What is the point of Girl Scouts/ Boy Scouts???? (daughter, husband, girlfriend)
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I was a GS leader for quite a few years and mainly b/c my dd's wanted to be in it. At one point I had 22 girls--the biggest troop in town. I loved the ideals, and doing craft projects, and taking them out in the woods and showing them how to build fires and other outdoorsy stuff. The girls were great and we even got to go on some trips to theme parks and stuff. I was a more laid back leader--I never made them buy uniforms, since it was a low income area and I didn't want to leave anyone out. All of our funds came from cookie sales and they learned a lot from that--how to earn money, how to make plans, and then having a reward for their hard work.
I got really burnt out with it though--I had more trouble with co-leaders than anyone I knew. The first leader we had was the main leader and she collected the registration money in the fall and promptly stole it! I called the council and they got it back and I took over the troop. A few years later our troop had managed to save $732 but one day when I opened the bank statement, it said $4! I called the bank--US Bank it was--and they said that since all the troops in town were tied in by the same sales tax number, and one of the other troop leaders had overdrawn her account by $728, they just chose an account that could cover her and took it. I was furious and scared and called the GS council and it took them a year to recover the money, which they did by going after the woman who had overdrawn the account, but you can bet I'll never again have a good thing to say about US Bank. My sig was not on that account. We didn't have a troop that year but then the year after that when we got our money back and I again had a co-leader, but she stole a bunch of cookies that we were liable for and GS council got that back again too but I was just done after that.
I was thankful that the GS council trusted me but just so sick of the stupid nonsense from others and the girls were getting bigger and wanting to do other things anyway. I doubt that they really care about scouts any more. I've tried to talk them into going for the gold award, but never could get any interest out of them. BTW, the Gold Award and probably the Eagle Scout award will make them eligible for some great scholarships and will look great on a resume.
If that's your attitude, then why the heck don't you pull her out of Scouting?
Somewhere there's a Scout Leader busting his/her hump trying to teach YOUR child. Better to let the Leader concentrate on the parents and kids who actually care.
SMH.
I think this is what eventually happens. In our town - every boy was a cub scout - but very few 'crossed over' to boy scouts. The boys that stayed with it were truly interested in what scouting has to offer.
My son never like scouting much. Mainly because he HATED doing crafts and our troop did a LOT of crafts.
Just wasn't his thing and he definitely was not all about the camping.
But it was a good social activity for a few years and we met some good people. And I have a very touching photo of him in his cub scout uniform looking very serious.
I was not a scout nor anyone in my family but teaching at the school I do I have become more familiar with them. About half of our boys are or become Eagles Scouts, which is apparently a large number for a high school. As a chemistry teacher I can make two ridiculous generalizations about "boy scouts", 1. they have pyromaniac tendencies and are the most interested in making reactions "bigger and better"; 2. they are the "go to" kids we all turn to for helping out when we need to get things done.
My all time favorite student was a scout and despite his own ideological issues differing from scouts he still took what he could from the organization and did great things with it.
My DH was a Boy Scout and went almost up to Eagle Scout (he stopped right before.) I wanted to be a Girl Scout, but there were no troops near enough to us when I was growing up and my mom was already carting my brothers to lots of activities. DH realllllly wanted our daughters to be in Girl Scouts and until this year, they had said no. That is until they found out friends of theirs were in a local troop. So they joined (one Daisy and one Brownie.) They are LOVING it. It's a very active troop with lots of parental involvement, overnights, camping, service projects, cooking, etc. The girls got to be in a color guard when one of the US senators from our state was honored at Girl Scout headquarters, and they met the senator. It has done wonders for our older daughter who tends to be shy. She is blossoming in the all-girl atmosphere. I am very happy that we are now involved and hope they continue to want to do it.
I think it depends on the troop and the leaders. The leaders volunteer a lot of their time and it becomes a passion for them. My husband was a scout and was eager when my son expressed interest. I was working a lot at that time and I kind of let it be their guy thing as I didnt do a lot with the troop. The first troop my son was involved with was very focused on kids following through to Eagle. Many did and that particular troop has one of the highest Eagle turn outs. My son enjoyed it and made a lot of friends however my observations of how the troop was run had a lot of politics and some fraud.
