Tell me about Boy Scouts for a girl

Anonymous
People seem to get caught up on the parental involvement for Cub Scouts. this really is Pack specific. Join a larger Pack and your level of involvement can be 0. Join a smaller Pack and you will probably find yourself more involved. We have over 60 Scouts in our Pack and about 1/3 of the parents are regularly involved in things, the rest do little to nothing.

Lions and Tigers are required to have a parent at meetings, that is K and 1rst. After that, many Packs allow for drop off but parents choose to stay. The program for Cub Scouts is set and covers a wide range of topics. Every year there are adventures that involve art, safety, leave no trace, hiking, camping, cooking, and physical activity. The adventures build on each other. By the time the kids are in Webelos they are building fires and helping to cook meals at the camp out. There are a lot of activities that people can choose to do or not. Most Packs will have 2 camp outs, you can stay over night or leave whenever you want, and Pinewood Derby. Some Packs add on additional activities, we have a swimming party, rain gutter regatta, a canoe trip, and a ski trip. Our Den does lot of field trips with about half the kids showing up for any event.

Our Dens meet twice a week and the Pack once a month. Come to what you want or don't. Parents help where they can if they want. Plenty of parents do something and some do nothing. It seems to me like 1/3 of the parents are helping with meetings and activities and the others bring their kid and either leave or chill out on their phones.

It runs differently then Girl Scouts and that is just fine. It has different goals and a different structure. My DS loves it and the Girls in our pack are having a blast. We technically have a Girls Den but the girls all meet with the boys in their dens because there are not enough girls in anyone age group to have an active den.

If you want something that requires no parental involvement, then Cub Scouts can work just fine. The program is more robust when the parents are involved but that is not a requirement.

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t do it. Have her join Girl Scouts and suggest those activities to do as a troop. They can do them too. My son was in Boy Scouts and daughter was in Girl Scouts and the parental involvement that was needed was significantly more in BS. The people involved really had to love it. If you don’t have an interest yourself, don’t join Boy Scouts. I can think of a million more reasons but that’s the main one.


Believe it or not, Girl Scouts doesn't work for many people. I quit Girl Scouts because it was boring. It was all arts and crafts and domestic stuff and nothing that I was interested in. Girl Scouts is far more Troop dependent then Cub Scouts. What many see as a strength, the girls choose the activities, is a weakness for others. I could have cared less about what the other girls were interested in. My friends who have been Troop leaders in the last five years flat out commented that any planned camping trip led to very few girls attending. And those trips tended to be in cabins not tents. That is fine for the girls in those troops but not what some girls want. I am glad that my friends who were in Girl Scouts enjoyed it and had a ton of fun. I lasted for a couple of years and then left because it was not a program for me.

Cub Scouts presents a program that you can look up and see what the kids are doing. You know that there will be camping and hiking and outdoor activities on a regular basis. It is all there. If you have a daughter who is interested in outdoor activities, you know that you will get that through Cub Scouts. You might get that dependent on the Girl Scout Troop that you join.

Both are fine organizations that are great for the right kid. I wish I could have joined BSA when I was a kid because it fit me so much better then Girl Scouts. There are plenty of girls right now who feel that way because we are seeing them show up in Packs and Troops. They were already there in Venture Scouts.

If I knew a girl who is interested in camping and hiking and outdoor activities, I would point them to Cub Scouts before Girl Scouts mainly because I have yet to run into a Girl Scout Troop that is as involved in outdoor activities as Cub Scouts.
Anonymous
I only have sons, so I can't speak directly to the experience of girls other than what I see in our pack. But I do have kids at both levels - Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts - so I can talk a little about the program overall.

In Cub Scouts (K-5th), "dens" are organized by grade level. In theory, dens are separated by gender, but the actual dynamics are highly dependent on the group. The entire pack (all grade levels) meets together once a month. Individual dens meet 2-3 times a month. In our pack, one of the grade levels has good sized dens for both genders (5-6 each), so they meet separately. Another grade level only has 3 boys and 2 girls (including a pair of boy-girl twins, whose parent is the den leader for both), so they generally combine the dens.

Parents are required to participate in meetings for K-1st. After that, parent involvement in meetings gradually drops off. Camping is a family activity, so parents are expected to attend. But don't worry if you've never done it! The program is designed to teach. We have had several families join our pack without ever having camped out. Many packs have some loaner equipment if you don't want to invest in your own tent until you try it.

Our pack camps twice a year, and organizes a group hike (either as a pack or by den) once every month or two. We don't do a lot of fishing, but sometimes it is available as an optional activity during campouts.

