How does Girl Scouts work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the biggest surprises dual working parent families seem to have when their oldest hits school age is that all these activities they hear about kids doing require huge amounts of parent volunteer time. Its not like daycare, where you pay a fee and drop off. Almost every single activity your child does will involve a small amount or a large amount of volunteer time.

I send emails for our rec league every season begging for volunteer rec soccer/basketball/softball coaches and every season, without fail, a parent emails me to ask why we don't just hire some coaches. Every season.

Laughing but I totally understand those parents. I am an active volunteer in scouts and other groups .. but I would love to put money in the hat to hire an expert leader for some activities DD does. Some people (me) just do not have the personality or talent for certain activities (sports and theater). So I get it. If $500 would induce someone to coach, me and 4 other parents would have our wallets out already.

I have 3 kids. We pay a lot for tennis - clinic, private lessons and team.

The only activity that we know going in requiring time commitment is science Olympiad. We knew we had to coach.

I did not know or expect scouts was similar.

It sounds like you do private $$$ tennis. Rec sports need volunteers to run everything.

I guess it is private. They have played at the local pool and tennis, local rec center, racquet club and now country club. None of them required parent volunteers minus the pool and tennis club would ask for help organizing parties. It was more a potluck type sign up. Same with soccer. My kids have played both rec and travel soccer. They only asked for snacks.

It is hard enough just getting my kids to practice and games.

That's because you were lucky and those teams had coaches step up and they didn't need to beg the parents. I coached my son's U8 team one season because no one volunteered. That was experience.

Right? Talk about oblivious! That rec soccer team almost certainly had a volunteer parent or four coaching it. It sounds like you were lucky and happened to have a kid the same age/grade as parents that were enthusiastic and volunteered to coach before the organization needed to send out the annual "if we don't get a volunteer you don't get a team" email.

I am a Girl Scout leader. My girls pay $35 per year registration and that's it. Other than that, cookie sales and the volunteer time of an awesome group of parents cover everything. If you want your kid to go hiking and camping and do robotics and participate in democracy and you *don't* want to volunteer, you can do that. You can sign them up for paid courses at REI and the local art center and Pongos and Girls Inc. That will amount to several thousand dollars a year.
Or you can help out and volunteer to be part of a Girl Scout troop.

That's exactly what I thought. Do people just think these rec sports magically happen? Where do they think the adults running everything come from?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish GS would fade away. They make a big push at the beginnging of elementary and get all the girls hyped up. I didn't want to be the parent who said "no we aren't doing girl scouts its dumb" but it is. The activities are boring and lame and I can't wait for DD to agree on her own.

Or you could volunteer and lead whatever activities you want. It's lame because you want everyone else to put in the effort.

Nah. I really don't. I just don't want her to feel like her friends are getting to do something she isn't. If it disappeared, problem solved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish GS would fade away. They make a big push at the beginnging of elementary and get all the girls hyped up. I didn't want to be the parent who said "no we aren't doing girl scouts its dumb" but it is. The activities are boring and lame and I can't wait for DD to agree on her own.

A well run troop is girl-led, so you may think the activities are boring and lame, but evidently the girls don't. And if you have some ideas for what they should be doing instead - please jump in! I'm sure the leader would be thrilled for the help.

The activities the girls choose go well. But those are usally for "fun" badges that aren't real. When the leaders call a meeting to a "real" badge, it feels like school. My DD has gotten smart. She will ask me where the meeting is. If I say its at the library, she doesn't want to go. If I say its at the park/playground/etc. then she wants to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just wish GS would fade away. They make a big push at the beginnging of elementary and get all the girls hyped up. I didn't want to be the parent who said "no we aren't doing girl scouts its dumb" but it is. The activities are boring and lame and I can't wait for DD to agree on her own.

YOU don't like it, so you think that it shouldn't even exist? Even though millions of others get something positive out of it? That's a disgusting sense of entitlement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish GS would fade away. They make a big push at the beginnging of elementary and get all the girls hyped up. I didn't want to be the parent who said "no we aren't doing girl scouts its dumb" but it is. The activities are boring and lame and I can't wait for DD to agree on her own.

YOU don't like it, so you think that it shouldn't even exist? Even though millions of others get something positive out of it? That's a disgusting sense of entitlement.

