Girl Scouts won't listen - need help...?

Question

I have a troop of 7 girls whose ages range from 8 to 10. They enjoy the activities I set up and the meetings but they don't listen when trying to explain an activity or inform them of what is going on during a meeting. My co-leader and I have sat them down and talked with them about this chit chat and not listening cause it causes delays in getting things done but the day we did this towards the end of the meeting they were back to their talkative old selves. Anyone got any ideas on how to keep them quiet while we are trying to explain things?

I do keep the explanations brief but they talk the entire time and ususally interupt me several times.

PS I do act like the adult they have missed activites due to the talking. So they know the consequences of the continuous talking...

For all those who suggested I give the girls time to wind down - my meetings are at 6pm not right after school. My meetings always have atleast 2 activities (crafts) plus a game planned and not having fun isn't the problem. And I do use the quiet sign which works for all of 5 seconds. The girls just like to chat and gossip. I think I am going to try the being quiet first and waiting until they notice I've stopped talking and if that don't work than the explain it even though they are talking and for those who listened they participate and if all else fails then each girl will get a turn running a meeting. These seem to be great ideas. Thanks...

Answer 1

Keep the explanations brief....they are there to have fun and not feel like they are at school.

Answer 2

I was a Cub Scout Den Leader for two years. I had nine boys in the den. I spent the entire week preparing for the one day of the week they would come to my house. They knew there would be an awesome game to play , a planned craft to do,or an outside activity, like going in the back of McDonald's to see the cook and how everything is prepared, and of course cookies and juice. Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts, should be fun, and not so much like school, ease up a bit. Start the meeting by telling them what is planned for the time they are there,and then start in with the projects immediately this will take the edge off( don't try to be like a school teacher, just be an adorable Mom.) I never ever had a difficult moment with my boys....I had a co-leader but she only showed up about five times in the year( no help there)She did come to the pack meetings once a month...Yeh!..Anyway, enjoy these years , they go by much to quickly...Good Luck!

Answer 3

They need some time to blow off steam before the meeting gets underway. If school is over at 3:00, and your meeting starts right after school, consider starting at 3:30, and give the girls a few minutes on the playground to run around and work off some energy.

After that, they should be ready to settle down more. Remind them at the beginning of each meeting. Use the "quiet sign" (holding up your hand with three fingers) and keeping it held up until everyone is quiet and eyes on you.

If they STILL don't get it, try this: At the beginning of the meeting, give each girl a roll of pennies and explain that every time a girl is talking out of turn, she has to put two pennies in the "chat jar." At the end of the meeting, the person who has the most pennies left gets ALL the pennies in the chat jar, or she doesn't have to pay dues that week, or whatever, or she gets a small prize (a $2 gift certificate at a local fast food restaurant, etc.)

And if there's one particular girl who is just too disruptive, sit down with her and her mom privately, and explain that her constant chatter is too much of a disruption, and that either the girl is going to have to learn to be quiet when necessary, or the mom is going to have to come to the meetings to discipline her herself, because you cannot be stopping the meeting all the time to correct just one girl.

Also, consider that in this day and age, some of them may be on ADD medication that has worn off by the end of the day. You may need to have a quiet talk with the parents to see if any changes in medication are order.

Answer 4

Inform the parents of the problem you are having. The parents need to be available to pick the girls up any time during the meeting. When things get out of hand, call the parent and the child leaves. Until the parent gets there the child should sit on the floor by the door.

You could also inform the parent if you continue to have these issues the parent will be required to stay and correct these issues as they happen. If the parent does not want to stay the child may not stay either.

Good luck

Answer 5

I was a Brownie troop leader for a while. The meetings were right after the school day and I think the girls had too much pent-up energy sometimes. I was very pregnant at the time and did not have the strength to deal with this, so I had them run a few laps around the schoolyard before I would even start the meeting. They were happy to do it and settled down afterwards.

Answer 6

Do you allow a little time for socializing when you begin? I'd start there if you haven't already.

Next, tell the girls that from now on, you are going to explain the activity once in a normal tone of voice. Anybody who listens gets to participate, but anybody who doesn't listen won't get to do it. To make it easy for them, tell them you'll blow a whistle when you're about to begin. Then get yourself a whistle. Next meeting, let them talk a little while, and then just blow the whistle. If nobody pays attention, just say the instructions aloud in a normal tone of voice and then get going on whatever it is yourself (with the co-leader) and any child that happens to have paid attention. At the end of the meeting, send the kids home who didn't listen with, well, nothing.

Now that I think of it, my juniors troop did a "make your own" badge on sign language once. Maybe it was because the leaders were sick of listening to us chattering away. :-)

Answer 7

Well i would mention to them, if they continue to chit chat then they will be missing out on the exciting news that the leaders have to offer, Maybe plan on going to the movies, doing more exciting things will get their attention, Maybe bring in a leader with a deep voice who knows how to get their attention and they might quite down, also tell them well no earning badges if they don't settle down and listen. Sorry I am not much help

Answer 8

Try keeping quiet when they start chatting until they all realize that you're just sitting there in silence, or speaking in a very soft voice which only the quiet few can hear. If they continue to chatter, go about your business as if they heard what you said and when they all become confused about what's going on, offer to repeat yourself if they wish to remain quiet. This always worked when I was in elementary school and our class was too loud. Or, you could just ask the ones talking the most to leave until they are ready to be respectful. Assuming they are relatively well-behaved, the fear of being chastised may help them to shut up.

Answer 9

GS in user-friendly terms paintings once you have a dedicated troop chief who embraces the GS values and purpose. i will enable you to already are conscious of it somewhat is not uncomplicated being a scout chief. I have been given sucked into being a daisy scout chief and that i will enable you to already know I did an poor interest. i did not have sufficient time to prefer to it and it ended up being greater of a playdate with crafts. I properly withdrew from it on the top of the 12 months yet those mothers have been begging me to proceed. I stored attempting to tell them that a real scout chief could be accomplishing greater community events and attempting to assist the girls truly learn. I agree that the glam jam isn't an perfect interest for a scout troop to do at the same time. possibly the flyer replaced into there in basic terms because of the fact somebody installation is in touch in that and had to place the be conscious out? If the scout chief replaced into making plans to try this as an interest, i could somewhat not connect that troop and attempt to discover yet another one. additionally, it would not harm to make the community financial disaster responsive to this in basic terms so possibly they are in a position to bypass on the real purpose to the possibly nicely-intentioned chief.

Answer 10

Girl Scouts is supposed to be fun, however the point of going to the meetings is to learn. Perhaps the next few meetings could be used to review the Girl Scout Promise and Girl Scout Law, and set your guidelines. If you must, remember that you can withhold Emblems, Awards and Patches. Growing up, respect and consideration within our troop was key to us earning those things. It was the foundation to everything that we did. You could also try having the older girls co-lead a meeting where they could earn a badge, and get them involved in the teaching process. Good luck, and be patient, I remember (barely) being that age!

Answer 11

Give them a specific chat time- 10 minutes to chat- then quiet down to hear the activity. If they listen and do their project - then get another chat time.