Top Ten Camping Tips for Girl Scout Leaders

Sarah's Girl Scout troop is hosting a workshop this morning on camping skills for younger Girl Scouts. We promised the leaders some camping tips. Here they are.

1. Don’t forget coffee! If you are a coffee drinker, you will definitely want coffee in the morning, and if you rely on the girls’ menu and shopping list you probably won’t have it. Most places you will be camping have electricity; bring an electric hot pot to make hot water, a Melitta-style filter or coffee singles, and a mug.

2. Even if the girls decide to make something disgusting for dessert involving doughnuts and marshmallows, you don’t have to eat it. Make this instead:

Spray a pie iron with cooking spray. Using dough from canned crescent rolls, take the dough for two rolls and leave them together as a rectangle. Put them in the pie iron, put a piece of chocolate in the middle of the rectangle and fold the dough over it from both sides. Bake in the pie iron over coals until brown. Don’t feel guilty. You deserve it.

3. Camping in the late fall or early spring is lots of fun and it’s easy to get the girls to go to bed when it’s cold and dark. But it’s very important that they are warm enough for sleeping which requires a real sleeping bag. When it’s really cold, add a pad under the sleeping bag (more insulation), a warm hat, and fleece or wool socks. Tip from backpacking: change clothes before getting into your sleeping bag. The moisture in the clothes you’ve been wearing will make it hard to stay warm.

4. Bring a folding chair. If you are old enough to be a leader you are probably too old to sit on the ground.

5. Most of the units in our Girl Scout Council camps will have a covered pavilion where you can prepare meals and stay dry even if it’s raining. If rain is expected, bring some craft supplies or games for “inside.” And don’t over-schedule your camping trip. Cooking and cleaning up after meals takes a long time, and the girls may enjoy some down time.

6. Girls may not know how to clean bathrooms or sweep floors, but will be expected to leave the site clean at Girl Scout camps. We cleaned a bathroom at the church where we meet before we went camping the first time.

7. Encourage meals without much clean-up! Silver turtles (cooked over charcoal in foil) and “walking tacos” (taco fixings in a bag of corn chips) both require limited clean-up.

8. The rule for tents is that the tent is only for the girls who are assigned to the tent. If anyone else is invited in, everyone will want to come, and someone will want to say that some other specific girl cannot come in. This is hurtful, so avoid this altogether by the rule that tents are for resting, sleeping, changing clothes, reading books, etc., for the girls assigned to that tent. Socializing and hanging out with friends is done elsewhere. And speaking of assigning – you’re the leader. You decide who’s in which car and who’s in which tent and who’s buddies with whom. This is a valuable tool; use it. Girls don’t need to be with their best friend all the time.

9. My daughter says I should write something about how to manage with your daughter in the troop. My husband used to pay her to be a good example and not cause any problems when he had her in a sailing class. I never have done that in Girl Scouts but always have had the same expectations. You can’t show any extra attention toward your daughter (the other girls will notice and deeply resent it). If your daughter is having a bad behavior day, one of your co-leaders should handle it and treat her just as they would any other girl in the troop. Have a frank discussion with your co-leaders about this now; they will probably not be comfortable disciplining your daughter in your presence otherwise.

10. You’re a Girl Scout leader, not a mom, even if your daughter is there. You are there to keep the girls safe. Let them do the work. They will learn from it and have a great time while you sit in your folding chair with your cup of coffee and supervise.