Girl Scouts?

[mellym]

DD1 just started K and the first meeting to learn about girl scouts is tomorrow. She wants to go but doesn't even know what Girl Scouts is.... I understand the general idea of it but never joined as a kid so I'm not sure if it's another activity we should add to the ever growing list. Anybody have a daughter in GS and can recommend joining?

[sandandsea]

I did gs for one year as a 4th grader and even went to gs camp. We had a lame troop and did nothing.

Ds just joined cub scouts as a kinder and it's pretty awesome. So far they've had a pool party and a campout this weekend. We have a den meeting (just kinders) and a pack (all cub scouts) meeting each month. The pack is very well organized and a lot of the boys who go through it become Eagle Scouts and stick with it.

It's all volunteer based so really it will only be as good as the parents make it.

[justcheckingin73]

As a kid, I was in Brownies for a short time, although I don’t remember much other than meeting at the community center. My sister was in GS and actually did a camping/cabin trip which was fun but I don’t remember anything else she did.

My DD was in GS for a year or two and from what I remember, it encouraged leadership and community service which is good but it really depends on the leader you have too. My DDs was rather overextended so it was like any other volunteer activity - sometimes communication was wasn’t good or was late. There were regular meetings and then other events they went to. Some were fun like a “minor league” hockey game and an International event. Because of other activities my DD was in, it felt like we were just trying to check off boxes in terms of getting badges. It almost seemed too easy. As a kid, I remember getting a badge was a big deal and a lot of effort but as an adult looking at the program, it didn’t seem like a huge deal anymore. But a lot changed in 30 years, I’m sure.

[mustardseed2007]

I was in it. I remember thinking it was much lamer than boy scouts. But we did stuff. We went camping once which was really fun. That included horse back riding. I remember I learned how to braid...and I sold cookies..I just remember that I wanted to learn how to tie knots and make fires b/c the boy scouts in our area did do those things, but we did not do any of that stuff.

[k3am]

I did it for several years. Honestly, I don't remember much of it. I know we had weekly meetings, but don't remember what we did there. We volunteered at a senior center a few times. We had teas/parties on weekends. We had an annual campout (actual camping in tents with 289734928374 other girl scouts) as well as sleepaway camp in cabins.

Mostly, I remember selling stuff. Cookies. And maybe peanuts? And lots of infighting.

I had two girls from my class in my troupe that I'm still in contact with today. The rest of the girls? Haven't really thought about them much.

If you want to know about Job's Daughters.. I can tell you all about that very boring quasi cult since I was old enough to remember it.

[twinmomma]

My mom was our troop leader growing up. Since she wasn't super outdoorsy, our meetings involved a lot of crafts, and then just some time to run around and play with our friends. I do remember doing little projects to earn badges, like a photography one or a sewing one. We'd do camping trips with other troops and either tent camp or stay in little cabins at the girl scout camp nearby. I loved girl scouts, even though we didn't do much beyond typical girly things. But that's very leader driven.

[mommyatty]

I was actually expelled from Brownies. Lol. My BFF and I would skip meetings to go play on the playground. I guess that’s conduct unbecoming a Brownie.

My brother was a big Boy Scout Guy, and my dad was very involved, so I thought I was joining “Scouts” and would do fun stuff like set things on fire and live off the land and hike and set broken bones. Instead it was singing Uber-lame songs and selling crap. I remember my dad saying scouting would help prepare me for life and my 6 year old self yelling “Maybe if I want to work at the mall!” (I have always had a highly developed sense of sarcasm.)

[leap]

I did Brownies from about K-3rd grade. Almost everyone I knew dropped out in 4th grade - maybe because there was more extra curricular stuff at that age? I remember going to meetings and doing crafts. I'm sure we worked on earning badges but I can't remember what they were for. There is a girl scout camp in my hometown so we often did things out there. Sometimes it was for a day or weekend, and then overnight camp in the summer. I loved camp and went even after I quit girl scouts. I think if I could have stayed a girl scout and just gone to the camp things I would have, but they wanted us to sell lots of crap and I didn't want to do it.

We get fliers sent home at the beginning of the school year for our local troop and I just recycle them. My girls are busy. I don't know how we would fit in another activity.

[mamaturtle]

I am a Girl Scout life time member whether I like it or not. My mom put me in because I was so shy and wanted me to socialize. It did not help me in that area.

It is what the leader and the parent volunteers put into it as others have pointed it out. My mom was a Girl Scout leader and was an Events Coordinator for the Girl Scout Service Team. My dad was a Girl Scout Service Unit Manager for a time. My sister and I were in another Girl Scout troop that was not my mom's troop. We did earn badges along side my mom's troop because my sister and I had to meet my mom at her meetings after school. The part I hated was when she made my sister and I wear our uniforms to school because that welcomed a whole bunch of our peers to make fun of us.

Around middle school was the time my sister and I wanted to quit and my mom forced us to be in it till Senior Year in High School. There were end of the year camp outs every year and that was something as a girl that I would look forward to. I took a couple of Girl Scout trips in High School when I stuck to it. Some of the scouting activities were boring and some of it was fun through out the years.

I got my Silver and Gold Award because my mom forced me to get it. I did the Gold Award in hopes of getting a scholarship and all I got was a lousy life time membership. Nobody cares if you get a Gold Award in your resume or even care if you are a lifetime member.

