Are Girl Scouts the mean girls?

[Anonymous]

Not in my experience, no. If anything, the opposite.

[Anonymous]

Yeah growing up it was a dorky thing to do. I quit in like 4th grade. Grew up in Fairfax. Maybe it’s different now.

[Anonymous]

My DD did Girl Scouts for 4 years. No mean girls , they were a really nice group of kids.
Like anything else, this is going to be an issue specific to a group of kids.

[Anonymous]

Who the trooper leader is makes such a difference. Ours is done through our school and the main troop leader is a super type A, tiger mom. DD did one year and I volunteered and while the girls and the other parents were great, this woman's vibe was exhausting and she was extremely competitive and this made her kids very competitive too. It could have been low key but she made sure it wasn't.

This year we kind of arranged it so DD's ballet class conflict with GS. DD wasn't that into it anyway and wanted to try gymnastics anyway so it's fine.

I did GS in school and the girls were all very sporty and outdoorsy. I was bookish and not outdoorsy and didn't always fit in, but it was still a good experience.

[Anonymous]

My girls are in Cub Scouts/Scouts because we couldn’t get a call back from Girl Scouts, despite multiple calls and emails to several different branches. One branch did call us, but it was well after we had already signed up for Cub Scouts. I chalk that more up to busy/high demand, maybe I wasn’t calling at the right time of year.

That said, thinking about the little girls I know how are in Girl Scouts—or ANY elementary kid—I would never in a million years label any child as a “Mean Girl.” If you want to have a go at the parents, have a go at the parents. But take a look at your thread title. My goodness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Um anyone can join. It’s not an exclusive organization. So this sounds ridiculous. I think it just depends on your troop.

Anyone can join…if someone calls you back! We tried to get in but ended up in Cub Scouts/Scouts because no one would call us back after months of trying to get more information.

That said, I can’t believe anyone would call elementary girls “Mean Girls,” categorically. Anyone of any age can exhibit mean behavior. But labeling entire swaths of girls who participate in an activity is irresponsible and unfair. Girls have to deal with enough, stop the labeling.

[Anonymous]

I agree with PPs that it will vary with any given group of girls and the culture set by the troop leader. Some are lovely, some are not. That said, my daughter joined Scouts BSA because she's more interested in camping and outdoor activities. My impression so far is those kinds of activities inspire collaborative skills and teamwork. For example, they have to work together to put up and take down a campsite, cook meals, plan and navigate a hike, help an injured person etc. Even if there are smaller friend groups within the larger one, they all seem to be positive and work well together. There must be challenging social dynamics in some Scouts BSA girls troops, but that has not been DD's experience so far.

[Anonymous]

Girl Scouts is a very volunteer driven activity so it’s going to be the parents who are committed to volunteering. I have not found it’s mean girls but if they are younger, that’s all kind of sorting itself out still so some could be Regina George in training. Find a different troop.

[Anonymous]

Our 5th grade troop formed and has had the same membership since kindergarten. It's a pretty random group of girls because no one knew each other when the troop formed in the September of kindergarten year. Like your troop, it is a large percentage of the girls at her school, probably around 30-40%.

I do agree that the parents and girls are the "joiners." They're the same girls on the school soccer team, basketball team, in the school play, at PTA events, etc. At least for our troop they're not mean and aren't cliquey. It's a pretty nice group, but you do see the same people all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At our school, Girl Scouts account for probably 30% of the girls in the grade. The parents are often the pta moms, the swim team moms, soccer moms, dance moms, etc. The moms and girls are cliquey. My daughter just joined. I have heard from other parents how some kids call the girls mean girls. They are called the Girl Scouts as a clique. I have seen some not kind behavior at the meetings.

These groups have good qualities and bad ones. Sadly, cliques form very easily if there are several girls from the same school/my neighborhood. The adult leader should stop this behavior immediately.

[Anonymous]

Very dependent on the school. My older daughter went to a different ES than my younger daughter. Her troop was full of kind of nerdy kids and the queen bees dropped out around 4th or 5th. My younger daughter's troop is full of wealthy PTA-mom's kids. It's a very different experience, we are probably pulling her out this year to do something different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with PPs that it will vary with any given group of girls and the culture set by the troop leader. Some are lovely, some are not. That said, my daughter joined Scouts BSA because she's more interested in camping and outdoor activities. My impression so far is those kinds of activities inspire collaborative skills and teamwork. For example, they have to work together to put up and take down a campsite, cook meals, plan and navigate a hike, help an injured person etc. Even if there are smaller friend groups within the larger one, they all seem to be positive and work well together. There must be challenging social dynamics in some Scouts BSA girls troops, but that has not been DD's experience so far.

My dd's middle school GS troop is all about camping and hiking.

In elementary school the troop that formed was pretty random. By fifth/sixth grade most of the "mean girls" quit because they thought it wasn't cool. That made it easier to chaperone the hiking and camping trips because there wasn't as much complaining. The girls that stayed aren't BFFs but they generally are "nice kids" who lean nerdier than popular. Our leaders are ridiculously nice and patient people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a brownie. Im the socially awkward poor mom. The girls are generally just regular girls. The parents do overlap with pta, mostly due to being into volunteering. I’m not one of them. I do help with troop and at school when I can. No one is snobby but initially we were all too tired and busy when girls were younger to connect.

Adding we have a good mix of athletes and artsy kids in our troop. Definitely a motley crew.

This is part of the problem. Parents are labeling kids. What constitutes an athlete? Someone who signs up for soccer year round and how would everyone know. What constitutes an artsy kid at this age? Most young kids are artsy but are some more than others?

I’m not picking on this post but I’m wondering if labeling every child might be part of the problem.

[Anonymous]

Forgot to add I wonder how my daughters would be labeled.

[Anonymous]

I think it depends on the troop. My daughter's troop seems to be pretty normal girls with normal-to-shy moms. If your troop is cliquey and mean, maybe there's a different troop in your area that you can join?