Cub scout vs girl scout

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would base the decision on your DD's interests. Does she enjoy camping and the outdoors or she is more of an indoors girl? Cub Scouts for former, Girl Scouts for latter. Some GS troops do a little camping, but many do none at all. My DD loved Cub Scouts, and is with a few of the same girls as she moved up to Scouts. The outdoors focus was best suited to her interests and temperament. And it is inspiring her to watch the older girls make Eagle.

I completely disagree!

Our GS troop held most fair-weather meetings outdoors, or, involved activities that were held outdoors (painting, crafting, games, singing and dancing, etc) our GS troop outings also were mostly outdoors. We camped, went sledding, went swimming, apple picking, pumpkin patch, lavender garden, hiking in woods, touch a truck, countless other things, all outdoors.

I would call this "outdoors lite," at best. Are they doing weekend- and week-long camping and high adventure trips? Going white water rafting and rock climbing? Learning how to kayak and sail? Doing easy hikes or challenging hikes carrying all their gear on their backs? Learning first aid and survival skills? Scouts BSA is for serious outdoor enthusiasts. The early focus is camping skills. If that doesn't seem like a good fit for your DD, GS is better.

Our girls went on camping weekends, did zip lining, canoeing, day hikes (with gear), cooked over fire, and yes, learned basic first aid (they were Juniors when Covid struck and we discontinued)

But honestly, our troop prioritized hands on shadowing of females in male dominated careers and STEM careers. So we would have a lot of adventures with them seeing different careers and making it fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a volunteer in both programs and have kids in both. A LOT depends on how strong each program is at your school, and the people running it. But with that said, I would tend toward GS for girls. I just don't think that most BSA (name changed again recently but I'll use BSA) troops have done a great job integrated girls. What I've seen is that a few girls join cub scouts in K or 1, and it's sort of okay, but that they are totally ostracized by third or fourth grade when the boys and girls generally stop wanting to hang out (until 8th-9th, when they start hanging out again). I know there are a couple of very active all-girl BSA troops in the area and I think the experience would be different with them.

There are also some substantive differences in the programs, each of which can cut both ways:

1. GS troops are formed and then run through 12th grade. BSA has 2 separate programs that are really run separately -- Cub Scout dens/troops, and then BSA troops that start at 6th grade. So everything shuffles at 6th grade, at which point the troops become very mixed age (6th-12).

2. GS is girl-led throughout, with an emphasis on increaing independence gradually. Meaning the girls/troop decide what to do in any given year. In Cub Scouts, parents are involved at every step -- must attend meetings (whereas in GS this is not expected or encouraged, as it interferes with them developing independence). In cub scouts, my son wasn't building fires really at all. And then by 6th grade, they are basically set free with almost no adult supervision--supervised only by the older boys who are usually 7-10 graders. In GS, my girls were learning to build fires by 1st/2nd grade, could do it themselves with supervision by 5th/6th grade, and the withdrawal of supervision is much more gradual.

3. GS is very "choose your own adventure" where troops can basically do whatever they are interested in (although all are encouraged to get outdoors and do service projects). BSA has a set of rigid requirements that they will all do, even in cub scouts -- tehy will all learn to carve (at least a little), they will all learn knots, etc. BSA is really regiimented, with an almost military structure and a lot of requirements (such as time-in-grade for rank advancement) that can sometimes be bureacratic.
Because GS is more free form, whether a troop does things like camping will depend a lot on the individual girls and also whether they have parents who are willing to get camp-certified. My younger troop only camps about once a year, because my girls unfortunately don't really like camping, but we do a lot of other outdoor activities like hikes, zip-lining, canoes, archery, stream cleanup, etc. My usual advice for parents is that if it's important to you that the troop camp, get certified early as the camp person, and get the girls doing it early, in the 2nd-3rd grade ages when they are really open to that experience.

4. Because GS is girl-led and only girls, there is a big focus on girl empowerment and providing female role models for girls. At the HS level, that includees things like mentorship programs with female CEOs and scientists, etc. At the lower level, that often includes older girls teaching younger girls how to do things like build fires, etc. Some of the badges also have some sort of feminist themes -- for instance, there are a couple badges that are focused on things like peer pressure, media depiction of women, etc., some of which can be helpful for the tween girls that are navigating this stuff in a way that's different from boys.

There is some misinformation here, though that probably reflects PP's specific experiences. I'm sure all troops function a little differently.True that cub scouts has more parental involvement, which is necessary at that age for camping, and that it's more regimented. However, the girls met separately, with a woman leader, then would meet up with the boys for some of the larger activities. Scouts BSA troops from 6th grade are totally gender-segregated. The girls troops are also "girl-led and only girls," and naturally have a heavy focus on empowerment as well. Senior patrol leaders and other leadership positions are elected, and those girls are in charge of planning all outings for the calendar year and of mentoring the younger girls. One reason we chose Scouts BSA is because we were so impressed by the leadership demonstrated by the girls in running the Open House.

