Cub scout vs girl scout
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Anonymous
+100 pumpkin patch and touch a truck? Those are not examples of what people mean when they say “outdoorsy activities.” I can sit in a chair and read outside, does that mean it’s an outdoor activity? How absurd! |
Anonymous
You're ignoring camping, hiking, swimming, and sledding to make some kind of false point. All the Scouting people on here are bragging about going camping, but when a GSUSA advocate says they camp you say "I can sit in a chair and read outside" to dismiss them entirely. I wonder if you guys even realize how badly you come off in these threads. Not PP, btw. Just reading and watching the immediate scorn for female spaces and diminishment of girls' accomplishments, as happens in every single one of these threads. |
Anonymous
They are 5-6yos. You’re being absurd, honestly. |
Anonymous
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I agree with a PP that looking up the merit badges will give an excellent idea of the differences between GS and Scouts BSA, if it's a commitment being considered for the long haul.
I do think it's true that for BSA you basically know what to expect but that GS will vary hugely depending on the adult volunteers and interests of a given group of girls. |
Anonymous
DC dads are definitely not contributing to this idea, at least not that I've ever witnessed. But all activities are gender-segregated from age 12, other than Courts of Honor, so they still have their "male spaces." |
Anonymous
This. GS is very girl led and troop dependent. But I like that. It’s a group of girls, peers, making choices for themselves. I think it’s very empowering for them. My DD was very proud each time they planned an outing, especially their big end of year outing. |
Anonymous
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Watch the Netflix documentary about BSA. A deplorable organization.
Girl Scouts. |
Anonymous
How often do Boy Scouts/cub scouts actually go camping? Both of my girls' Girl Scout troops go 2-3 times a years and both of my girls have done multiple girl scout summer camps. Does Boy Scouts offer summer camps? |
Anonymous
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My GS has done about equal in the outdoors area as her BSA brother. She has also traveled internationally (BSA doesn't really do that) and spent a lot of time working with women in leadership positions.
I would say, either way scouting is amazing - but I don't feel like BSA really highlights the speciality of women. When my daughter joined GS - we got the hard sell from BSA (as her older brother was doing it) but she loved (and still loves) the Girl Scouts. It really depends on your kid (and the local troops for both). Anyone who is putting the other organization down, really isn't participating in the spirit of scouting. |
Anonymous
I am guessing that this PP has a Daisy (like K-1) because the things she mentions aren't done with older Girl Scouts. When my girls were daisies, we did some of these cutesy type things, but have progressed pretty quickly since kindergarten! I have a 6th grader whose troop went camping twice last year along with two additional overnights requiring train trips. She has also done a ton of camping/hiking day trips and things like dog sledding, rafting, etc. Gone are the days of cutesy apple picking, fire station visits, great country farms, etc. One thing I would look into with Boy Scouts is the rules around safety and ratios. Girl Scouts is very strict about that, which I appreciate. I have zero experience with Boy Scouts, so I have no opinion, I've heard good things from parents of boys and girls, though. |
Anonymous
Yes, this. Visit both and see whether one clicks with your DD more than the other. Both are very empowering experiences, just structured differently. Pay close attention to the social dynamic with the girls, too. Some dens/troops have much better camaraderie than others. If your DD likes both, then look into the expectations for adult volunteers and see which you prefer. I personally wasn't excited about selling cookies or camping! |
Anonymous
Yes. I posted with my experience with Daisies since OP asked about her kindergartener. |
Anonymous
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Both can be great options and much depends on local Troop culture and volunteers.
Both adds start in GS and went through MS. They switched to BSA at the end of MS, though in a girl only troop. Cub scouts was great for us as a family. We could all go together which was necessary at the time. DDs were in a GS troop that held one camp out a year that was indoors. Only other outdoor activity was a hike through a large park within 5 miles of school. They loved camping and outdoors with the Cub Scouts so when the opportunity presented they switched. I do think it is nice that they are in a girls only BSA troop. They may have stayed with GS if they were in a troop like some others here mentioned. You can always reevaluate later. I still think BSA offers better merit badges. |
Anonymous
Yes, this is a great point. If a girl decides she prefers BSA activities later on, she can switch. Or vice versa. |
Anonymous
For our troop, cub scouts (grades k-5) went twice a year, with families required to attend and scouts sleeping in the tents with parents. Starting in 6th grade (the traditional Boy Scout program, now rebranded), it is monthly, although I would say less than half the boys in the troop attend any given campout due to conflicts, interest, etc. You are required to attend a certain number of campouts in order to advance up the ranking, though, so you'll be stuck forever at "Tenderfoot" or whatever if you don't go. For camps, the only camps that are really available for cub scouts are day camps, which require the scouts to go as a troop, and require a fair amount of parental volunteers to staff the camp (meaning that if parents can't go, that won't happen, and you can really only go one specific week in the summer). For the post-cub scout years, it is sleepeway at the Goshen camp in West Virginia -- again, the scouts must attend as a troop, and it requires several parents to be willing to attend with them, meaning that every year we have to schedule our summer vacations and other commitments around the week that our troop got for Goshen. GS is very different for camp, as they own 5 facilities around the area, and offer camps that you can go to basically any week of the summer, day camp or sleepaway, for all ages and without the requirement of parent volunteers. There's a downside in that they don't go as a troop as a bonding experience, but it is way, way more convenient for families to be able to just pick the week and location that works for them, and not have to worry about who is taking a week off from work to supervise the scouts. IME, GS really has a commitment to being available for families of all incomes and with working parents, whereas BSA historicaly is just not as well set up for this. Boy Scouts does have the four signature "high adventure" camps across the country for teen boys, but they are expensive, hard to book, require a lot of volunteer support, so not al lboys do them. GS has access to most of the same programs, through Venture crews or Girl Scout Destinations (I know GS who did Sea Base, Philmont, and Northern Tier) -- but I don't think it as well advertised to the HS girls, and girls have to really want to do it. IME, the HS BSA scouts are pretty much all outdoorsy, whereas the HS GS scouts are a much more mixed bag with some being very outdoorsy and some being more public service oriented. As a result, the BSA teens have a more ready-made cohort for outdoorsy stuff, whereas the GS outdoorsy teens may have to hunt a little more to find their cohort, but there are groups set up to facilitate it for the girls who are interested. (Much to my sadness, my own two daughters are much less outdoorsy than me, despite my best efforts. But they both have decent outdoorsy skills, and can make a fire, set up a tent, cook outdoors, and perform basic first aid as well as their brother who grew up in the BSA program.) After years of being a GS troop leader, I will just say that the bathroom issues are real for girls -- that is probably the number 1 issue most girls have with camping and backpacking. |