One they graduate to Boy Scouts, it's a little different. Troops are organized by gender. There are a handful of regional events throughout the year that combine Troops of both genders, but most day to day activities will be within the single-gender Troop. My kid's Troop camps once a month, and often has another hike each month. Parents do not need to attend these campouts, the kids camp with the Troop leaders.
Anonymous
Ranger scouts for older kids was designed to be coed. It has a ton of outdoor activities. I wouldn't do it before then.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t do it. Have her join Girl Scouts and suggest those activities to do as a troop. They can do them too. My son was in Boy Scouts and daughter was in Girl Scouts and the parental involvement that was needed was significantly more in BS. The people involved really had to love it. If you don’t have an interest yourself, don’t join Boy Scouts. I can think of a million more reasons but that’s the main one.


DO NOT just suggest activities to any BSA/GSUSA Scout leader and then just run away. Troops need help to make activities successful for our kids! If you want your kid to go camping in GS, we need a First aide trained adult and a separate camping trained adult. So volunteer to go get trained. You want your kid to go fishing? Figure out to make it happen. It is available at several GS camps, so do the research and be the adult in charge of it.
Anonymous
What about 4H?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:There is one girl in our troop. She seems completely out of place. She doesn’t talk to any of the boys.


Are the boys welcoming to her? Do they talk to her?
Anonymous
Just reiterating the parental involvement in Cub Scouts. I'm my daughter's Girl Scout leader so it's not like I'm not happy to be involved in my kids' activities! But having to be at literally every meeting and activity for my son when he was a cub scout... Ugh!

Most of the time I just sat in the corner like a wall flower and did nothing (despite offering), but I still had to be there. It was such a waste of time. I also feel like it's really hard dynamics for the little ones when all the parents are also there, because they don't know who is in charge - mom or leader.

My son only lasted a year - he didn't like his pack/den/leader and I certainly wasn't going to push it.

It seems like a good program, I just wish they'd figure out how to run meetings without a 1-to-1 ration for the little ones.

As for Girl Scouts, as others have said, it's a much more flexible program. The girls are a lot more independent a lot earlier, and the activities (in a well run troop at least) are really driven by what the girls want to do. In my troop we've never been fishing but we've done a ton of hiking and camping.

Since you'd have to be at every meeting if your daughter did Cub Scouts, maybe consider being a Girl Scout leader and helping her and the other girls make it into an awesome troop that does the things they want to do!
Anonymous
Boy Scouts as an organization hold that one must be religious and affirmatively believe in god.
Nonstarter for us.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:If you want something that requires no parental involvement, then Cub Scouts can work just fine. The program is more robust when the parents are involved but that is not a requirement.

I posted on the first page of this thread. I agree with this but I'm also ok with being "hung up" on the parental involvement requirement because I think (1) kids have more fun, and go farther (up to Eagle), and (2) involved/aware parents are more likely to nip unsafe behaviors or activities in the bud. This is Boy Scouts of America, it has a history, and you have to know what you're stepping into.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Boy Scouts as an organization hold that one must be religious and affirmatively believe in god.
Nonstarter for us.

I understand why some people wouldn't want to join an organization whose top level leadership held those policies. But for those who can live in the grey, the National Capital Area Council diverges from the national BSA office on this count. Most local packs and troops are pretty firm on two counts (some with written policy statements to back this up): first, the "Duty to God" requirements should be interpreted very widely, and second, all genders and sexual orientations are not just tolerated, but actively welcome.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:

If you want something that requires no parental involvement, then Cub Scouts can work just fine. The program is more robust when the parents are involved but that is not a requirement.



Is that true? Because our local cub scout pack said that the kids *HAD* to have a parent or other adult at every meeting, and that all camping was family camping in Cub Scouts - so the kids also *had* to have an adult on each camping trip.
They definitely made it sound like that was a national safety rule, but maybe it was just peculiar to our area.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:

If you want something that requires no parental involvement, then Cub Scouts can work just fine. The program is more robust when the parents are involved but that is not a requirement.



Is that true? Because our local cub scout pack said that the kids *HAD* to have a parent or other adult at every meeting, and that all camping was family camping in Cub Scouts - so the kids also *had* to have an adult on each camping trip.
They definitely made it sound like that was a national safety rule, but maybe it was just peculiar to our area.


National policy does require a parent present for all overnight activities (camping), and meetings for K & 1st grade. Starting in 2nd grade, policy allows for drop-off at meetings, but individual packs or den leaders may ask for more involvement.
Anonymous
Why not join a girl scout troop that does lots of outdoor activities? If you're willing to lead on that front the other parents will generally roll with it. I'm the "camp mom" for our troop and I love taking the girls out. The parents in our troop tend to take turns coming up with ideas (food drive for local food pantry, kayaking trip, rock climbing, museum event organized for the girls, underground railroad walking tour highlighting local history last month, etc.)

My personal values align with the overall principles of the GS organization. And it's great for girls to have a space to themselves to be leaders. I agree that it's troop dependent but if you're willing to put in the time to help with the parts your daughter likes all the girls benefit.
Anonymous
My 4th grade DD has been doing Scouts BSA for a few years now, and really enjoys it. Like your DD, OP, she strongly prefers the stress on outdoor activities. Girls Scouts activities did not interest her, and most of her friends who did GS dropped out anyway.
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