So is thinking the government should bail you out of your mortgage or student loans, yet people on this forum seem to think thats fine!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish GS would fade away. They make a big push at the beginnging of elementary and get all the girls hyped up. I didn't want to be the parent who said "no we aren't doing girl scouts its dumb" but it is. The activities are boring and lame and I can't wait for DD to agree on her own.

YOU don't like it, so you think that it shouldn't even exist? Even though millions of others get something positive out of it? That's a disgusting sense of entitlement.

So is thinking the government should bail you out of your mortgage or student loans, yet people on this forum seem to think thats fine!

I don't.

-pp you quoted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the biggest surprises dual working parent families seem to have when their oldest hits school age is that all these activities they hear about kids doing require huge amounts of parent volunteer time. Its not like daycare, where you pay a fee and drop off. Almost every single activity your child does will involve a small amount or a large amount of volunteer time.

I send emails for our rec league every season begging for volunteer rec soccer/basketball/softball coaches and every season, without fail, a parent emails me to ask why we don't just hire some coaches. Every season.

Laughing but I totally understand those parents. I am an active volunteer in scouts and other groups .. but I would love to put money in the hat to hire an expert leader for some activities DD does. Some people (me) just do not have the personality or talent for certain activities (sports and theater). So I get it. If $500 would induce someone to coach, me and 4 other parents would have our wallets out already.

I have 3 kids. We pay a lot for tennis - clinic, private lessons and team.

The only activity that we know going in requiring time commitment is science Olympiad. We knew we had to coach.

I did not know or expect scouts was similar.

It sounds like you do private $$$ tennis. Rec sports need volunteers to run everything.

I guess it is private. They have played at the local pool and tennis, local rec center, racquet club and now country club. None of them required parent volunteers minus the pool and tennis club would ask for help organizing parties. It was more a potluck type sign up. Same with soccer. My kids have played both rec and travel soccer. They only asked for snacks.

It is hard enough just getting my kids to practice and games.

That's because you were lucky and those teams had coaches step up and they didn't need to beg the parents. I coached my son's U8 team one season because no one volunteered. That was experience.

Right? Talk about oblivious! That rec soccer team almost certainly had a volunteer parent or four coaching it. It sounds like you were lucky and happened to have a kid the same age/grade as parents that were enthusiastic and volunteered to coach before the organization needed to send out the annual "if we don't get a volunteer you don't get a team" email.

I am a Girl Scout leader. My girls pay $35 per year registration and that's it. Other than that, cookie sales and the volunteer time of an awesome group of parents cover everything. If you want your kid to go hiking and camping and do robotics and participate in democracy and you *don't* want to volunteer, you can do that. You can sign them up for paid courses at REI and the local art center and Pongos and Girls Inc. That will amount to several thousand dollars a year.
Or you can help out and volunteer to be part of a Girl Scout troop.

That's exactly what I thought. Do people just think these rec sports magically happen? Where do they think the adults running everything come from?

I think you are criticizing me. I am well aware that rec soccer is run by volunteers.

While I have not coached sports, I have coached science Olympiad. I have also been a room parent, been on the pta board and chaired almost every committee in the pta. We all contribute to our kids’ lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the biggest surprises dual working parent families seem to have when their oldest hits school age is that all these activities they hear about kids doing require huge amounts of parent volunteer time. Its not like daycare, where you pay a fee and drop off. Almost every single activity your child does will involve a small amount or a large amount of volunteer time.

I send emails for our rec league every season begging for volunteer rec soccer/basketball/softball coaches and every season, without fail, a parent emails me to ask why we don't just hire some coaches. Every season.

Laughing but I totally understand those parents. I am an active volunteer in scouts and other groups .. but I would love to put money in the hat to hire an expert leader for some activities DD does. Some people (me) just do not have the personality or talent for certain activities (sports and theater). So I get it. If $500 would induce someone to coach, me and 4 other parents would have our wallets out already.

I have 3 kids. We pay a lot for tennis - clinic, private lessons and team.

The only activity that we know going in requiring time commitment is science Olympiad. We knew we had to coach.

I did not know or expect scouts was similar.

It sounds like you do private $$$ tennis. Rec sports need volunteers to run everything.

I guess it is private. They have played at the local pool and tennis, local rec center, racquet club and now country club. None of them required parent volunteers minus the pool and tennis club would ask for help organizing parties. It was more a potluck type sign up. Same with soccer. My kids have played both rec and travel soccer. They only asked for snacks.

