Treflienne

Just dropped my daughter off at girl scout camp yesterday. The camp has a number of two-wheel carts that the girls (who are grade 2 and up) use to haul their luggage from the parking lot up the hill to their units.

My experience is in GSUSA where tagalongs are strictly discouraged. But still, sometimes the only way a mom can volunteer is if she can bring her younger child along. (And if she does not volunteer then there is no troop.) So if the only way you can get enough volunteers for a GSUSA troop (or perhaps for a cub scout den) is to have tagalongs, then you cope the best you can. As far as who to recruit for being the tagalong watcher: If there is a parent who always has a younger sibling with them at drop off and pick up, especially if the family lives far enough away that the parent

My kindergarten Daisy Girl Scout troop had a similar issue. The other leader had a preschool daughter (too young to participate with the 5-6-year-olds) and our meetings were at a time of day when the dads were still at work. Our solution: recruit a third mom, who had a Daisy daughter and a 2-year-old daughter. This third mom came to every meeting and looked after the two younger siblings. (She typically brought somthing crafty for them to do. And they only occasionally joined in with the older girls when it was something they could do without being disruptive.) And after a couple o

Surely some of you in your childhood must have done what I did: Drag your radio-flyer wagon to the top of the hill. Climb in. Let gravity take you to the bottom. Hopefully you picked an appropriate hill. But used as a tool, rather than as a gravity-powered car, wagons seem quite harmless.

According to the nbcnews article "Trained “playworkers” monitor the children, though they step in only if absolutely necessary — much like lifeguards." And according to https://govisland.com/things-to-do/activities/2018-playgroundnycs-yard "There are play:groundNYC playworkers in the Yard at all times." Not exactly free range.

Correlation is not causation. Causation could flow in a different direction. The same families and communities that had the resources to provide ample educational opportunities for their girls may also have been the ones who had the resources (in money but especially in time) to get the girl scout troops organized.

That's my concern. So far my daughter doesn't know of any other girls in our town wanting to join Scouts BSA. Maybe some will appear before February. Or maybe we'll need to join with nearby towns.

"entirely in the hands of the adult leaders"? Actually no. If the majority of the girls in a troop don't want to camp, then they can vote down any camping plans, even if the adult leaders are willing to camp. (Happened to my daughter.) However I basically agree with shortridge. If the adults are unwilling to camp then the troop does not camp, no matter what the girls want.

And some boys, even without dyslexia/dysgraphia, will decide that the goal is not worthwhile if too much writing is required. I've seen this in non-scout settings. If they are used to working with kids who write easily and like writing, they might not even be realizing that this would be viewed by some kids as an onerous extra requirement. You can educate them here. I've talked with school-teachers about somewhat similar issues in the past. Sometimes a special agreement was reached for just my child. At least once, because I raised the issue, the policy was changed for

I'd recommend that people with middle-school girls deciding between BSA and GSUSA might want to look at and compare the Boy Scout Handbook, with the Cadette Journeys Books: "Amaze", "Breathe", and "Media". (And also the Cadette Girls' Guide to Girl Scouting.) That will let them see the program materials that the troops have to work with. Of course, national program materials aren't everything. Enthusiastic and energetic local volunteers, and a group of like-minded girls, could work together to have a good scouting experience even if they don't like the official program materials. B

On scoutstuff.com it looks like there used to be a supplex nylon shirt that has been discontinued? Am I guessing right? ( https://www.scoutshop.org/new-uniforms/ladies-fit-supplex-nylon-ls-shirt-609302.html ) What is the story here? (I am completely new to BSA.)

The Girl Scouts have gone down the path from practical uniform to (impractical) dress uniform to (today) no uniform at all. The early uniforms were sturdy cotton, in a color that did not show dirt, and with bloomers to wear under the skirts so that the girls could move freely without worrying about immodesty. (May not sound practical by today's standards, but was much better for active and outdoor activities than the then-fashionable clothes for girls.) The uniforms stayed in sturdy fabric through the 1940s. By the 1960's, they had changed to being dress uniforms. Still unifor

Well, once upon a time, long long ago, Girl Scouts and Girl Guides did use the patrol system. Some of us remember it and value it. (Of course, the troop that I was in that implemented it best had two leaders who had both grown up in the Girl Guides (UK), not in GSUSA.)

