Treflienne

Did you ask the girls what they think?

We've heard from the naysayers. I could certainlly see that a well-established unit, with lots of its own experience, might not be looking for an outside perspective. Now for the rest of you. If you have found a unit commissioner valuable to your unit: what help were you hoping for? and what help did they give you? and just how experienced was your unit anyway?

Obviously, I need to proofread my own typing better.

GSUSA tried this. Starting circa 1970. In my opinion it was a disaster. GSUSA no longer has uniforms, merely a badge-sash or a badge vest. Girlguiding in the UK is doing this now. Take a look at their "uniforms".

I had a fourteen-year-old who joined BSA with extensive backpacking experience who absolutely detested and despised the name "Tenderfoot". Go back to Baden-Powell's original definition, "A Tenderfoot is a boy who is not yet a scout" from Scouting for Boys page 36. Call the kid a "Tenderfoot" as soon as he or she turns in his/her registration form. Leave the rank requirements (and insignia) for "Scout" and the current "Tenderfoot" the same as they are not, but call them "Fourth Class Scout" and "Third Class Scout". It really seems backwards for "Tenderfoot" to be a lower rank t

I contacted a district commissioner about the possibility of a unit commisser for our troop -- and the answer was, basically, that they are lacking in volunteers. I'm thinking about talking with other local troops about whether they have any "retired" scouters would be happy to give some advice, based on their experience, to a new troop still figuring out how to get itself organized. If I find such a person, is it better to keep it as unofficial mentoring, or to suggest that this person consider signing on as a unit commissioner? (I understand that "new-unit commissioners" only need work

I lived in Europe for a while as a kid. When we (GSUSA scouts) wore our completely unofficiial, home-made, neckerchiefs with our ordinary clothing, we were immediately recognized as being some variety of Scout or Guide. (There were mulitple scouting/guiding organizations within what, to an American, is a fairly small geographical region.) When we wore our GSUSA uniforms we not nearly recognizable as scouts/guides. I much prefer the neckerchief to the "class b" shirt for being identifiable as scouts when out of uniform. It is readily recognizable from the distance. With a group

Late 2018: The DE told us we could pick any troop number we wanted, so long as the CO approved. It could even duplicate a number elsewhere in the council or district. We let the girls pick. They picked a two-digit number different from any troop in our town or adjacent towns. (We did advise against picking "1" as there are already a half-dozen or so Troop 1's in our district, which is confusing.) Then we went to turn in the charter paperwork. Registrar told us that all girls' troops would have the same leading digit in the thousands place. This was very annoying. However, the

(decided not to comment, after all)

Does this give any trouble down the road for requirements, such as 1st class 8a which says "After completing Second Class 7a, be physicaly active at lest 30 minutes each day for five days a week for four weeks." ? Since the 1st class BOR date and the 2nd class BOR date can be less than a month apart. That is, could the lack of specific dates in scoutbook cause trouble when a scout is trying to become an eagle scout?

We are having the scouts use their handbooks as the primary means of recording sign-offs. Then the advancment coordinator is entering this into scoutbook when each rank is completed. It seems absolutely simplest to simply put in the date of completion of the rank as a whole. Is there any need to list the dates each sub-requirment was completed? (to list dates for 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, 2b, etc, separetly?) That would be a lot more work for the advancment coordinator.

Thanks, Barry, that whole post is very helpful. I have been appreciating your taking the time and effort to answer my questions. Not just this one, but the previous ones, also.

You could pack in a dozen girls in sleeping bags into one of those tents -- not much space for gear, and would step on each other if they needed to get up to go to the latrine in the middle of the night. But for summer camp (1 - 2 weeks long) they give the girls more space per person. Makes a more harmonious fortnight, probably. I've not seen electric outlets in a GS tent in the camps I've seen.

Hi @Eagledad, At least you weren't up against GSUSA's current vision for scouting. "Civic action" is the current push, there: https://www.girlscouts.org/en/about-girl-scouts/girl-scouts-and-civic-engagement/forgirls.html Goes right along with their current "Journeys" program. My reaction to the Aims and Methods of BSA, when I first encourtered them, was that that was the first time I had seen that all so neatly set out and carefully thought through. Many of those ideas do go right back (in some form) to the early days of scouting and are (historically at least) present in oth

Really? The ordinary style of GSUSA platform tent that I have seen in multiple states in multiple decades sleeps typically 4 (or 5) on cots. Of course some camps don't use those in all their units. I believe that one of the camps in our council has some yurts.