The main leader was an Eagle scout himself and devoted a lot of time into the group which was good but I got a sense something was off. My dear husband was a little jaded by his own memories and when I suggested something seemed a miss he said I was being paranoid. The first observation that I found odd was there was a cake bake auction. Now I got excited because it was the first thing I felt I could contribute to. The idea was to make the most creative cake possible, attend the auction and you bid on your cake to get it back. The money would then go to the troop. It was held at a hall with a complete dinner. Many people were there that did not belong to scouts. City officials, friends of friends in high places etc. None of these people paid for their dinners but we had to, 10 dollars a plate. It was catered by a small caterer in town and I later found out that the caterer only charges 5 bucks a plate so I guess we foot the bill so the city council members could eat for free. I found some leaders used the dinners to network for their own means. My son and I made an awesome pirate ship cake. I went all out, made sails, got little barrel root beer candies...well you get the idea. It cost me 40 bucks to make this cake. We go to the auction and I bid on the cake when it got to a 50 dollars I stopped. My son was disappointed. Cakes sold for 500-600 dollars. These people were nuts.
Then I noticed the cliques. Some parents volunteered as co leaders and their boys would not always show up for meetings and so forth but earned the badges anyway. Some parents used it as a means to fool around with other parents. Two people, both married got busted having an affair at one of the camps. The guy's wife showed up unannounced a brawl was going to break out. She later had certain people from the troop subpoenaed to her divorce hearing because everyone in the troop knew these two people were fooling around. Oh the drama. Then one year a kid that had only attended several meetings all year won scout of the year award. By this time I was getting pissed with the whole thing. Of course that kid's mom was a leader in the group. We also went to a local nascar race track twice a year to collect cans after a race. Collect the cans after the race, camp out and then go back at it the next day after the second race. It was hell. It was hot, the stands were dirty, the cans were dirty and it was a lot of hard work. The cans would then be loaded up in a large Uhaul truck then cashed in and the troop would get the funds. The thing is no one ever said where the funds went or how much the troop got. I then noticed that the leaders that handled the cans after being collected seemed to have the nicest houses and if you even offered to volunteer on taking the cans in they would be very insistent that no help was needed. Also one of the leaders would rent a large RV for the race track camp out. He would charge parents 80 dollars to stay in it if they didnt want to sleep in a tent. My husband paid one year before we bought our own camper and when he arrived there was no room for him. He ended up sleeping in a tent with my son. The leader claimed charging everyone 80 bucks helped with the cost of renting the RV. Well turns out a local dealership would actually let the leader use the RV for free. The dealership wrote it off on his taxes. Not only was it free for the weekend, it was actually free for 2 weeks! So this leader pocketed everyone's 80 bucks and then would use the RV for his own personal vacation after the race was over with. He always vacationed the same time twice a year and no one seemed to figure this out but me. It was pretty ridiculous to me and after several years my husband started to realize the corruption. I think the final straw was the derby race. My husband and son would spend weeks and weeks working on the car. My son made it to nationals I think, can't remember the official name but we watched in awe as his car came in first. The judges spent some time deliberating as they said it was close to another boy's car (it wasn't) and voted the other boy actually won. Of course that other boy was the son of a city official. That is when my son started to lose his love for it and so did my husband. It was very blatant that my son got gipped.
We then moved out of state and my husband looked into a local troop. Its a small town and they were not very accepting. They did not believe my son was the rank that he was. Apparently he had more badges etc than a boy his age normally has. So his previous troop was indeed very active to get kids their badges, I will give them that. The council requested records for proof and was stunned that we were telling the truth. They kept forgetting to get my son his scarf and then one weekend everyone was supposed to show up to clean a local cemetery. My son was the only one that showed up. He got no credit for it. We decided we were done with scouts after that. We stopped going and they never called to find ask where we were. They obviously didnt want us there. I think we could have maybe found a better troop but by this time my son was eager to move on to other things. He has fond memories but I think towards the end even he saw something was off and then of course the second troop was a total bust.