Both are wonderful organizations, but do have a different focus. It's very easy to see the difference in comparing the merit badges. Look them up and see which ones your DD is most excited about. It's the best way to get a sense of the kinds of activities she'll be pursuing either way, because they are quite different. Just depends on the kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our DD was in K at the same time Cub Scouts started allowing girls to join. They really tried hard to recruit us, but ultimately we chose Girl Scouts and I am really glad we did. It helped her grow a broad group of friends and “girl” community with her classmates, and even though most of them have grown apart, those early friendships have served her well. Now that they are in MS, even though they all aren’t still close, they have a “build in ally” of sorts. It’s hard to explain, but it’s like these girls all have a different connection than she has with her classmates who she didn’t Scout with, if that makes sense.

This is a big part of the appeal of GSUSA for me. There's a good amount of research that the best way to build resilience in girls, especially heading into the middle school relational aggression years, is by having multiple different groups of friends. As a family we don't attend a church or anything like that, so we have family friends with kids roughly the same age, school friends, and friends from sports. GS adds another group of friends to the mix so that if we hit 13 and all of a sudden her friends at school all turn on her in some queen bee nonsense, she hopefully will have a built in sense that she's not the problem, because all these other groups of friends and acquaintances aren't doing the same thing.

My DD actually had this happen to her last year. Her new MS friend group (from a different elementary) turned on her at the end of the year, and an old GS friend who she hadn’t socialized with in years, sort of embraced her and gave her a soft place to land. It was really something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our DD was in K at the same time Cub Scouts started allowing girls to join. They really tried hard to recruit us, but ultimately we chose Girl Scouts and I am really glad we did. It helped her grow a broad group of friends and “girl” community with her classmates, and even though most of them have grown apart, those early friendships have served her well. Now that they are in MS, even though they all aren’t still close, they have a “build in ally” of sorts. It’s hard to explain, but it’s like these girls all have a different connection than she has with her classmates who she didn’t Scout with, if that makes sense.

This is a big part of the appeal of GSUSA for me. There's a good amount of research that the best way to build resilience in girls, especially heading into the middle school relational aggression years, is by having multiple different groups of friends. As a family we don't attend a church or anything like that, so we have family friends with kids roughly the same age, school friends, and friends from sports. GS adds another group of friends to the mix so that if we hit 13 and all of a sudden her friends at school all turn on her in some queen bee nonsense, she hopefully will have a built in sense that she's not the problem, because all these other groups of friends and acquaintances aren't doing the same thing.

My DD actually had this happen to her last year. Her new MS friend group (from a different elementary) turned on her at the end of the year, and an old GS friend who she hadn’t socialized with in years, sort of embraced her and gave her a soft place to land. It was really something.

This makes my heart happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would base the decision on your DD's interests. Does she enjoy camping and the outdoors or she is more of an indoors girl? Cub Scouts for former, Girl Scouts for latter. Some GS troops do a little camping, but many do none at all. My DD loved Cub Scouts, and is with a few of the same girls as she moved up to Scouts. The outdoors focus was best suited to her interests and temperament. And it is inspiring her to watch the older girls make Eagle.

I completely disagree!

Our GS troop held most fair-weather meetings outdoors, or, involved activities that were held outdoors (painting, crafting, games, singing and dancing, etc) our GS troop outings also were mostly outdoors. We camped, went sledding, went swimming, apple picking, pumpkin patch, lavender garden, hiking in woods, touch a truck, countless other things, all outdoors.

I would call this "outdoors lite," at best. Are they doing weekend- and week-long camping and high adventure trips? Going white water rafting and rock climbing? Learning how to kayak and sail? Doing easy hikes or challenging hikes carrying all their gear on their backs? Learning first aid and survival skills? Scouts BSA is for serious outdoor enthusiasts. The early focus is camping skills. If that doesn't seem like a good fit for your DD, GS is better.

Everything you listed is possible in Girl Scouts. My daughter did all of those activities. She is now 22 and has worked as a River Ranger for the US Forrest Service doing swift water rescues in the Grand Tetons. She has summited multiple mountains in the US and 3 countries in South America. She became scuba certified on a Girl Scout trip to Panama when she was 14. When she was 12 she did a Girl Scout trip that was 2 weeks long in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota.

Girl Scouts is an organization where the troops are lead by volunteers. There is a huge amount of different activities that troops can participate in. It often comes down to a combination of what interests the girls have, what the volunteer leader is comfortable with and how many parents are willing to support the troop with time and energy. In order to do the camping trips an adult has to be trained. That person does NOT have to be the leader. It could be you. Our daughter stayed active in Girl Scouts for all 13 years (K-12th) she earned her Gold Award and is continuing her passion for the out doors by getting a Masters Degree Natural Recourses.