It is hard enough just getting my kids to practice and games.

That's because you were lucky and those teams had coaches step up and they didn't need to beg the parents. I coached my son's U8 team one season because no one volunteered. That was experience.

Right? Talk about oblivious! That rec soccer team almost certainly had a volunteer parent or four coaching it. It sounds like you were lucky and happened to have a kid the same age/grade as parents that were enthusiastic and volunteered to coach before the organization needed to send out the annual "if we don't get a volunteer you don't get a team" email.

I am a Girl Scout leader. My girls pay $35 per year registration and that's it. Other than that, cookie sales and the volunteer time of an awesome group of parents cover everything. If you want your kid to go hiking and camping and do robotics and participate in democracy and you *don't* want to volunteer, you can do that. You can sign them up for paid courses at REI and the local art center and Pongos and Girls Inc. That will amount to several thousand dollars a year.
Or you can help out and volunteer to be part of a Girl Scout troop.

That's exactly what I thought. Do people just think these rec sports magically happen? Where do they think the adults running everything come from?

I think you are criticizing me. I am well aware that rec soccer is run by volunteers.

While I have not coached sports, I have coached science Olympiad. I have also been a room parent, been on the pta board and chaired almost every committee in the pta. We all contribute to our kids’ lives.

Well you sounded dim when it came to rec sports based on your initial post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the biggest surprises dual working parent families seem to have when their oldest hits school age is that all these activities they hear about kids doing require huge amounts of parent volunteer time. Its not like daycare, where you pay a fee and drop off. Almost every single activity your child does will involve a small amount or a large amount of volunteer time.

I send emails for our rec league every season begging for volunteer rec soccer/basketball/softball coaches and every season, without fail, a parent emails me to ask why we don't just hire some coaches. Every season.

Laughing but I totally understand those parents. I am an active volunteer in scouts and other groups .. but I would love to put money in the hat to hire an expert leader for some activities DD does. Some people (me) just do not have the personality or talent for certain activities (sports and theater). So I get it. If $500 would induce someone to coach, me and 4 other parents would have our wallets out already.

I have 3 kids. We pay a lot for tennis - clinic, private lessons and team.

The only activity that we know going in requiring time commitment is science Olympiad. We knew we had to coach.

I did not know or expect scouts was similar.

It sounds like you do private $$$ tennis. Rec sports need volunteers to run everything.

I guess it is private. They have played at the local pool and tennis, local rec center, racquet club and now country club. None of them required parent volunteers minus the pool and tennis club would ask for help organizing parties. It was more a potluck type sign up. Same with soccer. My kids have played both rec and travel soccer. They only asked for snacks.

It is hard enough just getting my kids to practice and games.

That's because you were lucky and those teams had coaches step up and they didn't need to beg the parents. I coached my son's U8 team one season because no one volunteered. That was experience.

Right? Talk about oblivious! That rec soccer team almost certainly had a volunteer parent or four coaching it. It sounds like you were lucky and happened to have a kid the same age/grade as parents that were enthusiastic and volunteered to coach before the organization needed to send out the annual "if we don't get a volunteer you don't get a team" email.

I am a Girl Scout leader. My girls pay $35 per year registration and that's it. Other than that, cookie sales and the volunteer time of an awesome group of parents cover everything. If you want your kid to go hiking and camping and do robotics and participate in democracy and you *don't* want to volunteer, you can do that. You can sign them up for paid courses at REI and the local art center and Pongos and Girls Inc. That will amount to several thousand dollars a year.
Or you can help out and volunteer to be part of a Girl Scout troop.

No, it’s not “$35 per year and that’s it,” that’s like saying breastfeeding is free. There’s the value of your time, the other volunteers’ time, the ways that volunteers end up subsidizing troop activities (buying up surplus cases of cookies, donating supplies to meetings, time spent selling cookies to your colleagues to supplement the cookie sales, hours and hours on largely pointless trainings, etc). And let’s be clear—most of the Girl Scout volunteer duties fall to the moms. The GS organization makes it more difficult for dads to volunteer, dads aren’t allowed to sleep in the same tent as their own daughter on the GS camping trips. I was a GS leader when my daughter was in grade school, so I know from experience how much effort it takes to make it work. I think it’s disingenuous to say it’s simply a $35 investment. It’s not. And sometimes the GS experiences are a bit contrived despite everyone’s best intentions. The most fun and most rewarding GS badges we did were through partnerships with museums or similar organizations that provided specialists to lead the girls through activities. Our troop had to raise a lot of cookie sale money to pay for those experiences (and have parent volunteers subsidize other expenses to preserve the troop budget). The bare bones budget meetings are often the least inspiring ones.

