Louise Kruithof
kruithof@worldchat.com
Pathfinder guider, camp advisor, trainer, etc....
Hamilton, Ont, Canada
In trying to get them to take their guiding destiny in hand, I had all the
girls come to my house for a sleep over with promises of games and pizza.
Once they all got here and had talked for a good hour, we played a game (I
do not remember which one, it was their choice), and then I brought out
newsprint paper and markers, and asked them to write down what they would
like to do and not do at Guides. They could write as many 'do's as they
wanted, but for each 'not do', there had to be a 'do'. When that was
completed, another short game, then more newsprint and calendars where the
important dates were already marked and I asked them to make a schedule of
when they would like to do those things and who would be willing to take it
over with help from a guider if required. Pizza had been promised for when
this task was completed.
Each meeting for the rest of the year had one activity that had been
planned by them at the sleepover. The next year, with some experienced
guides, we did the same at the meeting night. It took the whole meeting
but by then they knew they had ownership of their guiding year, and it went
on for a few years until there was one of those years with lots of new
girls and all the older ones gone. Did the same again (sleep-over), and it
worked again.
The first and second sleep over at my house were in the attic, (wide open
area). Since then, the piles from the dining room table, the floor by the
window, the extra chair, etc. have been moved to the attic. So, guess
what! The attic is piled with guiding stuff.