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5 Common Myths about Guiders!
The Guiders in Strood Town District have asked us to print this urgent notice as they have heard reports about some alarming information that is being spread amongst people in the local community. They feel the need to address these issues as soon as possible, to put the record straight and to avoid any further problems that this may cause.
The main issues that they want to address can be summed up as follows...
1. We are all insane!
Contrary to things you might see and hear about our local Guiders, we can assure you that we are not insane! We are
merely highly motivated, fun-loving women, who like to organise weird and wacky activities, and try new things. Being
a Guider not only allows you to have an impact on the lives and experiences of the young girls in your care, but in
turn the girls also impact and enrich our lives and help to make us better people, keeping us on our toes and keeping
us feeling young!! In fact you might say that being a Guider is the ultimate anti-aging treatment!!!
2. We get paid for what we do!
Shock horror!! Yes that's right, we don't get paid a penny for any of the meetings we hold, events we organise and
effort we put in to making sure the girls have a good time whilst they are with us. If we did, I think we would be
extremely rich ladies!! But we do it all as volunteers, and ask for nothing in return. The only ways in which we
profit from being a Guider are in seeing young girls grow into confident and independent young women, and being
able to take pride in having been a part of that. So in fact we get paid in smiles, laughter, and thank you's, which
can mean a lot more than cash!
3. We spend all our time doing Guiding things!
Well, I won't lie to you; sometimes it can feel like that! But each individual Guider is in control of how much time
they want to give, and how much they want to get involved with. We don't have any special powers that can add extra
hours to the day! We simply work as a team and support each other in any way we can. We still hold down jobs, we still
look after our homes and our families, but we also have another special role to play that, compared to housework or
the 9-5 slog, is far more fulfilling and rewarding. We do spend a lot of time being Guiders, but who wouldn't want to
spend lots of time with their friends, socialising as well as working hard and achieving things together? Plus there
is the bonus of being in a women-only club and not having to put up with men!!
4. We are the world's cheapest babysitters!
We will take your little darlings off your hands, once a week, every week, for the bargain price of £2 a session.
Then a couple of times each year we will take them for a whole weekend, not to mention the numerous Saturdays for
day trips etc – all of course for the cheapest prices we have been able to negotiate!!!
Call us cynical – but many parents appear to have this attitude, and view of Guiding. But if you think about it, we are so much better, and so much more than a babysitter. We don't have strange hair, or weird piercings. We won't eat all the food from your fridge. We won't spend the whole night texting our friends and ignoring your child. And we won't invite our boyfriends round the moment you leave!!
Instead we interact with the girls; we talk to them, we learn with them, we play with them, and we bond with them. We get to hear all their funny stories, find out what they like and what they don't like, and become a person they can turn to if they need to. We are far more than babysitters and we are proud of that fact.
5. We don't need any more volunteers!
This is the biggest myth about Guiding. We are in desperate need of more helpers so that we can continue to run our
meetings and provide all the activities and events that your daughter enjoys so much.
Our district alone is at real risk of having to close a number of units as we just can't get people to support us. We all run very full and busy units – some of us even run two or three. We can’t continue in this way and need extra helpers as soon as possible.
We would love to see more people join our organisation and train to be Guiders, but if you don't think you can do that, then please bear in mind that we still need support in many other ways. The tiniest bit of help you can give goes such a long way and can make such a big difference, be it helping at just one meeting a term, offering to keep a unit's account books, helping to run a craft, typing or printing letters, the list is endless!
We promise, you won’t regret getting involved – none of us do.
Because, really when you think about it, who wouldn't want to be in Guiding?!! You get exclusive access to as many laughs and good times as you can stomach, instant friends for life, the largest support network you could ever wish for, no men to contend with, and a real sense of pride and accomplishment.
Sounds too good to be true? Well let me tell you another fact about Guiders – we never lie!!!!
