Making sure girls get the most out of Girl Scouts isn’t solely up to troop leaders! Families are encouraged to join their girls in the Girl Scout Leadership Experience, offering support to girls and leaders as part of their journey. Amy Caperton, Denine Dains, and Darby Petitt in the Metro Denver region are experienced leaders of troops with older Girl Scouts, many of whom have been together since Daisies and Brownies. They offer this advice to families and caregivers of Girl Scouts.

Denine

• Know your girl’s goals and make sure other family members do as well. Once caregivers and siblings know what their girl wants out of Girl Scouts, they can support her in her journey!
• Remember Girl Scouts is girl-led.

Darby:

• Respond to your leaders’ emails. It is really hard to have a successful plan if families don’t respond or back out at the last minute.
• Make Girl Scout events a priority, as you would with other activities. Girls will get the most out of Girl Scouts if they are active in troop activities.

Amy:

• If your troop leader hosts a parent meeting, make sure you attend and bring any permissions slips and medical forms.
• Be available and let leaders know if you have special skills/training that you would be willing to share. For example, I used to have a mom that made jewelry, so we had her help us with a jewelry badge.

Finally, take GSCO’s 4 Her Promise and commit to volunteering four hours – 4 HER! Girls who have family support and participation in their Girl Scout adventures are more likely to stay in Girl Scouts.

Do you have any tips, tricks, “life hacks,” etc. to share? We would love to hear them! Just email GSCO Public Relations Director AnneMarie Harper at annemarie.harper@gscolorado.org.