I Love what I do

Hi there, my name is Lauriann and I love being a Girl Scout Leader. Yes, I said Leader and not Advisor. I have 4 troops currently-Brownie, Junior, Senior and Ambassador. I have been leading troops since 1997 starting when my oldest daughter was in 2nd grade (was only an assistant that year-took over the next)She is away in college now. I started slow gathering my training, networking with other leaders and have totally become a girl scout badge-a-holic. Everywhere we go and everything we do actually does qualify for a badge or patch program somewhere around the country and so why not get the visual recognition for it? No reason, I say and I order from everywhere. If the Council says no-ha! I will make my own iron on t-shirt transfer version for my girls on the blank badges. We have loads of fun and my girls are always asking for more. Let them ask-I will seek and I will find. I have found tons of council own try its, badges and ip's. Definitely interested if others have troop's owns they are willing to share. Sleepovers happen every year for us and the older girls earn service or leadership by putting these events together and we usually go with a theme so that all of the program for recognitions follow the same theme. There are some really great programs out there that very creative people have researched and come up with. For any of you who happen to read this blog-we appreciate you! We just finished our year but are already busy preparing for September! My other 2 daughters, 1 a junior and 1 a brownie are already asking for more badges. Cassandra who is 10 is working on her badges independently and I promised Lillian I will try to schedule some summer workshops for things like Water Fun and Safety and Bicycling. Yes, you are reading correctly-I only have 3 daughters and 4 troops and yes my oldest Ciara is away in college so I do not have children in my Senior or Ambassador troop. I love the girls though and it is a very rewarding and meaningful experience I get to share with them. I have taken the older girls to Salem, Mystic, Savannah, Philadelphia, Rocking Horse Dude Ranch and many venues in New York City-including the opera Little Women. No greater joy can be taken than from helping a child try and learn new things that if not for scouting they would never think of. I would love to hear from other leaders about your experiences with scouting and the fun things you have done.