When I was a Brownie leader, I remember hearing about some Girl Scouts who were backpacking through Europe. I was thrilled to think that my girls might have that opportunity and I couldn’t wait to get them on the path to be travelers and adventurers! We stuck together as a troop through high school and traveled from San Diego, where we live, to San Francisco when we were Juniors, to Los Angeles on the train in middle school and to Boston, New York and Maine in high school. The girls went on to do plenty of traveling during college – study abroad semesters and exciting trips to India, Africa, Italy and Australia and lots of independent adventuring.

So, how do you get your Daisies, Brownies and Juniors ready to become Travel Adventurers? I think it begins when they are young with them becoming independent as a troop, with you developing trust and good communication with their parents.

Becoming an independent troop means letting the parents know what’s happening in the troop regularly so that they can help you behind the scenes and not hover at meetings helping the girls. Have an annual or semi-annual parent meeting to talk about the upcoming events that are planned so all parents get them on their calendars. Pass around a “helper sign up list” to get help where you need it from parents. They can help you with things like going to the bank or Hobby Lobby, taking training with you, being the cookie mom or treasurer, writing up a phone list or a monthly email to the rest of the parents, babysitting younger siblings for leader or assistant leaders during meetings or field trips. Becoming independent as a troop means to try to avoid having too many adults show up to “help” at the meetings. Let parents take care of some of the other stuff so that you can handle the meetings with a co-leader or assistant. Becoming independent means graduating from Mom and Me events to using just Safetywise adults to supervise meetings, field trips and campouts.

Girl planning  is a huge part of becoming an independent troop. Troop travel is very different from family trips! In a family trip parents plan and finance the trip, figure out the route or flights, plan where to go and what to see, they may even pack for the kids and help to carry their bags. Girl Scout troop travel is girl planned and girl led. Girls dream about where to go, set goals and learn how to earn money. Girls buddy up and watch out for and help each other. Girls make lists and choices and mistakes and evaluate and learn….discover, connect and take action! Each time they try something new on their own they grow, become more confident and learn new skills.  It also takes tons more time to have girl planning! A simple weekend to San Francisco might take YOU one month to plan but the trip to San Francisco to Bridge across the Golden Gate Bridge will take a typical junior troop a full year to plan if you do it the right way.

Progression is an important part of the process. At the Daisy level independence might look like choosing from a series of choices: “We have $2 to spend on a snack for the field trip next week. We could get 6 oranges or a bunch of grapes for $2. What would  the majority prefer?” At the Brownie level independence might be more about brainstorming and researching and filtering choices: “let’s brainstorm some ideas for snacks that we might take on our field trip. Now let’s look in the grocery circulars and see how much some of our choices might cost. How much money do we have in our snack fund to spend?” At the Junior level they should also be looking at a map and figuring out where would be a good place to plan to eat the snack and figuring out how to pack it up and divide the load between several girls and figuring out who will take the troops funds and purchase the snack for the troop. By the time you’re ready to plan that trip to San Francisco they should be capable of helping to make the budget, figure out what to do and how to get there and how to stay safe and what and where they’re going to eat along the way!

One of the keys to independence is to keep communicating with parents so that they understand what you’re doing as a troop on a regular basis. Communication will help them understand if you need help and what they can do. Regular communication will also help them begin to see where you’re going with the program and to trust that with your leadership the girls are getting there. It’s essential that parents trust you and know that the girls are safe as they are stretching their wings.  Parents will be willing to leave you alone and let you go further and further with the girls as long as you are taking baby steps together and building on your experiences and coping well with any issues that arise.

If you have a vision of standing on the Eiffel Tower with your troop taking in the lights of Paris in about 10 years, as I did…then begin now…with a transportation field trip and teaching your girls how to read a bus map. Empower them to choose between the grapes or the oranges. Guide them to follow safety rules and to watch out for each other and above all let their parents know that you have this vision for them and that if they can trust you that the steps you are taking now will take you there. Take those little steps together toward independence and the whole globe is possible!