Why do girls drop out of Girl Scouts in the 5th, 6th, 7th grades?

[Anonymous]

Because it is totally dorky. I am so grateful neither if my kids wanted to do boy or Girl Scouts. I was a brownie -fun. Then a Girl Scout. That fun lasted about 2 years, maybe. Yuck. All that conformity and having to do what everyone else is doing, hideous uncomfortable uniforms, such middle America values.

There are so any other activities for building the skills scouting purports to focus on: sports teams for leadership and working with others, sleep away camp for outdoorsy skills, music and art lessons for the arts, etc... Scouting just seems so outdated and, well, honestly, middle America in that negative, bland, boring, conformist, uninspired, way.

[Anonymous]

Too many other activities. As girls get older they are more focused on sports or the arts and Girl Scouts is one that can get crossed off when families are pressed for time. By then girls have done if for 4-5 years and that seems enough.

[Anonymous]

20:54 Why are you dumping on middle America?

[Anonymous]

Strange that 20:54 had "fun" for three years by her own account, but she now sees it a horrible activity that she wouldn't want her own daughter to participate in.... ? quite odd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because it is totally dorky. I am so grateful neither if my kids wanted to do boy or Girl Scouts. I was a brownie -fun. Then a Girl Scout. That fun lasted about 2 years, maybe. Yuck. All that conformity and having to do what everyone else is doing, hideous uncomfortable uniforms, such middle America values.

There are so any other activities for building the skills scouting purports to focus on: sports teams for leadership and working with others, sleep away camp for outdoorsy skills, music and art lessons for the arts, etc... Scouting just seems so outdated and, well, honestly, middle America in that negative, bland, boring, conformist, uninspired, way.

You seem very bland and uninspired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because it is totally dorky. I am so grateful neither if my kids wanted to do boy or Girl Scouts. I was a brownie -fun. Then a Girl Scout. That fun lasted about 2 years, maybe. Yuck. All that conformity and having to do what everyone else is doing, hideous uncomfortable uniforms, such middle America values.

There are so any other activities for building the skills scouting purports to focus on: sports teams for leadership and working with others, sleep away camp for outdoorsy skills, music and art lessons for the arts, etc... Scouting just seems so outdated and, well, honestly, middle America in that negative, bland, boring, conformist, uninspired, way.

Glad I'm not your child. You were probably one of the mean, cynical girls in the troop.

[Anonymous]

It became full of mean girls as we went up in years. Sadly this happened to me in my troop and to my cousin in another state and then to both of my nieces. I'm sure there are nice troops and troop leaders but not in our experiences.

[Anonymous]

Here are my observations: as girls mature, they begin to question more things on a philosophical level that requires the adult to be more involved, have good listening skills, really enjoy kids in that age range and be willing to engage in a two way conversation. What often happens are the moms really just want things to be a case of I am telling you what to do, so do it and don't question. I realize not all troop leaders or troops are like this but many are.

Many parents put their DDs in the troop in the hope of their DD gain social skills but over the years the girls remain socially awkward because GS leaders are not likely to be providing the kind of guidance socially such girls would need. It makes it more difficult for all the girls involved.

Lastly, other activities become more important. Sports in particular require more attention and practices. So it becomes a choice of what the girl wants to do more or what the parents wants more.

[Anonymous]

I was a troop leader from K-7. The girls just have a ton of activities and my daughter didn't want to have her limited free time with a lot of GS time. The Journeys are AWFUL. The paperwork and expectations for a single troop leader are ridiculous. I worked my butt off reading, planning, camping, weekend trips, community service, cookie booths, badges, ceremonies, etc... And loved it all and the girls. What I could not stand was the expectations of council. Attending adult meetings, training, paperwork for every single little decision. The nail in the offin was the change of to Journeys. Lastly the parents sucked. Expected me to do it all and bitched if things weren't the way they wanted. They did help some but no one has any idea how time consuming it is.

I recommend the kids stay Juliettes and continue on doing what they want if the troop doesn't last. Summer and camp programs are great. STEM courses for girls are outstanding as well. My troop went to NIST yearly, met NASA enigineers and astronauts for one on one. Spent the day at universities touring colleges and their STEM programs. Went to Congress. Lots of empowering things non-Girl Scouts don't have the opportunity to do. This was all before they were teens.

