Giving back to our communities and making them better places is a fundamental part of the Girl Scout experience. Sometimes this looks like Take Action projects, or high awards, but just volunteering in general is something most troop leaders say is important to them when envisioning running a troop. But, especially when you have younger girls, what the heck kind of service projects can you even do with kids in K-12? Here's a great big episode full of ideas.

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It's a new Girl Scout year officially and I'm reflecting on some of my favorite traditions!

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When recording last week's episode, I came up with the idea to do some activity suggestions - both indoor and outdoor, for all age levels - to build problem solving skills and conflict resolution skills. I hope you can use some of these ideas with your troop!

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We hear people talk about "girl led" in Girl Scouts all the time -and although I've broken down what that term really means in this podcast a few times before, it's never too much and this week, I'm doing one better: I'm giving you 15+ examples of what it looks like to actually lead a girl-led troop and to foster leadership skills among your girls, no matter how old they are.

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In today's episode, I'm sharing some tips for what to pack when you take an outdoor adventure with your troop. Now listen, this is not an exhaustive list, especially because that largely depends on what the heck you are doing. But in general, I learned from experience that there are some essentials you should just bring with you for any field trip or outdoor adventure with your troop no matter what you're doing or how old they are. Here are my essential items that you must have! + Some bonus items that will really pay off... trust me.

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No matter what age group you're working with, we've got ideas for you to spend time adventuring outdoors! Outdoor activities are a huge tradition in Girl Scouts and so valuable for mental health, leadership skills, and relationship building. Tune in for another ULTIMATE GIANT LIST episode!

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After another occurrence of senseless violence in the USA, everyone is talking about safety at school... including kids. We're all having strong emotional responses from this horrific event... including kids. Should we address this at Girl Scouts? And if so, how can we do it with the kids' best interests at heart?

Resources:

https://www.girlscouts.org/en/raising-girls/happy-and-healthy/happy/extreme-violence-and-children-parenting-advice.html

https://www.girlscouts.org/en/raising-girls/happy-and-healthy/happy/kids-worried-about-war.html

https://www.nctsn.org/sites/default/files/resources/fact-sheet/talking-to-children-about-war.pdf

https://www.schoolcrisiscenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Guidelines-Talking-to-Kids-About-Attacks-Two-Sided-Onesheet-Format.pdf

https://www.nctsn.org/resources/coping-after-mass-violence 

Fake News Activity from Girl Scouts: https://www.girlscouts.org/en/raising-girls/leadership/life-skills/kids-and-fake-news-critical-thinking-skills.html

Support Uvalde: https://www.girlscouts-swtx.org/en/our-council/girl-scout-strong-for-uvalde.html

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In this episode, I am speed talking through 10 ideas for activities you can do at your back-to-school season troop meetings. I didn't mean to speed talk, but here we are. Don't listen to this one on 2x speed. I say this for your own safety. LOL

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Primary election years are a big deal in the US! But they can also be exhausting, and frankly, divisive. In this episode, I'm sharing 3 of my best tips for how to engage your girls in discussion and action around the fact that it's an election year... without actually getting involved in divisive politics that will alienate troop families.

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This week, my guest is Sheri Bowman-Gazitt. We are talking all about managing DRAMA - girl drama, mama drama, and more.

Connect with Sheri here:

http://teen-wise.com

http://facebook.com/groups/theparentinglab

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This week, I wanted to share some tips for running a multi-level troop, including some insights into my own story and how my own multi-level troop started and grew.

ALSO I'm so excited to announce that I'm nominated for a Women in Podcasting award! You can support me (it's totally free) by voting for the show here: https://womeninpodcasting.net/awards

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