One of the things I can do as editor of this site is view the terms individuals have used as search terms. Recently, "manners try it" came up as a search term twice. Based on that, I thought I'd share what my troop did for that Try It.

The Manners Try It was one of my favorite Try Its. It is appropriate for first-grade Brownies but, of course, can be done at any age. Rather than go through the requirements and give specifics, what I'd like to do is offer a general plan. The Try It book is, in my mind anyway, a list of suggestions. I have actually done this Try It twice because I was my younger daughter's leader during her first-grade year.

For both troops, we did a meeting-based program followed by a special event to practice our manners. For my older daughter, the treats for the day were chosen specifically to practice table manners, including, for example, setting a table, using a knife and fork, serving, and passing items around the table. We used paper and plastic for the table settings, since our meetings were held at school, but in the foggy corners of my mind, I remember doing the hospitality badge as a Junior Scout and working on proper table setting at my leader's house. Using real dishes would add a certain formality to this Try It.

Phone etiquette was also covered by both troops. I am happy to say that this one lesson has given both my girls very nice phone manners. We took in phones to practice how to appropriately place and answer a phone call.

Because of the situation that I had last year in which I had an older troop working on their Junior Aide award, my Juniors did this Try It with my younger daughter's troop. In this second-go-round, the Juniors paired up with the Brownies to work on their table and phone manners. It was a good review for the older girls!

Finally, my approach to leading and earning Try Its is to have one "hands on" meeting at school and then a field trip that ties in with that Try It. In the case of the Manners Try It, both troops held a Mom-and-Me event. The older girls enjoyed a tea at a local cafe. Because we found this to be pricey, although lovely, the second time around we opted for the same idea but we did it at the home of one of the leaders. We had a garden party in the backyard. Each parent brought either finger sandwiches (peanut butter, pb & j, jelly, and cheese for the girls and cucumber, chicken salad, and turkey for the adults) or bite-size desserts. The hostess provided tea (hot and iced) and lemonade.

The backyard gala was every bit as special as the tea at the cafe and at both events the girls demonstrated the manners they had learned via the Manners Try It while having some special time with their moms or other guest of their choice.