Last year, I went to the trouble of making up a form for my girls to fill out so they could earn Junior patches over the summer. I told the parents where they could find the discontinued patches and even sent them the link for the “Make Your Own Patch”.
The only child who earned a patch was my daughter.
Honestly, I was a bit surprised at the response. Many of my girls are home all summer, so I thought that earning a patch was something focused that they could do.
For girls in my troop who went to summer camp like my daughter, many activities could easily have been done there for credit, taking no time or effort on the part of the parents.
This summer, I did not even bother sending out the form.
My daughter decided not to go to summer camp with her twin brother, leaving me, a WAHM, needing things for her to do alone so I could get some work done. She picked ten badges and I bought six of them during the 25 cent sale one Council store was having.
Presently, she is working on the Toy Maker badge and has made a doll and a dollhouse. These have certainly made it easier for me to get some work done! And I never say no to a trip to the craft store!
Are the girls in your troop working on badges over the summer? If so, how are you keeping track of them? Ar you buying them or are the parents?
Are you meeting over the summer? If so, what are you working on?
We meet only 1x a month, so we are meeting over the summer. Prepping for 2 night overnight, so putting work into several different badges that they will complete while we are away! 🙂
It sounds like a fun summer! Enjoy it and thanks for reading!
I did something similar last year. Very little response. This year I printed off directions for retired try its we had been given. The girls snatched them up. So we will see!
Let me know if they earned any or not!
My daughter decided she missed camp, so she is returning this week. While she won’t finish all of the badges I bought, she can work on them over the course of the year.
I planned three outings for the summer. I emailed parents to work on some badges but not one person responded… I don’t get parental apathy but I guess it all depends on the interest of the girls and their parents.
I think it is part apathy-Girl Scouts is really not a big deal to most parents. It is a low key and low priority activity for most and earning badges over the summer is work.
There are others who enjoy having nothing to do over the summer but play, and earning badges, is again, work. They like summer’s unstructured nature of sleepig in, relaxing and just being.
My daughter has been busy earning nearly every badge at her level this summer plus 2 journeys… She also went to a week of Girl Scout camp where she brought home fun patches in Dutch oven cooking, archery and water safety. Needless to say I have been “working” on her vest all summer long trying to keep up with sewing on the things she’s earning. She will be the only third grader in a brand new brownie troop this year and will have already earned everything… Hoping it doesn’t create problems for her with the girls or leaders…
That is amazing! While it shouldn’t be a huge problem for the leaders, you may want to talk to them about it before the year starts, just to give them a heads up. They will still plan activities based on what they want to do, and your daughter may be in for some repeats. She should also know that going in! Good luck!