My son mentioned wanting to be in Boy Scouts so I took him to the sign up meet and greet. While we were looking over some information I overheard a parent asking about the Boys Scouts of America vs. Dale. I had no idea what that was at the time but figured enough out on my own when parent asked about the leader's thoughts and the leader said openly that gay people would not be tolerated in or around his troop.
The second I heard that we left. I don't care what other's morals are but in my family we don't agree with that. We were moving at the end of that year so I didn't bother to find a different troop in the deep south.
My daughter just this year came to me and asked to be in Girl Scouts. So here we are. Good troop so far and I volunteered to be Cookie Mom to help out. Apparently I didn't know what I was getting myself into or so I'm told. It seems good for her and if anyone has an opinion they are professional enough to keep it to themselves or we would be gone. Then again we are on a military base and that always brings in more diversity.
My son mentioned wanting to be in Boy Scouts so I took him to the sign up meet and greet. While we were looking over some information I overheard a parent asking about the Boys Scouts of America vs. Dale. I had no idea what that was at the time but figured enough out on my own when parent asked about the leader's thoughts and the leader said openly that gay people would not be tolerated in or around his troop.
The second I heard that we left. I don't care what other's morals are but in my family we don't agree with that. We were moving at the end of that year so I didn't bother to find a different troop in the deep south.
My daughter just this year came to me and asked to be in Girl Scouts. So here we are. Good troop so far and I volunteered to be Cookie Mom to help out. Apparently I didn't know what I was getting myself into or so I'm told. It seems good for her and if anyone has an opinion they are professional enough to keep it to themselves or we would be gone. Then again we are on a military base and that always brings in more diversity.
I hate to break it to you, but the Girl Scouts have a bad history of terminating membership over the sexual orientation of members and parents too, although their policies are less overt. The discrimination against the LGBT community, as well as discimination against children who are HIV positive was a huge issue for me when my son wanted to join. At the time I had close friends, a lesbian couple, who had a son in scouting. They encouraged us to join saying change is best achieved from within, and the more advocates within the organization working toward change, the quicker change will occur.
I also engaged the troop leadership in discussion over these points. They were very clear on 2 issues. Firstly they said they would not terminate members based on sexual orientation, or tolerate prejudice against members based on their sexual orientation. Secondly, they used available statistics to support their stance that the majority of predators are not gay. All troops are not created equal, it is worth looking around to find one that fits on an ideological level.
Last edited by Zimbochick; 11-17-2011 at 07:06 AM..
I hate to break it to you, but the Girl Scouts have a bad history of terminating membership over the sexual orientation of members and parents too, although their policies are less overt.
I also engaged the troop leadership in discussion over these points. They were very clear on 2 issues. Firstly they said they would not terminate members based on sexual orientation, or tolerate prejudice against members based on their sexual orientation. Secondly, they used available statistics to support their stance that the majority of predators are not gay. All troops are not created equal, it is worth looking around to find one that fits on an ideological level.
I did my research and realized that. Overall Girl Scouts tends to be more accepting though. I've taught both my children that it's not ok to exclude anyone based on their preferences. If anything of the sort had ever been mentioned I'd have known about it already and we'd be out.
As far as the boy he's no longer interested which is fine by me. We have enough therapy appts that trying to find time to squeeze in scouts had I found a non-judgemental troop would have been a burden.
I hate to break it to you, but the Girl Scouts have a bad history of terminating membership over the sexual orientation of members and parents too, although their policies are less overt. The discrimination against the LGBT community, as well as discimination against children who are HIV positive was a huge issue for me when my son wanted to join. At the time I had close friends, a lesbian couple, who had a son in scouting. They encouraged us to join saying change is best achieved from within, and the more advocates within the organization working toward change, the quicker change will occur.
I also engaged the troop leadership in discussion over these points. They were very clear on 2 issues. Firstly they said they would not terminate members based on sexual orientation, or tolerate prejudice against members based on their sexual orientation. Secondly, they used available statistics to support their stance that the majority of predators are not gay. All troops are not created equal, it is worth looking around to find one that fits on an ideological level.
