Treflienne

While the "G.I.R.L." advertising push is relatively new, the girls-can-do-anything-including-in-fields-previously-offlimits-to-females emphasis of GSUSA has been around for a long time -- I can remember it going back to at least the 1980's. The ironic thing now is that their message now seems to be that it is great for girls to aspire to anything they desire, except joining the Boy Scouts.

I would be utterly shocked if GSUSA were willing to change their name to Girl Guides. The name "Girl Guides" or "Guides" has, in my experience, very very little name recognition in the U.S. Our young Girl Scouts always seem surprised to learn that Girl Scouts in other countries are called "Guides". If GSUSA is worried about confusion over names with both GSUSA and BSA applying the word "scouts" to girls in this country, then they would be even more concerned about the name-recognition suicide that would be the result of changing their name to "Guides".

And we actually have a really simple situation with scouting in this country. Compare it with France. According to wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scouting_and_Guiding_in_France )

The article says Seems like the pot calling the kettle black. I don't know about the GSUSA national organization, but I've heard plenty of girl scout leaders (GSUSA) refering to their group of kids as simply "scouts" and what they do as "scouting". Generally one could tell from context which type of scouts was meant. (And if necessary to prevent confusion, then they would say "Girl Scouts" or "Boy Scouts".)

We've got competing effects here. One could alternately imagine that more progressive areas would favor Girl Scouts because of the feminism permeating the program materials.

Actually, your post just gave me an excuse to ask a question. I was more thinking along the line of a patrol wanting to hold a patrol meeting with as little adult interference as possible (within the confines of BSA rules). If one of the scouts has both parents registered (committee member, ASM, unit reserve scouter, merit badge counselor, whatever) then could the patrol hold its meeting at that scout's house on a Saturday morning or weekday evening when both parents were at home but were doing their own things elsewhere in the house?

That's a major reason why I've been here. I'd rather learn what the sensitive topics are on scouter forum, than learn what they are by accidentally offending people I will need to work with in order to help get a Scouts BSA troop for girls going.

Just as they sang "Softly Falls" and "Ging Gang Goolie" as Girl Scouts, will the girls still be able to sing "On my honor" as Scouts BSA?

This is off topic, but you probably know the answer to this. For the two registered YPT-trained adults, of age at least 21 years, one of which must be female (needed for any activity involving Scouts BSA girls) --- does it matter whether these two adults are related to each other? Can a husband and wife be the only two adults with the group? I haven't seen any mention of this in what I've seen of BSA requirements, but my knowledge is limited. It sure would be convenient. I do know that some groups (such as GSUSA) require their necessary two adults to be unrelated to each other.

And typically look really, really, really sloppy. The GSUSA gave up on a "uniform" look uniform in the early 1970s when they went mix-and-match. Actually having a uniform is one of the things about BSA that appeals to my daughter.

I suspect that many of the girls to whom this video would appeal would have some idea of what their local girl scout troops are (or are not) doing. If they have found their local girl scout troop not to be outdoorsy enough, then this might make BSA look appealing. Not to say that GSUSA troops couldn't do this stuff (except wearing the BSA logo clothes) but many certainly don't.

How does this formation of temporary crews affect the cohesiveness of the troop's patrols?

But my Girl Scout council currently has such a rule. Could you be thinking of a different scouting organization's rule?

Which edition do you recommend? There seem to be a lot of different years' versions available cheap second hand. What is a good one?

The problems of English not disinguishing between you-singular and you-plural. Do you read this as "if you (a hard worker) choose a spouse who is also a hard worker (and not just pretty/handsome) then you two together may camp more and work double-shifts less? Or do you read this as "you will be able to goof off while your wife works"? The problems of internet comumication where we cannot see our listeners' mis-understanding in their eyes, and correct it before it really takes root. Maybe I've been paying too much attention to what Quazse has been saying about girl venturers

So I am hoping to be involved with a new girls Scouts BSA troop. I would like to see the patrol method used, and used well, in the new troop. Any suggestions for how to foster a Patrol Method culture in a new troop (whether the new troops be girls, boys, or Martians) ? I have already read the books Working the Patrol Method by Four Eagle Scouts and So Far, So Good! by Clarke Green And there is the complication that a new troop is likely to be a one-patrol troop at first.

Trail To First Class? (A guess from an ignoramus)

Your son is not a registered girl scout if he is under age 18. (The only boys who are allowed to register are those who call themselves girls!) But I believe it is possible (though I never learned how to do it) to sign up for extra insurance for non-registered participants.

Sounds to me like you are already doing "Family Scouting" -- just unofficially in a GSUSA context. It also sounds like both the girls and the boy are having a good experience on these trips. Does this mean that there is hope that some units within BSA might make a good thing out of "Family Scouting"?

If it ain't broke don't fix it. It sounds like your daughter has a great (girl) scout troop. Sounds like something to stick with. With a core group on enthusiastic girls and adults they can stick with traditional outdoor-oriented girl scouting, and simply ignore any of the new program materials they don't like. Unfortunately highly active outdoor-focussed girl scout troops are uncommon in my area.

I see that there is a certain amount of consolidation, especially for kids who are close enough in age to be in cubs at the same time. The kids will occasionally do things together: both dens at the same pack meetings and whole-pack activities, rather than the boy cub den doing pack-wide activities with the pack and the girl Brownie Troop doing service-unit-wide activites with the girl scout service unit. The adults only need to learn one set of program materials, one set of safety standards, do only need one registration, and one background check, and somewhat overlapping t

There are an overwhelming number of tents available for sale, all different types. A reccomendation of what to buy, that would be suitable for scouts camping with the troop, would be helpful for the families, if you decide to go this route.

Even if there were studies that showed that girls were, on average, paid more attention to organizational details, that doesn't remove the worth of the patrol method for the girls. Firstly, because averages are just that. There is also a broad distribution, for both girls and boys, of instinctive organizational skill levels. Some girls are a lot less naturally organized than some boys. Also patrols are not merely about learning to be organized. They are also about learning leadership in a kid-sized setting. They are about having the opportunity to try, and to mess up, and t

We asked all the moms, at the beginning of each year, to register and do the background check so that they would be available to volunteer occasionally. Most did. (And some dads did also.) No one complained about the cost. Of couse, if it is a long-running policy then people are used to it and it is not a surprise. Also, the GSUSA background check only required filling out a short form so a CORI check could be done --- there was no hour-long YPT class required.

I've seen plenty of complaints that parents of boys moving up from cubs just don't understand Scouting and how it is different from cubbing. So even if the new girls have younger brothers in cubs, it wont mean that their parents are familiar with how a Scout Troop works. And parents of only girls, who are coming in from Girl Scouts, are going to understand even less about BSA. Family sizes tend to be small. A lot of prospective members will not have an older brother at all, much less one who is active in Scouts.