Can you believe it?! Another school year is well underway, and families all across the country are preparing for the second half of the busy school year.

Have you included Girl Scouts in your school routine? Girl Scouts provides girls with limitless opportunities to be Go-getters, Innovators, Risk-takers, and Leaders. With the support of caring adult role-models, girls gain confidence, courage, and character while making the world a better place!

Technically, they’ll need to have 2 registered volunteers to lead the troop, but there so many ways for families to engage in Girl Scouts too! Here are 5 simple ways to get involved in your Girl’s troop this year.

Attend Your Troop’s Family Meeting

The Family Meeting sets the foundation of support for your troop and rest of the year. At this meeting, your leader will talk about details for the year, their expectations and responsibilities, and ask you to fill out a few forms. This is the perfect time to figure out how you and the leaders will communicate best. Making a Communication Agreement is a great way for you to stay in-the-know and ensure that your girl doesn’t miss out! Be honest and work together to find ways to support her troop and leader.

Volunteer

There are a lot of different ways that families can be supportive of their girl’s troop. All troops need two registered adults, but there are also more seasonal positions like the Troop Cookie Manager. Troops also need drivers, snack helpers, field trip chaperones, and treasurers.

Sharing responsibility makes the experience better for all adults involved – and makes it fun! Be sure to contact your Community Engagement Manager to register as a volunteer, they will help you get a criminal background check and any additional training. (Not sure who that is? Contact our Customer Care Team at 888.350.5090 or customerservice@gswo.org and they can help!)

Share Your Talents

If you are talented in a specific skill or have a favorite hobby – this is your time to shine! Girl Scouts are always learning new things. Could you dedicate an hour to teach the troop how to knit, cook, or even do woodworking? Or if you have a job that allows you to welcome visitors, the troop could plan a field trip to your fire station, hospital, or small business to learn about all of the important things that you do! This is an opportunity for you to share what you love, and bond with your Girl Scout.

Donate

You know all those extra scrapbooking supplies you have that are collecting dust? Or the yarn that hasn’t magically become a scarf yet? Those are precious materials that can be used for countless activities at Girl Scout meetings!

Ask your leader what materials they need, and check your closet or pantry to see if you could donate some, or even offer to supply the snack. This will help with troop costs, show your support for the troop, and keep you updated on the cool things Girl Scouts get to do!

Bring It Home

One of the easiest (but most important) things you can do to make sure that your girl gets the most out of Girl Scouts is to ask her questions when she gets home. Debriefing with your Girl Scout helps her communicate and understand the meaning behind the activities she did during her meeting.

Show her how interested you are in her accomplishments and adventures — in the long run, she may remember this better than the actual experience. Here are some quick questions you can ask her in the car or at the dinner table:

• How was your meeting?
• What did you do?
• Did you try something new?
• How were you challenged?
• What was your favorite part?
• What are you excited about for next time?

Remember, being involved in your Girl Scout’s troop doesn’t have to be a full time job — but your help will make a huge difference!

Her troop leaders are dedicating their valuable time to lead your girls, and they shouldn’t have to do it alone. Imagine your Girl Scout watching you take the lead and cheer her on in front of all of her friends, knowing that you believe in her voice, power, and leadership. She will remember that.