When Should Girl Scout Daisy Leaders Hand Out Petals?

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Being a Daisy is a unique experience from being an older scout because instead of earning badges, you earn Daisy petals. An age old question is when to hand out the petals to the girls and how do you do this?

When my girls were Daisy Scouts, I went to the Girl Scout store and bought everyone their own petal pack and sent it home.  As we earned each petal, I emailed the moms to iron them on.  That worked for me because I did not want to be responsible for anyone's petals but my daughter's. 

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Daisy petal artwork can be placed on stickers, hoodies, cards and more.

Find it here.

As the girls earned badges, I sent them home in an envelope at school since all but one of my girls attended it. Each one of my twins was responsible for handing it out to the girls.  It was never a problem and for six years, it was done this way.

Leaders also get hung up on having a Court of Awards. They spend time and money on fancy presentations, only to have them taken apart once the girls get home. If you do that once, you have to that time and time again. Is that something you want to do? I am very practical when it comes to my personal time. I would rather plan an outing than spend time making a cute presentation that may or may not be appreciated.

Plus, I have never seen the point of handing out badges three months. Young children need to have instant gratification when it comes to earning badges and petals. Will they remember what they did three months from now?

I have read that some leaders iron on badges and petals at the meeting while another safety pinned it onto each girl at the meeting. While both are very workable solutions, it gives the leader one more thing to do, and personally, I have enough on my plate.  It also takes the responsibility off of the shoulders of the parents, and honestly, that is where it belongs. If a child is missing it you can feel badly, but it is not YOUR responsibility to make sure it is ironed on.

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Other leaders sew on the badges during the meeting or take them home and sew them on their own time. Again, you are taking on a responsibility that is not yours to own. Is this something you want to do for the next dozen years?

While you cannot predict the future, if you are a Daisy leader now, you may be in this for many years. How you run things now will determine how they are run in the future. If things are "always done this way" the parents know your expectations from the start.  If you do everything for them now, what makes you think that as the girls get older and lives get busier that they will not give you a hard time for changing the rules on them?

Of course, you are allowed to do what you need to do as you are the leader, but having dealt with parents in my professional life since 1987, you want to be a preemptive as possible. Change throws people, even small changes.

Another issue that leaders face is parents losing petals. Who is responsible for replacing them?

The parents are.

Parents can buy lost petals on eBay for a dollar plus shipping.  You did your part...you bought them. They have to pony up the dough if they lose them.

While there is no wrong way to hand out Daisy petals, you should always do what is easiest for you.