Girl Scouts? (Thinking About Joining a Daisy Troop)

All the families I know who are in girl scouts, love it!
Be real. Girl scouts is for girls and boy scouts is for boys. AF

SM, please feel free to e-mail me directly (via Mamasource) with questions.

I was a Girl Scout for many years as a child and teen, and became a Brownie leader three years ago because my daughter wanted to start Brownies and there was a need for leaders. I could go on and on about the positives of Girl Scouting but mostly want to assure you that no good Girl Scout leader will ever "stereotype girls into 'girl' activities" as you put it. Instead, we define "girl activities" as anything girls want to do, whether it's cross-stitch or mountain climbing, and we teach girls that they can do ANYTHING.

Our little Brownie troop has done architecture and building activities (it was amazing to see them making chairs out of nothing but newspaper and trying to come up with the sturdiest designs!); honed sports skills including kicking, batting, using rackets and much more; planned how to spend money wisely; attended an astronomy event where they learned about using telescopes and tracking the moon's phases; made puppets to donate to a children's hospital; and yes, done things that could be called "girl" things like designing their own amazing t-shirts with Brownie themes. And we talk about why we do the activities we do and what we're learning. The point is that Girl Scouts is about empowering girls to become intelligent, strong young women who make good choices and who have been exposed to many different, positive experiences.

In Daisies, of course, your daughter would not do quite so many things or such involved ones! A Daisy troop would teach her more about working together with others, respecting herself and others, looking after the world around her and just having fun.

You can learn more about GS by looking at www.gscnc.org (the web site for the GS Council of the Nation's Capital) and www.gsusa.org (web site for the national organization). Your daughter's school should have a "school coordinator" for Girl Scouts who connects girls with troops and that person can tell you more too. The school may not know who this person is but the PTA probably will.

Remember, too, that every troop is different thanks to the mix of girls and leaders, and every troop will do different things based on the girls' interests. As girls advance through Girl Scouting they increasingly choose what the troop does and increasingly take responsibility for the troop and themselves.

And you can be as involved as you want to be -- some families really get into going along on campouts or doing cookie sales, and others just send their girls for meetings. Either is just fine. (And if what you're worried about when you say "fundraising pressures" is the famous GS cookie sales, be aware that you can opt out of having your child sell cookies at all, though if the rest of the girls in her troop are doing it, she may want to. Plus, cookie sales are used as a way to teach girls about money management. BUT a leader should never pressure kids to participate or pressure parents to make kids sell, sell, sell.)

Hi! My name is I. and I am the mother of three girls. Their ages are 21, 19 and 12. I was never a girl scout as a girl either but decided to put my daughters in a troop as soon as they were eligible. I have never regretted it. The programs are wonderful. They instill a sense of independence, bring out the girl's strengths and provide a place where they feel they "belong". I was so impressed with the program that I became a leader for 9 years. Even started my own Daisy troop in Georgia at a school who'd never heard of Daisy Girl Scouts. It was a big hit!.
My two older daughters stayed in scouts until their senior year but most girls opt out by middle school. They are now currently attending the Naval Academy to become naval officers. I am convinced that Girl Scouts played a big role in influencing who they are today.

I was a leader of a daisy troop last year and I can say it was a great experience for all of the girls involved. We took some fun field trips, Learned about many important things about the environment, our community, and our world, not to mention girl scouting. Girl scouting has been around a heck of a long time and it is a wonderful organization with many opportunities for everyone. The summer camps are awesome, inexpensive and all day I'd like to mention for 5 days. :)
You should in no way hesitate to sign your daughter up. My daughter met some good friends in her troop. They also made some fun crafts too.
If you do not want to sell things, you really do not have to.
Our troop chose not to sell cookies last year. We did sell magazines however and if you choose to participate your daughter can win some prizes and patches but if you do not want to, you do not have to. There should not be any pressure involved.

Hope this helps.

I thnk girl scouts is a great organization,the troop depends a lot on the leader and my daughter has been lucky enough to have a really involved commited leader.I am also a co-leader.My daughter just turned 12 and has been in girl scouts since a first year brownie and just bridged up to a cadete this year.they have many opportunities to be involved in activities she would not have done otherwise.cabin camping,tent camping,cooking on an open fire,spending the night at the aquarium,girl scout 95th sing along in dc with thousands of girl scouts from all around the world,white water rafting,etc.The fundraising aspect just helps differ the cost of thier activities so each family is not resposible to put out so much for the trips etc.For example this year we are planning to go to New York and see the rockettes and spend the night in New York we will be doing a few fundraisers for this trip.As for stereotyping into girl activities they try to instill that girls can do whatever they choose to do.I hope my daughter chooses to continue with girl scouts for a long time.

I've been a Girl Scout mom for four years, since my daughter joined as a Brownie. She is now a second-year Junior. I'll give you some of my thoughts on your questions (sorry, this really long!:

- A lot depends on the troop. Troops come in all sizes and makeups, and a fair amount of whether or not you and your daughter will like it depends on how well your daughter gets along with the girls, what leadership style the leaders have, and the extent the other parents are involved.