I think some ignorant people think it is goody good or dorky but I rather my daughter in Girl Scouts throwing a Thanksgiving Day feast for the homeless, making stuffed beds for dogs at the Humane Society, throwing a party at The Children's Inn, and playing card games monthly at assisted living homes (all things we did last year) than sitting on the Internet, applying make-up, worrying about boys, sexting, getting into trouble. Going over bullying really opened my eyes to how horrible middle school girls can be. As a troop, you are in a group that has your back. It helped them and I was glad to be a part of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a troop leader from K-7. The girls just have a ton of activities and my daughter didn't want to have her limited free time with a lot of GS time. The Journeys are AWFUL. The paperwork and expectations for a single troop leader are ridiculous. I worked my butt off reading, planning, camping, weekend trips, community service, cookie booths, badges, ceremonies, etc... And loved it all and the girls. What I could not stand was the expectations of council. Attending adult meetings, training, paperwork for every single little decision. The nail in the offin was the change of to Journeys. Lastly the parents sucked. Expected me to do it all and bitched if things weren't the way they wanted. They did help some but no one has any idea how time consuming it is.

I recommend the kids stay Juliettes and continue on doing what they want if the troop doesn't last. Summer and camp programs are great. STEM courses for girls are outstanding as well. My troop went to NIST yearly, met NASA enigineers and astronauts for one on one. Spent the day at universities touring colleges and their STEM programs. Went to Congress. Lots of empowering things non-Girl Scouts don't have the opportunity to do. This was all before they were teens.

I think some ignorant people think it is goody good or dorky but I rather my daughter in Girl Scouts throwing a Thanksgiving Day feast for the homeless, making stuffed beds for dogs at the Humane Society, throwing a party at The Children's Inn, and playing card games monthly at assisted living homes (all things we did last year) than sitting on the Internet, applying make-up, worrying about boys, sexting, getting into trouble. Going over bullying really opened my eyes to how horrible middle school girls can be. As a troop, you are in a group that has your back. It helped them and I was glad to be a part of it.

I have a boy scout, but I bet it is very similar to Girl Scouts. He had to fill out a form recently for honor society at school and they asked about examples of character, leadership, citizenship and service. I have had the same complaints about scouts I read above (too old fashioned, out of synch with todays youth and their lives, takes up too much time, too many other activities that conflict, etc.). Yet, as he filled out the form, I it became apparent that almost every example we could think of in those 4 categories came from scouting activities. Spouse and I looked at each other and we both said at the same time, "geez, without the scouts, we wouldn't have been able to fill in even half those paragraphs." So I have a better view of it now. For what it is worth.

[Anonymous]

My daughter quit because she has tons of other activities and I wasn't willing to commit the time to help her with all of the badge projects and the time it would take to help out with the troop. I have a very negative opinion of GS from my experience with an anti Semitic leader in the 70's who led my troop at Rock Creek Valley Elm. School. I know things have changed since then, and my experience was completely different from my daughter's, but my experience left a terrible taste in my mouth. That experience scarred me, unfortunately, and now I feel very negative about GS. Hence my unwillingness to commit the necessary time.

[Anonymous]

OP here -- as a leader it is really depressing to hear people rag on the leaders. We put SO much time/effort into making a great experience for your child (not talking about the leader who was anti-semetic -- that is terrible).

I do see that the requirements for earning badges/awards get harder as the girls get older (more independent work, more service hours, more field trips). And I can see how some girls/parents wouldn't be willing to do that. I think it's a natural tension --- if earning something is going to have meaning, it has to be something challenging. But, if it's challenging, then some girls won't take the challenge and will drop out. I'm not sure it could be any other way b/c if they were just playing games and painting their nails, then other people wouldn't see the value in being a member.

I have heard that people don't like the journeys much -- so I'm going to keep the option open not to do a journey at all.

Thanks for the feedback -- and if you have advice on what I should do to keep it positive (if there is anything I can do), then I'd like to hear your suggestions.

[Anonymous]

Some of the smaller troops become simply a club for the leaders daughters. And there is quite a bit of bullying in GS troops. I called the regional leader and she confirmed this was a real problem. Volunteer organization. But most girls just get very busy in 5th and 6th grade with their own activities, and do not have time. It is up to the leaders to limit the workload, and sometimes that does not happen.

[Anonymous]

I have certainly seen girls hazed out of GS. If you think that is happening -- drop. The leaders only want "certain" girls, or just enough to fit in the leaders cars. 6-8.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of the smaller troops become simply a club for the leaders daughters. And there is quite a bit of bullying in GS troops. I called the regional leader and she confirmed this was a real problem. Volunteer organization. But most girls just get very busy in 5th and 6th grade with their own activities, and do not have time. It is up to the leaders to limit the workload, and sometimes that does not happen.

Just wondering if you'd tell the soccer coach or dance teacher -- "it's up to you to limit the workload"? If you consider being a soccer player/competitive dancer/girl scout an accomplishment then YOU have to step up to the challenge presented, right?

I'm genuinely asking why you would expect scouts to be minimally invasive? Is your primary motivation to have a social group? (nothing wrong with that desire -- it's just not what the official scouting program purports to be if the leader is following any of the girls' programming with awards/badges/journeys).