Parents Girl Scouts: trying to do too much?

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Recently, my daughter's girl scout troop (with whom she's been for five years) had to undergo a bit of a schedule change. Since all the girls are now in 5th grade (the start of middle school here), the girls' after school schedules have gone haywire. They had a big meeting a couple of weeks ago to determine what meeting time works best for everyone. Of course, it turned out that all the other scouts could make it on one day that my daughter has gymnastics!
Granted she only had two days to spare, so a conflict was more probable than not, but now her feelings are very hurt because she feels everyone's schedule was taken into consideration except hers.

Do any of your gymmies keep up with Girl Scouts in addition to gymnastics? Are there schedule conflicts? How do you handle them?
 
My DD is in L5 and does Girl Scouts too. Up until this year (third grade), Girl Scouts hasn't conflicted with gymnastics, but if she moves up to L6 next year and they don't change the day, it will. DD has had to drop other activities though. I guess you and DD need to weigh where her priorities are. Unfortunately, as they progress in this sport, other stuff usually has to drop to make time for it...if she wants to continue on this track. If she wants to keep up with Girl Scouts and other activities, maybe she wants to try a prep-op route or something less intense than USAG.
 
Right now we are waiting to join a troop that meets on Sundays, or not at all. She will miss some Sundays for competition in different sports and activites, but it's a pretty safe day otherwise.
 
If she wants to keep up with Girl Scouts and other activities, maybe she wants to try a prep-op route or something less intense than USAG.

Oh, she knows all about prep-op (I frequently remind her of that option - it's so much cheaper! lol), but she's committed to her team that she's been with for years. Besides her regular USAG team, she also does gymnastics once a week on a Unified Sports team. She is super busy! She already misses just about every school-sponsored special event (why are they always on fridays?) without complaint for her sport; I really don't know how she does it. I'd never have wanted to miss stuff like that as a kid.

Right now we are waiting to join a troop that meets on Sundays, or not at all. She will miss some Sundays for competition in different sports and activites, but it's a pretty safe day otherwise.

I did ask her troop leader about Sundays, but she says weekends won't work for her so we can't meet then. I also asked my daughter if she wanted to see if another troop had a better meeting time, but she wants to be with the girls she started with. They're dwindling fast at this age, so I'm sort of surprised she doesn't want to give it up like others have.
 
I'm dreading having the talk with DD about what she wants to do about Girl Scouts when she moves up...she loves it too!
 
Do any of your gymmies keep up with Girl Scouts in addition to gymnastics? Are there schedule conflicts? How do you handle them?

I actually stepped up to help lead my dd's 4th grade troop this year since the kids of the ladies who did it the last few years lost interest. Leading is more work for me, but it has its advantages though. I can schedule around dd's gymnastics and other activities for the most part. :)
 
What is Unified Sports gymnastics? Sorry for being clueless! Seeing as how it is another day of gymnastics, is it possible to drop that so she can still be with the original Girl Scout troop?

I've found as my daughter has gotten older (12/7th grade), she is very good at realizing her limitations! Her priority is gymnastics but she sees no need to join various after school clubs etc.

She goes to the 'important stuff' that school sponsors....the almost monthly dances on Friday nights and the occasional other activities....so she is still connected with school friends.

Plus, she is with the school group every day for 6 1/2 hours. I think it's a good balance. Definitely she has had to pick and choose as she's gotten older but I think it has helped her focus and realize priorities and what is important to her.
 
when our gs troop started it was all girls from gymnastics. Me and another mom became leaders because we were the stay at home moms and had more time to plan and we didn't have to be on a wait list if we became leaders. We only meet 2x a week and try to do one weekend activity. As the leaders we get to choose the day of the week that best fits our schedule. So we have picked a day they don't have gym. Some of the girs it was a conflict for and we have helped them find other troops that meet on the day they need. This year we also became a Venture Crew which is the Boys Scout Co-ed program. Basicly we run the GS and BS units as the same thing. this was done because the GS kept saying No to the things the girls wanted to do as Boy Scouts we can do ALOT more high adventure. WE now have a total of 9 girls and 6 boys and are growing. Being the leader we get to choose the dates for all activities and if parents complain we invite them to become leaders and give up their time to be there so the schedule they want can be accomodated. So far no parent has taken us up on that LOL.
 
I actually stepped up to help lead my dd's 4th grade troop this year since the kids of the ladies who did it the last few years lost interest. Leading is more work for me, but it has its advantages though. I can schedule around dd's gymnastics and other activities for the most part. :)

Ugh, that is why I ended up being the head coach of a U8 boys' soccer team last fall.