- The organization. The Girl Scout organization has well-established rules & regulations to keep our daughters safe, healthy and to encourage them to have fun while learning. However, the structure can be confusing -- there is a hierarchy that includes (from the bottom up) the troop, the service unit, and the council. You will have most of your dealing with your troop and service unit. Again, a lot depends on the leadership within these two levels. But in my experience, the leaders are all committed to the health of safety of their girls, and the proper oversight of the troops' activities.

- Fun. Yes, it's fun! Troop leaders are almost always dyanamic ladies who are excited to spend time planning activities and spending time with their troops. Younger troops -- Daisies and Brownies -- may spend more time in meetings, doing activities like crafts or local field trips. As they get older, the girls become more involved in the planning and their activities start to branch out more -- farther field trips, more involved projects. The idea is to help the girls develop teamwork, leadership skills and goal pursuits.

-All girls. With my daughter now in her "tweens," I increasingly see Girl Scouts as a safe place for her to learn about and talk about girl-specific issues without feeling funny in the presence of boys. A heavy emphasis is placed on the Girl Scout "sisterhood"; troop sisters work together, stick together, learn from each other, and enjoy each other. In this day and age, when being female poses as many problems and joys as ever, I think it's wonderful for girls to have a place all to themselves.

-Fundraising. There are two main fundraisers each year -- fall products and the famous early-spring cookie sale. While my daughter's troops have always set goals for themselves, I've never felt undue pressure on the girls. Some girls sell more, some sell less. But it all goes to fund the troops activities, and it's all good. Naturally, in the younger years the parents do most of the selling, but as the girls get older they become more responsible, and often more interested, in learning how to sell more. Older troops may also have additional fund raisers that they plan and execute themselves.

-Overall pros and cons. Con first: The biggest problem that I've always seen is lack of participation by parents. Especially in the younger troops, parents are deperately needed to help with activities, fund raising, supervision, etc. In our first troop there was no shortage of willing parents, but our last two troops have not had much parental involvement. Many times it'll be the same 3 or 4 parents who are at every activity, manning every cookie booth, etc. Plus, parents are needeed to serve in various roles, like treasurer or cookie drive chair, and leaders/assistant leaders are always needed. A shortage in leaders means a shortage of available troops to join. Regardless of what some may say, Girl Scouting does require a certain amount of time commitment from the parents in order to make it as great an experience as can be.

On the pro side, one of the greatest advantages is that when our troop interacts with older troops, my daughter gets to be around mature, well-spoken, poised, confident, and just great older girls. These girls are so different from the "typical" teens -- they have a confidence and bearing that will follow them throughout life. That's my biggest reason why, even after I've helped man a cookie booth in the pouring rain or become nearly crippled sleeping on the ground in a tent, I am happy to have my daughter involved in Girl Scounts.

Hope that gives some insights on Girl Scouts!

--A.

I was a Girl Scout, and my daughter, now 14, has been a Girl Scout for the past 8 years. She loves it! If you're worried about her being limited to sterotypical girl activities, here is a partial list of some of the things my daughter has done as a Girl Scout: camping, kayaking, scuba diving, dry-land dogsledding, theater workshops, corn mazes, caving, white-water rafting, and yes, even sewing. She's taken a workshop to learn about managing her finances.(Of course the more advanced activities have taken place since she's been a teen scout). She's done tons of community service projects that have taught her compassion and the value giving back to the community. These include toy drives, food drives, collecting items for homeless shelters, beach clean-ups, teaching younger Girl Scouts how to conduct a flag ceremony, etc. She's become first aid and CPR certified. The list goes on -- but she's also built some close and lifelong friendships in the process. Oh yeah, they do sell cookies. The only other yearly fundraisers are calendar sales and magazine sales. Participation is encouraged, but optional.

As a Daisy, your daughter will do age-appropriate activities. As she gets older, the activities will be more fun and challenging.

The most important thing is to ask around and find a leader who is truly dedicated to scouting. An indifferent leader (and we had one of those for a year) will make going to meetings a bore and a chore. The leaders of our current troop are fantastic, and are always finding fun things to do in our area.

I HIGHLY recommend Girl Scouts! Good luck!

Well i was a brownie when i was little and enjoyed it quite a bit. BUT that was 30yrs ago. These days you as a parent have to be VERY involved. Also you have to pay for alot more than you did when i was little. I can only guess we didn't have to pay for our uniforms since we had no money but now a days you pay for uniform, and badges and all the trips in addition to a fee for joining and for just being in the group each month. So it's not cheap. I also tried to join my daughter and unless your groups is very active you have to actively get your daughter involved. If your up to it, it's very rewarding and go for it.

