Bringing brother to girl scouts

[Anonymous]

np. It's not appropriate. It's suppose to be an environment for girl scouts to bound with girl scouts, not little brothers, not random siblings.

[Anonymous]

I would talk to the troop leader and perhaps request that certain events be troop members only and others can be family events.

[Anonymous]

OP here: the mom tends to bring the younger brother to our special "outings" but not to the regular meetings. She brings him to things that I think she thinks he will enjoy as well or something. I don't know exactly but I know that he's been to several events this year.

Our troop leader asks for chaperones for meetings and events but we are supposed to rotate that and need to have the volunteer paperwork submitted and all that (which I'm sure she does) but I don't know WHAT the rules are for younger siblings. I've never volunteered when I had a conflict where my younger kids couldn't be cared for by my husband or a neighbor or something.

One example of my daughter feeling annoyed was a cake decorating class they took where little Larlo decided he needed all of some color of frosting and none of the other girls were able to use that color. It's silly but it's supposed to be a space for my daughter to be with her friends, not to deal with little brothers taking all the frosting. And if it were once in a while that a parent had to bring a younger sibling I don't think it would matter but this is a pattern with one specific family. I think I'll plan to talk to the leader and let her know it's starting to bother my daughter. You're right that it probably annoys her too, maybe time to just set this boundary for everyone in the troop.

[Anonymous]

I would be livid. She can drop off her DD and go find something else to do with her son. Girls Scouts is for girls, not annoying little brothers.

[Anonymous]

Minimally, you have to be willing to bring this up with the Troop Leader. I don't know why you wouldn't have done this.

[Anonymous]

unless things have changed, girl scouts IS a drop off activity. there may be times when they need extra adults for a trip or an activity, but for the most part it is run by the leaders.

siblings are really not part of the plan, nor are extra non-helping parents.

[Anonymous]

Bring it up with the Troop Leader(s), OP. I'd be annoyed, too, at the example you describe.

-Mom of a Girl Scout (age 10) with two younger brothers

[Anonymous]

I am a leader and I would find this annoying. I am having a similar problem in my troop, but this is an older brother that keeps coming to things. I sent an email to the parents that said that the meetings were really for the girls to bond and be together, and if we had an event where families could come, I’d tell them, which I have.

Sometimes there is a leader’s child that has to come and he or she has a coloring book or something and sits in the back of the room. Girl Scouts is not a family event, unless expressly stated for an occasion.

[Anonymous]

Everyone can take their Scouts experience and compare to anything else. It does not have the same guidelines as Girl Scouts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a leader and I would find this annoying. I am having a similar problem in my troop, but this is an older brother that keeps coming to things. I sent an email to the parents that said that the meetings were really for the girls to bond and be together, and if we had an event where families could come, I’d tell them, which I have.

Sometimes there is a leader’s child that has to come and he or she has a coloring book or something and sits in the back of the room. Girl Scouts is not a family event, unless expressly stated for an occasion.

Has the family complied?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:np. It's not appropriate. It's suppose to be an environment for girl scouts to bound with girl scouts, not little brothers, not random siblings.

This. My dd has been in gs since she was a Daisy (kindergarten). She is now in HS. I would not have put up with this, and if the troop leader didn't address it, I'd have pulled my daughter from the troop.

[Anonymous]

I don't like it when siblings come but it's hard to say no. It feels unfair to those of us who did arrange child care for younger kids. When I've been in charge of a meeting, we planned the activities with a certain amount of materials, so extra kids would have thrown off the counts.

I do like it when's there are a range of activities, like regular meetings are girls only but families can come to something once a month or once every two months.

[Anonymous]

Inappropriate. Girl Scouts is not for family bonding. Talk to the leader and let them handle it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here: the mom tends to bring the younger brother to our special "outings" but not to the regular meetings. She brings him to things that I think she thinks he will enjoy as well or something. I don't know exactly but I know that he's been to several events this year.

Our troop leader asks for chaperones for meetings and events but we are supposed to rotate that and need to have the volunteer paperwork submitted and all that (which I'm sure she does) but I don't know WHAT the rules are for younger siblings. I've never volunteered when I had a conflict where my younger kids couldn't be cared for by my husband or a neighbor or something.

One example of my daughter feeling annoyed was a cake decorating class they took where little Larlo decided he needed all of some color of frosting and none of the other the girls were able to use that color. It's silly but it's supposed to be a space for my daughter to be with her friends, not to deal with little brothers taking all the frosting. And if it were once in a while that a parent had to bring a younger sibling I don't think it would matter but this is a pattern with one specific family. I think I'll plan to talk to the leader and let her know it's starting to bother my daughter. You're right that it probably annoys her too, maybe time to just set this boundary for everyone in the troop.

Please own up to your own annoyance with this and don't just hide behind whatever passing frustration your daughter experienced. And yes, talk to the troop leader about it, because yes, Girl Scouts meetings are supposed to be about the troop members, not their siblings. But please also find a way to show some grace if this family needs to bring Little Brother to some of the meetings. If it's that important that no siblings ever attend, then perhaps the troop can find a way to support those families, e.g., have parent volunteers that watch Little Brother and keep him busy away from the troop's activity. It's all well and good that you can find childcare for your other children but not everyone has that option. You have no idea what is happening with this family, so before you assume the worst, talk to the troop leader and find a solution that allows everyone to participate.

[Anonymous]

We have one parent who volunteers to chaperone but brings a younger child ("sorry late minute change of plans") and spends 99 percent of their attention attending to that child and ignoring the troop at best, disrupting or at worst. It's happened enough that the leader now has to ask an additional parent to come when it's that parent's turn.