I agree with Liz. If Sally and Susy are 25 months apart in age, they can NEVER tent together. If Sally and Sarah are 23 months apart in age, YPT age rules ALWAYS permit them to tent together. It doesn't change month by month. The kids can easily figure out who in their patrols they can tent with. And it is the same for the next camping trip, also. But it does mean that a barely 11-year-old cannot tent with an older 13-year-old.

The kid I knew that had the most severe food issues decided to focus on extra-curricular activities that did not involve eating together. (Cross-contamination with multiple very common foods needed to be avoided. Nothing so easy as avoiding peanuts and treenuts.) Fortunately with my current troop, none of the scouts with dietary restrictions need to worry about cross-contamination or trace quantities. Makes life much much easier.

Dietary restrictions are a complicated topic. One-pot meals make one kind of problem. Buffet-style serving is a different type of problem, due to cross contamination. Both have issues with ignorance on the part of people who think that they are preparing allergen-free meals, but are not doing it competently. I think that dietary restrictions have to be handled on a case-by-case basis, depending on the severity of the issue. Definitely get that scout, or the parents of that scout, involved in the planning. In some cases the only way for a kid to be confident that he can e

GSUSA is different from BSA in that it stresses scout-led and scout-planned down to the youngest ages, to the extent possible. (For the kindergarteners that, in my experience, mainly means choosing between options that adults have suggested, or else tossing out ideas for the adults to shape into reality.) But by 3rd and 4th grades, they are capable of doing some of the planning. Of course, if the majority of the scouts decides that they don't want to camp, then they don't camp -- even if the adutls are willing to camp. (BSA has camping built into the advancemnt, at least at the Scout

No scout is going to starve to death on an overnight campout, even if he consumes nothing but water the whole trip. If they are somewhat underfed because of poor planning or poor execution of their meal plans, that will give them incentive to do better next time.

I've definitely had 3rd and 4th grade girl scouts planning their own meals. There is a really nice tool, the myplate diagram, and the scouts were reminded what made a balanced meal before they started their planning. And after they came up with an initial plan they needed to discuss with an adult how it fit the myplate nutrituion guidelines. (How can you make this a healthier lunch? The scout decided that it was bye bye potato chips and hello apples as a lunch side.)

I agree with T2Eagle. Given the number of scouts, and given the size and spaciousness of a yurt (if it is like the yurts I have seen) it is much more like a cabin than a tent. Very different from the situation in which you have two scouts in a small tent. I actually wish that the GTSS would make its distinction by the number of scouts in the space, rather than how much canvas or wood is involved in the structure. Also, it is my experience with girls that they tend to like all being together, 3 or 4 or 5 in the same tent, rather than being divided into two-person small tents. It

@prof, the GTA does permit a troop to limit the number of badges a scout can earn from one counselor (and also the council can limit the number of badges a single counseleor counsels. ) From the Guide to Advancment 7.0.1.4 ( https://www.scouting.org/resources/guide-to-advancement/the-merit-badge-program/ )

I agree. Currently we have a little over a dozen scouts, drawn from three towns. And we have reached out to the packs in three more adjacent towns, so that they know that their girl cubs have a troop waiting for them. Is it great to need to drive 15 minutes to the neighboring town to go to scout meeting? No, but it sure beats having to start of new troop and then only having 5 girls, or not being in a troop because you cannot find 5 girls in your town. Eventually, if we grow too big, a group could split off to start a troop in one of these other towns, but I think that wi

I've heard some stories from the scouters of the boys' troop, about sanitation (or lack thereof) especially surrounding meals and food prep. And the girls in the girls' troop have heard some of those same stories. And some of the girls have been quite vocal about being glad they were doing things separately. There is really great quote: from this article: https://www.ncregister.com/blog/jenfitz/how-the-boy-scouts-are-teaching-girls-about-true-womanhood