[mellym]

I have no interest in selling stuff and I feel like we can do our own volunteering. We don't need to add any more items to the social calendar and DD is a social butterfly so based on your comments I think we're going to skip this activity for now. Thanks all!

[waverly]

I went to a fantastic elementary school so the kids and parents and teachers were great. So we had fantastic leaders. We were all in until 6th grade. We went to day camp and overnight camp. We learned flag protocols. We attempted to learn to sew. We did lots of crafts. We tie dyed, we did camp fires, we cleaned a cemetery once as our community service. The selling was not bad even though my mom was cookie chair one year. I mean I probably sold 10 boxes max of cookies each year. We went on trips to Chicago and NYC. I guess it sounds way better than some of the other stories so good leadership counts!

[legomyago]

My daughter is in her second year of GS. We love it, but a lot of it is how good the leaders (often one or more parents) make it. Our main leader is amazing - she just took her own daughter's troop all the way through and is starting over with ours. We have three other assistant leaders (including me). We have two meetings a month and one special outing a month - field trip, camping, hiking, ziplining, etc. GS is a lot about being a good member of the community and taking care of our resources.
I like it for my daughter because she is very bright but a bit socially and emotionally immature. This is a good way for her to socialize outside of the school setting. She also gets bored with repetition very easily, so hates most extracurricular activities like dance and karate. GS is something new and fun each time, so it keeps her interested.

[2chatter]

Both of my girls (13 and 10) are in GS. I preferred troops for younger ages - for a litany of reasons, the older girls are not the kind of girls with whom I want my daughter associating. I say this to point out why we continue - it's a virtually zero effort way to camp and engage in community service - TONS of places here that prohibit children as volunteers DO permit Scouts. It opens doors, and my oldest is still a scout in a troop of one with me as a leader. She finished her Silver this summer and learned a lot about commitment, planning, budgeting and hard work. My girls can build fires, tie knots, cook over a campfire, set up camp, do first aid, etc.

When I haven't liked the troop direction - this should shock no one who has posted with me a while - I volunteered to turn the tide. If you are willing to give it a shot I say go for it; if it isn't what you want it to be you can either step back or throw time at it to shape your daughter's experience.

Troops vary WILDLY. My oldest tried three before becoming a Juliette. It's definitely not one size fits all, so I would seek out local GS FB groups to creep on possible good fits and to get an idea of what's the norm in your area.

[mellym]

So after the last two comments, I think I will attend the first meeting just to see what it's about and the feel for the troop. Thanks for the insight.

[zarapipe]

Oct 11, 2017 8:30:39 GMT -5 mellym said:

So after the last two comments, I think I will attend the first meeting just to see what it's about and the feel for the troop. Thanks for the insight.

How did it go? Lurker here. Dd is in 1st grade and in her 2nd year if gs. I volunteered as co leader this year. Dd really likes it and so do I. It all depends on the troop. Our leader is great and the girls are a great group of different personalities, ethnicities, abilities. Dd like a pp said gets bored so dance is too much dance, swimming is too much swimming, etc. Every week is different. This year they are brownies and now that they have their daisy petals it's more girl led and they are deciding which badges to work on,etc. 9/10 moms in our group work, have other kids and don't have a ton of time so we only do the cookie fundraiser, no other fundraisers. We meet every other week and usually have a monthly field trip that isn't mandatory.

[mellym]

zarapipe, how much of a time commitment is co-leader? The meeting was kind of a bust because we don't have a troop yet. A troop leader from a neighboring town is trying to get K troops started at all of the schools. She did some crafts with the girls and explained what GS is and then the rest of the time tried to get someone to step up to lead the troop. It seemed like all of the moms there worked and have full plates so no one volunteered at the meeting but afterwards someone volunteered to co-lead if another parent would join her. I would actually like to do it but just don't think I can commit this year since we're having a baby any day. I guess we will see!

[2chatter]

mellym - I can't handle the red tape with GS (I manage a team at work and am used to delegating all BS). So I am a troop volunteer instead of a leader. I plan activities but don't do the admin stuff. It's a great middle ground. There are legit people who don't mind tracking members and stuff like that but it destroys my soul.

[zarapipe]

mellym , so far it is not too bad but I would also never volunteer to be the main leader. Our troop is also pretty lax and we dont have any like hyper crazy moms who are demanding. Everyone goes with the flow and is just glad someone is leading it haha.  Our troop leader is great. We email back and forth a few times a week to get ideas on upcoming stuff and plan our meetings. So far this year she has been planning one meeting, me the next, back and forth like that. For example this week we are working on our safety badge and we are touring our county EMS training facility. This required calling around and finding the person I needed to ask if he would be willing to help us out on this badge, emailing him, contacting parents via FB (then emailed out the post on our troop group as well), making a permission slip for all of the parents, and that's about it. For usual meetings it's just planning what we are going to do and buying supplies if needed. She is the main account holder on the bank account, but I have a card and handles more of the who is registered, who still needs health forms, etc.

So we meet for 90 minutes every other week and then I would say there is probably 3 hours every other week for planning and communication? Really not a ton of work but I work at a desk and can pull most of it together during the work day (emailing her, typing up a rough agenda, etc.).