrollment is next week, ds's birthday is end of Sept, so if she did want to do it would need to start planning soon. I know that she would enjoy and be good at party planning, and would be happy for her to meet + greet etc, but she probably wouldn't stay motivated just for the glory.

The group seems to do more things like sleepover badges (she has one of these), holiday badges etc. Which I never did as a brownie, so I think that is better. I think though she would enjoy doing some of the badges which require a bit more work (on her part rather than the leaders having to do more work). Will try again to get hold of Brown Owl's e-mail.

Hi

My MIL is a brown owl and she was just telling me about a couple of the girls in her pack who'd done a cookery badge. They don't have cooking facilities where they meet, so all the badge work had been done at home- I think she'd prepared a simple dinner for the family, and mum had taken step by step pictures. The girl then stuck these on paper with some captions around them to explain what she was doing, and that counted as the 'proof'.

She also baked some cookies and brought them in for the pack to try which went down very well!

You can buy a badge book from the website or your local guide shop. As long as Dd provides good evidence there is no reason why she can't gain badges.

One of my brownies recently did her collectors badge and her evidence was fab. Others badges like swimming and dancing can be signed off by their teacher.

We do 2 badges a term. Doesn't sound like a lot but some of the badges are quite full on when you are trying to do a balanced programme for the girls.

That's great, thanks. I know I moaned a bit about the communication, which has been poor (I have asked a number of times about getting onto the e-mail list, but haven't made it yet, I only know about special joint events through dd2 rainbow leader and then asking etc.) Despite this she and I are happy with the format, she is making lots of friends who aren't in her school, and is developing confidence. She says that none of them have done any work towards badges since Easter (other than the sleepover badge which sounded more like hard work for the leaders than participants!). It seems to be mainly group games etc.

I really don't mind her not doing badges while she is at brownies, but I think it could be a fun way of motivating her to do a few more things at home. She will do anything for other people!

I will check with Brown Owl, but think might suggest to her helping organise Ds's party. It is just a few of his friends and some older siblings, most of the siblings are rainbows/brownies so I know that the parents will be supportive. Just hope I can let go of it enough to let her do it (with my help obviously).

Some badges work well for the whole pack to do together, like disability awareness or circus skills, some work for groups like hostess (mine earn it helping at our coffee evenings), some are best done individually like hobbies or collector.

I tend to do about 2 badges as a whole pack each term, taking 1 or 2 nights for each, I encourage all the girls to work towards individual badges, we have 6 time each week where they can ask the leaders or older girls for help and plan what they need to do, but some never do any individual ones.

Evidence for each badge varies, some like crafts they bring items in to show us all, some need an instructor to sign it off like swimmer and some the parents can sign off. Check first with Brown Owl, some are quite strict, (im not ) .

Oh and for cooks badge they always bring in a cake for us to try

You should have a book about badges & how to get them. Find it odd you haven't been given the book, but maybe it only comes after the promise is made (find it odd promise has taken this long, too).

fwiw, I found the badges are only easy to get if it's something you can easily get someone else to sign off. Like a swimming instructor or music teacher, etc. They read the conditions in the book & sign it off with a little note to say who they are. Brown Owl reads the signed off details, orders & delivers & you sew on.

Not every unit gives their brownies a book. I ask my parents to buy the brownie adventure and the badge book which is normal for our division.

And on the subject of promises, I took over my unit and only realised in February that one of my brownies had never been enrolled in her previous unit and it wasn't told to brown owl either when she had a place for her. So I enrolled her when I enrolled my 4 new ones.

Some badges can definitely be signed off by people other than Brown Owl - unless you are (for instance) going to take Brown Owl to the Alps so she can sign off your DD's skiing badge!

Will try to corner Brown Owl tonight but is a bit manic end of term joint party so won't hold my breath. It sounds as if everyone does things differently. She might be given a book tonight, dd2 likes to emphasise to dd1 that she has been enrolled for aaaaagggggeeeesssss as a Rainbow although they started at the same time. Bit sad that I'm not invited to watch promise, but dd2 will report back in detail!

Our group does about 1 a term as a group. Some children do things like dancers badge on their own, with dance teachers signing the slip.

Only thing I'd say is that things like Hostess, our group did as a group, organising an event entirely on their own. If your dd has got it, I wonder whether that might be a little awkward if the group is doing it. Maybe you could approach it in a "if you're not planning on doing it in the group" type of way.

When I was at Brownies there were badges you could do out of Brownies, but your mum could not be a tester for most of the badge (eg one badge you had to make your bed for a week, and dm could sign that, but an official tester had to mark your bed making skills doing envelope corners with non-fitted sheets). In our village there were 2-3 ladies that were official testers, and had a constant stream of little girls in and out to wash windows, lay tables, make beds...

Humm maybe I should become a brownie tester and get free cleaners! That is the way that I remember it, but on the website it isn't clear for some of the badges. A photo journal sounds like a good idea. Brown Owl doesn't seem the sort to haggle over whether she has done something exactly right, she is fairly laid back. I will ask her for a list of badges which they usually do in the group, but from what I have heard and seen so far it is more a social group than a badge gaining one, which as I have said I am perfectly happy with as dd is happy, but if I can get dd doing a few things at home and getting a badge for it maybe I won't need to become a brownie tester! I would also be happy to volunteer to help the whole group work towards a badge (have LO so can't help every week), but that just doesn't seem to be the focus of this group.

You can do any of the any of the badges from the badge book at home. They are all available online too.

If your daughter s doing the library summer reading thing look at booklover, or world traveller (even if you haven't been abroad) or craft, toy maker, artist, environment, seasons, cook - there's quite a few where she can do things and take them in to show brown owl when she goes back (or take photos)

If she des choose a badge feel free to ask any questions if you are unsure on clauses.

All of the badge details are available free online here.

We don't give copies of the book to our pack as we prefer to spend the money on activities and resources. We try to do one or two badges each term, but these may be separate 'challenge' badges in addition to the yellow interest ones.

Some badges are indeed better suited to individual work. We have 'Badge Night' once a term when we encourage our girls to bring in the evidence for their own choice of badge. So the girls who do ballet bring their stuff and do their little performance for Dancer badge, or the horsey ones have brought in photos and got their riding instructor to sign a printed sheet of the Rider badge, etc. Cooks bring photos of their efforts and home and some cakes to share. I take my laptop for those doing Computer, etc, etc. We talk to them all about what they did, how and why ... then have a HUGE badge awarding session at the end. It's brilliant!

Collector, Hobbies, Writer, Booklover, Friend to Animals, Toymaker, Computer, World Cultures, Artist and Cook are really good ones to get this way.

Two crucial tips for you ...

• do check that she has actually met ALL of the criteria. If the badge says 'do 5 of the following' then do 5, not 3 and be disappointed (or just one and cry when the Owls say that's not enough!)
• do talk to the Owls first. There's no point bringing all the evidence without warning on a busy evening and expecting a badge to appear by magic from the cupboard (had that too).

Good luck collecting a sashful

Hope party organisation goes well!

I'm sure any offers such as doing a badge with the whole group would be very much appreciated, although do be aware that the programme may be planned some time in advance - I'm a Guide Leader and if one of our parents offered to come and run a specific activity, I'd be biting her hand off

My daughters pack set aside time on the first meeting of each month to gain badges. They show what they have done or serve tea or whatever the appropriate activity is. It's a really nice way to do it as they can work on whatever badge they choose and show their friends what they have achieved.