What about the girls who want a chance to join a "traditional conservative outdoor youth organization"? BSA, even now, fits that definition better than other options.

“No justification of virtue will enable a man to be virtuous. Without the aid of trained emotions the intellect is powerless against the animal organism. I had sooner play cards against a man who was quite skeptical about ethics, but bred to believe that ‘a gentleman does not cheat’, than against an irreproachable moral philosopher who had been brought up among sharpers.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man We, as scout leaders / scouters can help out with the practical training, even if we need to leave the philosophical foundations of morality to the families and religious institutio

Many kids get sound moral teaching at home, or at a religious institution. For them, the scout law is merely re-inforcing what they should already be learning, and applying it in practical situations. It is for the minority of kids that don't get sound moral teaching at home or church (or synagogue or temple or school or . . .) that even the "95% of things we have in common" that they can get through scouting is much much better than nothing. These kids can benefit from learning "I will do my best to be honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring . . ." (current GSUSA

I have no idea why they dropped the Golden Eaglet. But . . . The "First Class" award had recognition problems of its own. Back when it was the top Girl Scout award, you could get the reaction, from people familiar with boy scouts but unfamiliar with girl scouting, that it wasn't a very a high level award -- since they were, presumably, thinking of BSA where first class is followed by three higher ranks. Of course "Gold Award", at first, had the problem that no one had ever heard of it. And I don't think that it has fully overcome this problem.

Did you notice in the "lifetime of leadership" video, one woman was labelled as "Celine Dion Girl Guide & Singer". The inclusivity is including other WAGGGS member countries.

So I realize I have been too negative. While GSUSA's current focus on civic engagement is not what I am particularly looking for for my daughter, some families may very well be looking for this. Expecially now that girls will have two scouting organizations to choose from (BSA and GSUSA) it is good that GSUSA is being clear about their emphases, for example: "G.I.R.L. Agenda 2018: Leading Change Through Civic Action". This will help families select the program that they feel is most appropriate for their girls, instead of being disconcerted that the GSUSA their girls have joined has mod

And that council may not exist any more, having been merged with other councils. Who knows what happened to the records?

I, cynically, see two reasons for this 1) This lets them include lots more women, including those who were only a Brownie for only a year. and 2) The Gold Award was introduced in 1980, so the very oldest Gold Award recipients are in their early 50's now. This would rule out many older women. Moreover there is not good, short, phrase meaning "person who earned the Gold Award". The best I am aware of are "Gold Awardee" or "Gold Award recipient". None of these roles off the tongue as smoothly as "Eagle Scout" or "Girl Scout" or "[adjective] Scout"

After having been rather uninvolved with Girl Scouts for a while, I got much more involved again as my daughter reached the age to join. Slowly I have been forming the impression that what the girl scouts (national and council) currently wants for the girls to do is to a) beg and b) badger. Let me explain myself. a) beg: There is a huge emphasis on the cookie sale, and also an emphasis on the fall product sale. It is made very clear to the troops that no other fundraising whatsoever may be done unless these two fundraisers are done by the troop. These provide but little mone

I echo this: DO NOT DRY IN A DRYER. You may need to wash multiple times, trying different options. Another to try: pour liquid laundry detergent directly on the grease spot and rub in thoroughly. Let sit about five minutes. Wash in warm water (if it were not for the uniform patches, I'd say hot water). About five minutes into the wash cycle add liquid NON-CHLORINE COLOR-SAFE bleach. Hang dry and check whether grease spot is gone. If faded but not gone, repeat the process. If not faded try another type of detergent or stain remover.

Something similar is being done currently by some of the more traditional GSUSA leaders, since the current GSUSA program makes the outdoors completely optional. I will find it interesting to see how many of them decide to switch scouting organizations to a more traditional scouting program (BSA) and how many will stick with GSUSA and make the best of it, given their long ties to that organization. So despite the concerns some of you have that BSA is becoming too progressive by admitting girls, I expect that some of the most "progressive" families may continue to prefer GSUSA for th

Actually, it was his sister, Agnes, that he recruited. He didn't marry until later, and his wife Olave did eventually become World Chief Guide.