I was never a girl scout and neither were my girls. But my son really wanted to try scouting, so we joined the local cub scout pack and he LOVES it!! In my opinion, you put into scouts what you want to. We get the fundraising pitches and the donate money pitches but basically, it goes in one of my ears and out the other. And no one has ever said to me that I have to donate or sell popcorn. The fundraising money goes into helping pay for other pack activities. I have never felt pressured to sell our popcorn. The scouts do a lot of good things, like collecting food for food banks and singing at retirement and nursing homes. I was not a fan of scouts but since my loves it, we will keep on. My advice is to let your daughter try it. If it isn't what you like, then don't join again.

I was in brownies when I was young and I loved it. I did not feel I was stereotyped into "girl" activities, if anything I felt it gave me more exposure to activities such as camping and survival skills, a lot of outdoor activities and many things I would not have come into contact with if I had not been involved. I did find some friendships with girls I would not have come into contact with any other way and the activities we did to get patches encouraged me to strive to achieve in areas I may have not even thought about. It also seemed to promote a boost in my self confidence by having to approach others and there was a lot of diversity within our troop. I didn't feel pressured with the fundraising at all, the cookies of course practically sell themselves. I had a lot of fun in it and my brother was in boy scouts as well and he seemed to like it a lot. If my children are interested I will definitely be supportive if they want to join. I also look at girl scouts as a positive influence in the world today that is so overly focused on computers and video games and things that have kids constantly indoors and alone.

I highly recomend girl scouts I did as a girl my mother was the leader. I was my daughters daisy troop leader and am now her co leader this is our third year. It is a learning experiance and it is not all girly stuff we do camp outs, hourse back riding, animal shelter visits, trips to nursing homes, crafts, sewing, cooking, dance and so much more. It is the least expensive, but most rewarding thing to join it is only $10 for the whole year and you only do two fundraisers candy in the fall and cookies in the spring and you don't even have to stay at the meeting you can go have some quiet time with a cup of coffe and a book every mom needs that. If you get iun a good troup with a dedicated leader I promise you will really enjoy it and so will she it also will help you bond more with her and that lasts a life time. I hope you decide to give it a try. Good luck to you.

I would like to reiterate what Leigh says about Girl Scouts. I have been both a Girl Scout leader and a Cub Scout leader for my kids (my daughter is now a Junior and my son has just moved up to Boy Scouts). Both organizations are about letting the kids try lots of different things to see what they enjoy and what they are good at. And both encourage them that they can do anything they want. Another neat thing is that Scouts teaches them leadership skills and about serving others. The highest awards for both Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts have the kids organizing, leading and participating in a service project.

And to be honest, I was initially concerned with letting my daughter join Girl Scouts because I was afraid that the really feminist views of some of the folks in leadership at the very top levels would filter down, but having been a leader of her troop, I can say that hasn't been the case at all.

As for the fundraising, I can understand how it could be construed as too much. However, you always have the option to not do it. But it does teach some money management skills, and if the girls are planning a big trip (to Savannah, for example), then it shows them how to save for something they want (there's no instant gratification when trying to save for a trip, which teaches patience!).

Good luck with it! And if you try it and decide it's not for her, there are other organizations (such as 4H, although I think that starts at 3rd grade) that your daughter might enjoy being a part of.

I was quite the tomboy growing up. however Mom threw me in the brownies and i LOVED it! fun stuff for everyone and you learn so much! many life skills are learned as well. I still have friends from girlscouts! good stuff! I say go for it!
T.

I agree with most of the responses you have had already. As a girl growing up, I LOVED GIRL SCOUTS. I did not start GS until 4th grade, but I did continue on to be a leader in college. The Brownie badges "Try-ITs" probably explain it all. They give the girls an oppurunity to try something they never have before. It is not until they are older that the girls get more indepth. As far as fundraising goes, I remember only doing two a year; calendars and cookies. Honestly, the cookies sell themselves. People will buy boxes as soon as they know it is cookie time and you are a GS. :) The troops only ever fundraise to lower the cost for activities (camping, field trips, etc.).

I was a Camp Fire Girl growing up. At the time it was an all girls organization and it was so much fun. My Mom especially liked it because it got us away from boys. That being said, you are right to be concerned about fund raising pressures. It all depends on the group. It varies a lot. I was thinking of getting my son into Boy Scouts when we moved a few years ago. The local Scout Master contacted me after I filled out an 'I'm interested in finding out more' form. Long story short, the minute he found out I have no one to sell popcorn to and was not interested in fund raising, he could hardly hang up fast enough. We never heard from him again. Some people love the fund raising activities, and that's fine. But for those of us who are not into it, it seems a lot like pimping my kid as a marketing ploy and I have problems with that. Also, how much of the purchase goes to the actual purpose of the fund raising? 20% if you are lucky. I write a check directly to my volunteer fire dept and the PTA just so I know they are getting %100 of what I donate to them. Any significant portion of the money going to the administrative side of marketing is such a rip off. As a child I sold candy, and magazine subscriptions door to door. It was never safe. They set up tables in front of super markets now. Some parents sell at their office (if the office hasn't banned it for taking up too much of the work day). You just have to find out what groups are available in your area and then carefully question them. I hope you find a good group!