[Anonymous]

Seems harmless enough but it is some Cold War nonsense. Teaches girls to love God and the USA. No thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a Girl Scout leader of a casual, multi-age troop at a prek-8th grade school, and it’s really difficult. Unlike Cub Scouts or Boy Scouts, there isn’t a pre-existing organization that you just add yourself to. Each new troop is totally freestanding with very basic support from Council, which is the regional organization that deals with background checks, registration, cookie sale management, etc. Daisies and Brownies are the most difficult, because they don’t have the independence to plan their activities or sort through badge options, and parents will all have different opinions about what activities should happen.

You will need to start a troop yourself. It is very unlikely there is a preexisting troop you can join, and even if there was, many leaders are reluctant to take on new girls, regardless of if that is right or wrong, for the anecdotal reasons I’ll give below.

This year I am trying to get every parent to register as a volunteer so that we can easily meet required leader:scout ratios. No one wants to do it. New girls want to join, but I won’t approve their registration without parents registering this year. I need myself and at least one other Girl Scouts background checked volunteer at every event we have. It is often just me and we essentially have to run things illicitly. Girl Scouts is supposed to be girl-led and parent/leader supported, but many parents expect it to be more like soccer teams or dance classes. It is not an activity where you just drop your child off and a paid coach/teacher makes things happen, and that causes a disconnect between parent and leader expectations. The volunteer aspect of it means that a lot of troops of formed by people who know each other or existing friend groups, because it is a big job to plan meetings and activities and be responsible for a group of 10-12 girls who you don’t know. Troops are also financially independent and largely self-funded by optional troop dues and cookie sales, so starting a troop up is difficult because you don’t have cookie revenue until late spring/summer. It requires being on top of asking for dues at the start of the year or making sure parents are reimbursing you throughout the year. Many new leaders get stuck holding the bag financially until cookie sales.

The Girl Scout subreddit has a lot of good advice this time of year.

+1. It’s a heavy lift and you need a leader that is all in plus volunteers to help. Our troop was essentially drop-off and I disliked having to manage other people’s kids. I think it’s harder than coaching rec sports b/c you have to figure out all the activities and you’re acting more like a kindergarten teacher when they’re Daisies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems harmless enough but it is some Cold War nonsense. Teaches girls to love God and the USA. No thanks.

Read about Girl Scouts and the Scouting movement. The history goes way back to the turn of the 20th century and Girl Scouts USA has really specific positions on God and “USA” (which I assume you are using as a stand-in for excess patriotism or even jingoism). Look into Girl Scouts’ recent statements on school shootings, Roe, LGBTQ+ rights, etc. I know you’re trolling, but I’ll bite at inaccurate comments about a really progressive organization.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish GS would fade away. They make a big push at the beginnging of elementary and get all the girls hyped up. I didn't want to be the parent who said "no we aren't doing girl scouts its dumb" but it is. The activities are boring and lame and I can't wait for DD to agree on her own.

YOU don't like it, so you think that it shouldn't even exist? Even though millions of others get something positive out of it? That's a disgusting sense of entitlement.

There is a set of people out there who will just never be happy with Girl Scouts. They will always think it is lame or inferior, or they'll get snide about cookie sales, or if they can't think of anything else they'll say that girl groups have too much drama. Girl Scouts just attracts a level of vitriol that other activities don't -- I'm sure you won't find PP complaining about the existence of skating lessons or whatever Suzie is doing that her DD wanted to do also.

There is nothing you can do with these people but let it roll off. They are their own punishment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish GS would fade away. They make a big push at the beginnging of elementary and get all the girls hyped up. I didn't want to be the parent who said "no we aren't doing girl scouts its dumb" but it is. The activities are boring and lame and I can't wait for DD to agree on her own.

YOU don't like it, so you think that it shouldn't even exist? Even though millions of others get something positive out of it? That's a disgusting sense of entitlement.

