6 things one Girl Scout Leader wants you to know about parenting in the time of quarantine

These views are not the official stance of Girl Scouts USA.

This September, I found myself abruptly at the helm of a Daisy Girl Scout troop of twelve five- and six-year-old girls. Full of energy, challenging and sometimes exasperating, our troop has quickly swelled to seventeen Girl Scouts over the course of a few short months. In order to lead them, I had to draw on all of my interests and experiences — in child development and psychology, in outdoor education, in democratic-free schooling. Every challenge brings to mind the educators, mentors, and camp counselors who did things right — and those who stumbled, making mistakes that had ripples throughout my own childhood.

And no challenge has been more daunting than the COVID-19 crisis. One of the first things I did when I learned that our local schools were about to close was to stay up late, cobbling together lists of resources for my Girl Scouts and their parents. How should they talk to their children about handwashing and social distancing? What were some easy activities they could do in the time before our schools could figure out a broader remote learning plan? I knew that some kind of guidance would be sorely needed, and that this was a space where our troop would either rapidly fade into memory — or fill a…