Seriously, I don't know where you get that about girl scouts because it has not been my experience at all. It would be against the National Organization's policy, so this must have happened at a local level. We have had openly gay leaders and the organization also does not discriminate against any religion (in fact, the girl scout website says: * The word "God" can be interpreted in a number of ways, depending on one's spiritual beliefs. When reciting the Girl Scout Promise, it is okay to replace the word "God" with whatever word your spiritual beliefs dictate).
Girl Scouting has been gay friendly for some time. This blog is not friendly about it, but it does tell the truth about the new journey books to an extent.
Frankly, discrimination of any kind is just not part of girl scouts - my dd is forty and was a Brownie back in the mid 1970s.
I remember being a girl scout. I don't really see them anymore. I don't even remember what the point of it was????
What was/is the point of the scouts???????
I think that with girl scouts, everything is going to depend on finding a good leader (or becoming one yourself).
The point of girl scouts is empowering girls to be the best that they can be. They have fun doing crafts and activities. They become sisters to every scout and learn not to discriminate on the basis of race, religion or culture. They get to do many things that girls did not do much of. They canoe, do archery, ride horses, shoot guns, sail, camp out, etc. Girl scouts is the only organization I know that offers so much outdoor activity for girls though kids can, of course, go to camps that are not girl scout based as well. Other things offered may involve dance, drama, music, art, etc. My granddaughter is leading a drawing badge with another girl this Sunday. The leadership of teaching other girls and doing something she loves is great experience, plus she had to cooperate with another girl to pick the activities they are going to do. In our troop (4th and 5th graders), the girls are taking responsibility for planning our activities. They vote on what field trips they want to do, plan menus, plan crafts, etc. They even go shopping with moms to buy the food for our campouts and are learning to cook the meals too.
Girl Scouts also gives the girls an opportunity for career exploration if they stay in long enough to become Cadettes and Seniors. The girls interviewed adults in careers they were interested in. The travel opportunities start in 6th grade or at least they did with my dd. She went to Europe with scouts between 8th and 9th grades with girls she did not know. They stayed at La Chalet in Switzerland and a boy scout house in England. She used cookie money to fund much of the trip.
Last edited by nana053; 11-17-2011 at 03:59 PM..
Reason: adding some more
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Then one year a kid that had only attended several meetings all year won scout of the year award. By this time I was getting pissed with the whole thing. Of course that kid's mom was a leader in the group. We also went to a local nascar race track twice a year to collect cans after a race. Collect the cans after the race, camp out and then go back at it the next day after the second race. It was hell. It was hot, the stands were dirty, the cans were dirty and it was a lot of hard work. The cans would then be loaded up in a large Uhaul truck then cashed in and the troop would get the funds. The thing is no one ever said where the funds went or how much the troop got. I then noticed that the leaders that handled the cans after being collected seemed to have the nicest houses and if you even offered to volunteer on taking the cans in they would be very insistent that no help was needed. 
Also one of the leaders would rent a large RV for the race track camp out. He would charge parents 80 dollars to stay in it if they didnt want to sleep in a tent. My husband paid one year before we bought our own camper and when he arrived there was no room for him. He ended up sleeping in a tent with my son. The leader claimed charging everyone 80 bucks helped with the cost of renting the RV. Well turns out a local dealership would actually let the leader use the RV for free. The dealership wrote it off on his taxes. Not only was it free for the weekend, it was actually free for 2 weeks! So this leader pocketed everyone's 80 bucks and then would use the RV for his own personal vacation after the race was over with. He always vacationed the same time twice a year and no one seemed to figure this out but me. 
It was pretty ridiculous to me and after several years my husband started to realize the corruption. I think the final straw was the derby race. My husband and son would spend weeks and weeks working on the car. My son made it to nationals I think, can't remember the official name but we watched in awe as his car came in first. The judges spent some time deliberating as they said it was close to another boy's car (it wasn't) and voted the other boy actually won. Of course that other boy was the son of a city official. 