Her brothers tried 2 different Cub/Boy Scout Troops. They lasted until 5th grade when they begged us to stop. They love the outdoors as well but hated the camping trips with scouts because only the boys that had fathers on the trips ever got to do anything that counted towards advancement. We understand that Boy Scout leaders are also volunteers and decided as a family (parents and sons) that if dad was going to have to go on the camping trips to make them worthwhile, then we would rather spend that time camping as a family. Every troop is different in both organization. And they all depend on volunteers to be successful. Try them out and see what works for your family. Just always understand that if you want different experiences for your child you might need to be willing to step up and help.

[Anonymous]

Our experience with Cub Scouts was camping, hiking, first aid, rocket- and car-designing, archery, bb-gunning etc. Beginning in MS, they do a monthly weekend camping trip. Some are car camping but most are not. They also focus on earning merit badges and work toward wilderness "high adventure" trips. My DD will do her first high adventure, a week-long sailing trip, next summer. Agree with PPs saying Cub Scouts is for kids who want that heavy outdoors focus and that Girl Scouts has a wider range of activities with a particularly strong focus on STEM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our experience with Cub Scouts was camping, hiking, first aid, rocket- and car-designing, archery, bb-gunning etc. Beginning in MS, they do a monthly weekend camping trip. Some are car camping but most are not. They also focus on earning merit badges and work toward wilderness "high adventure" trips. My DD will do her first high adventure, a week-long sailing trip, next summer. Agree with PPs saying Cub Scouts is for kids who want that heavy outdoors focus and that Girl Scouts has a wider range of activities with a particularly strong focus on STEM.

Also agree that every experience will be different, since volunteers run in both cases!

[Anonymous]

Op here. I forgot to mention that DH does not care about scouting, and he is on call working most of the time. It will be 95% me volunteering/participating as a parent to take DD to scouting. Maybe it is easier for me to enroll DD in girl scout.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. I forgot to mention that DH does not care about scouting, and he is on call working most of the time. It will be 95% me volunteering/participating as a parent to take DD to scouting. Maybe it is easier for me to enroll DD in girl scout.

If you yourself do not like camping, then definitely do Girl Scouts. Because parents need to accompany the kids on camping trips until 6th grade. And that is a big focus in Cub Scouts.

[Anonymous]

I think for a shy girl, I'd say Girl Scouts. They really focus on drawing kids out. My son's in Cub Scouts and it's a good match for him because he's extremely "jump in and go" kind of kid. But if I had a girl, I think I'd like the variety in Girl Scouts.

[Anonymous]

I've had/have kids in both, and I would add one thing about the older ages.

While "Eagle Scout" is held up as some vaunted accomplishment, the requirements have really been watered down, at least in my son's troop.

I have been to numerous Eagle Scout ceremonies now where boys have completed projects that would have barely qualified for a Silver Award in GS, let alone a Gold Award. When my daughter did a Gold Award, she had to present her idea by sophmore year, and it needed to be something that achieved lasting change.

I don't know if it's parental pressure, or scrambling to retain scouts after the sex abuse coverups, but I'm disappointed in the low standards for the older boys and frustrated that I'll have to push my son to do better than a "shoe drive" at his HS.

[Anonymous]

Wow! I didn’t realize the “GS/CS War” was a thing!

We chose GS because we wanted DD to feel a sense of community with her female classmates, and to be led by women. We liked that it was women-led with the girl’s input. I felt more “female empowerment” with these things in mind than the, what we found to be, false sense of “female empowerment” from being a girl doing “boy things” that men organized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow! I didn’t realize the “GS/CS War” was a thing!

We chose GS because we wanted DD to feel a sense of community with her female classmates, and to be led by women. We liked that it was women-led with the girl’s input. I felt more “female empowerment” with these things in mind than the, what we found to be, false sense of “female empowerment” from being a girl doing “boy things” that men organized.

"Boy things"? Lmao.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. I forgot to mention that DH does not care about scouting, and he is on call working most of the time. It will be 95% me volunteering/participating as a parent to take DD to scouting. Maybe it is easier for me to enroll DD in girl scout.

If you yourself do not like camping, then definitely do Girl Scouts. Because parents need to accompany the kids on camping trips until 6th grade. And that is a big focus in Cub Scouts.

+1 !

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow! I didn’t realize the “GS/CS War” was a thing!

We chose GS because we wanted DD to feel a sense of community with her female classmates, and to be led by women. We liked that it was women-led with the girl’s input. I felt more “female empowerment” with these things in mind than the, what we found to be, false sense of “female empowerment” from being a girl doing “boy things” that men organized.

"Boy things"? Lmao.

I put it in quotations for a reason and I’m sure you can figure out what I mean. Don’t be obtuse.