There is a set of people out there who will just never be happy with Girl Scouts. They will always think it is lame or inferior, or they'll get snide about cookie sales, or if they can't think of anything else they'll say that girl groups have too much drama. Girl Scouts just attracts a level of vitriol that other activities don't -- I'm sure you won't find PP complaining about the existence of skating lessons or whatever Suzie is doing that her DD wanted to do also.

There is nothing you can do with these people but let it roll off. They are their own punishment.

I guess I just got really unlucky then. I have two DD’s and both their troops were not very active (infrequent meetings and activities) and when they did meet, activities were boring and/or poorly planned. Neither girl’s troop leader request help running the meetings, but I did volunteer in the ways that were requested. I am aware that there are other more activity troops in other grades, but at our school you join the troop for your grade and not some other grade. So it’s a crapshoot. It’s really inconsistent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the biggest surprises dual working parent families seem to have when their oldest hits school age is that all these activities they hear about kids doing require huge amounts of parent volunteer time. Its not like daycare, where you pay a fee and drop off. Almost every single activity your child does will involve a small amount or a large amount of volunteer time.

I send emails for our rec league every season begging for volunteer rec soccer/basketball/softball coaches and every season, without fail, a parent emails me to ask why we don't just hire some coaches. Every season.

Laughing but I totally understand those parents. I am an active volunteer in scouts and other groups .. but I would love to put money in the hat to hire an expert leader for some activities DD does. Some people (me) just do not have the personality or talent for certain activities (sports and theater). So I get it. If $500 would induce someone to coach, me and 4 other parents would have our wallets out already.

I have 3 kids. We pay a lot for tennis - clinic, private lessons and team.

The only activity that we know going in requiring time commitment is science Olympiad. We knew we had to coach.

I did not know or expect scouts was similar.

It sounds like you do private $$$ tennis. Rec sports need volunteers to run everything.

I guess it is private. They have played at the local pool and tennis, local rec center, racquet club and now country club. None of them required parent volunteers minus the pool and tennis club would ask for help organizing parties. It was more a potluck type sign up. Same with soccer. My kids have played both rec and travel soccer. They only asked for snacks.

It is hard enough just getting my kids to practice and games.

That's because you were lucky and those teams had coaches step up and they didn't need to beg the parents. I coached my son's U8 team one season because no one volunteered. That was experience.

Right? Talk about oblivious! That rec soccer team almost certainly had a volunteer parent or four coaching it. It sounds like you were lucky and happened to have a kid the same age/grade as parents that were enthusiastic and volunteered to coach before the organization needed to send out the annual "if we don't get a volunteer you don't get a team" email.

I am a Girl Scout leader. My girls pay $35 per year registration and that's it. Other than that, cookie sales and the volunteer time of an awesome group of parents cover everything. If you want your kid to go hiking and camping and do robotics and participate in democracy and you *don't* want to volunteer, you can do that. You can sign them up for paid courses at REI and the local art center and Pongos and Girls Inc. That will amount to several thousand dollars a year.
Or you can help out and volunteer to be part of a Girl Scout troop.

No, it’s not “$35 per year and that’s it,” that’s like saying breastfeeding is free. There’s the value of your time, the other volunteers’ time, the ways that volunteers end up subsidizing troop activities (buying up surplus cases of cookies, donating supplies to meetings, time spent selling cookies to your colleagues to supplement the cookie sales, hours and hours on largely pointless trainings, etc). And let’s be clear—most of the Girl Scout volunteer duties fall to the moms. The GS organization makes it more difficult for dads to volunteer, dads aren’t allowed to sleep in the same tent as their own daughter on the GS camping trips. I was a GS leader when my daughter was in grade school, so I know from experience how much effort it takes to make it work. I think it’s disingenuous to say it’s simply a $35 investment. It’s not. And sometimes the GS experiences are a bit contrived despite everyone’s best intentions. The most fun and most rewarding GS badges we did were through partnerships with museums or similar organizations that provided specialists to lead the girls through activities. Our troop had to raise a lot of cookie sale money to pay for those experiences (and have parent volunteers subsidize other expenses to preserve the troop budget). The bare bones budget meetings are often the least inspiring ones.

I'm not sure why you felt the need to go on that rant. I agree with you and was making that same point. "Other than that, cookie sales and the volunteer time of an awesome group of parents cover everything."
So either OP needs to pay thousands of dollars, or she needs to be part of the volunteer apparatus to make it work.