Good luck working it out. Hopefully you can find an accommodating troop!
 
My daughter is in her 4th year of Girl Scouts and we have just hit the point of having a conflict with gymnastics. Her troop meets 2 Wednesdays a month, plus the occasional extra activity on the weekend. Luckily her coaches are flexible. The head coach at her gym has said that he recognizes that the girls have lives outside of gymnastics and that if she needs to miss half of practice a couple times a month, that is fine. Of course, she won't be able to miss it this fall when her meet season starts. My daughter seems to be losing some interest in Girl Scouts, but she is still torn between wanting to go and not wanting to go. She has a meeting today, but would rather go to gymnastics so I suspect this may be her last year in Girl Scouts. I'm a co-leader for her troop and we've discussed moving the meetings to a different day next year, but I'm not so sure I want another afternoon/evening with a planned activity... My daughter has agreed to finish out the school year, then decide if she wants to try and continue Girl Scouts next year, so we'll see what happens.
 
My daughter was lucky enough to have a leader with a kid in gymnastics. The girls in her troop are all in high school and they have gotten their Silver and Bronze awards and are working on their Gold awards. If she had to miss a meeting she got the work for the next meeting from the leader. Our troop leader posts times on their Facebook page and everyone agrees on a time. Flexibility is the key.
If nothing works out with a troop, she can always go it alone. Look on the Girl Scout website for information.
 
I would talk to your head coach about could she possibly miss part of practice or do gymnastics another day. I have found that sometimes when you talk to the coaches that they are more understanding then you think they are. My daughter is no longer doing gymnastics but the couple years before she left her coach did allow her to come to practice late (off meet season) for volleyball and track. We have even alternated activities so she could do things which coted this year, she has managed to do swim team cheer team and dance when they all practice on same days. I have lucky but I think sometimes it is the way you approach the coaches ant tell them honestly daughter is upset about missing this activity can we work something out. She may decide once she gets the okay that she does not want to miss gym time for girl scouts.
 
If your DD really loves girl scouts, perhaps you can find another troop that has a schedule that works for your family? My DD had to quit girl scouts because she belonged to to a very busy (and strict) troop. It really stressed her out to be part of this group. But DD had friends at her old gym who were active girl scouts. They had troops that were more laid back and had more relaxed schedules. It's possible to do both - if you find the right troop!
 
Well I lead the troop, so can pick days that work with our schedule. But, to be honest, the troop does hardly anything anymore. Its hard to find times that fit everyone's schedules. I feel for the troop leaders--tell your daughter not to feel bad, I'm sure they didn't deliberately ignore her needs, it just happens that way sometimes. How often does the troop meet? If it's only once a month, maybe she could skip practice that day? Otherwise, maybe it's time to move on.
 
This post is very timely. My DD is in 2nd grade and this is her 3rd year of Scouts. This year there has been a lot of scheduling conflicts and frankly, I just don't feel it is worthwhile for her to do it anymore. Her leader tends to schedule lots of activities on Saturdays and DD and a few of her friends cannot make them due to sports and activities commitments. I guess I don't feel to bad if DD ends her run with GS this year- her troop doesn't have a very dynamic leader and it tends to be an hour of arts and crafts anyhow and I feel a bit nickled and dimed by it too- not sure what the money is going to- not worried it's being spent illegally in any way (as in not on the girls) but think it all goes to Oriental trading..... disappointing. I have hesitated to complain b/c I don't want to run a troop- so this is DD's option- love it or leave it, basically.

That said, I got a little OT, sorry, DD has been doing Girl Scouts, but I think this is her last year. So far it has fit in her schedule, but add it in and all my DS's activities and well.... our family time is suffering. We hardly ever eat together anymore during the week. Eliminating an extracurricular would free up some family time and GS just seems the logical choice to cut.
 
Girl scouts is hard... The badges in brownies seemed like mostly arts in crafts, I was the co-leader and it was a Huge time commitment to do it twice a month. The parents all wanted additional actiivities on Saturdays, but then no one could make them. I was actually glad when DD moved up and practice conflicted with the GS meeting night. We just both pulled out. sometimes I think we have this idealized view of GS as this empowering thing for girls ... But it really depends on the group. Also, gymnastics has really taught my DD so much more about being a strong and powerful person, setting goals, being confident, and overcoming fears.
 

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