Anonymous
Post 02/27/2024 16:39     Subject: Why do girls drop out of Girl Scouts in the 5th, 6th, 7th grades?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm a leader who will have 4th graders next year. Just wondering why girls leave Girl Scouts in the upper grades --- too many other activities? Parents don't value it or want to drive the kid to another thing? The badges require more individual work and the girl doesn't care to do it? Band/orchestra involvement? Been there/done that and moving on?

Wondering what the disconnect is for girls and/or their parents.


This is a great question and one the national office should be exploring. I have a 5th grader who has been a scout since Daisies. But now there are so many other activities during the week its hard to get excited about the meetings. My kid loves the field trips and camping but the meetings seem less interesting. Honestly, the boy scouts seem to do a lot cooler stuff, actual outdoor life skills. And the cookie sales last for 4 months and its exhausting. I think the time has come for national office to just pay for professional troop leaders, its way too much for parents to take on, especially if they work full time,


If your kid enjoys the outdoor part of scouting and doesn't want to hock cookies, look into venture scouts when they are old enough
Anonymous
Post 02/27/2024 16:36     Subject: Why do girls drop out of Girl Scouts in the 5th, 6th, 7th grades?
Anonymous wrote:I'm a leader who will have 4th graders next year. Just wondering why girls leave Girl Scouts in the upper grades --- too many other activities? Parents don't value it or want to drive the kid to another thing? The badges require more individual work and the girl doesn't care to do it? Band/orchestra involvement? Been there/done that and moving on?

Wondering what the disconnect is for girls and/or their parents.


This is a great question and one the national office should be exploring. I have a 5th grader who has been a scout since Daisies. But now there are so many other activities during the week its hard to get excited about the meetings. My kid loves the field trips and camping but the meetings seem less interesting. Honestly, the boy scouts seem to do a lot cooler stuff, actual outdoor life skills. And the cookie sales last for 4 months and its exhausting. I think the time has come for national office to just pay for professional troop leaders, its way too much for parents to take on, especially if they work full time,
Anonymous
Post 02/27/2024 08:11     Subject: Why do girls drop out of Girl Scouts in the 5th, 6th, 7th grades?
Anonymous wrote:I know more older girls doing venture scouting through boy scouts than I know still in girl scouts


+1
Anonymous
Post 02/27/2024 07:48     Subject: Why do girls drop out of Girl Scouts in the 5th, 6th, 7th grades?
I know more older girls doing venture scouting through boy scouts than I know still in girl scouts
Anonymous
Post 02/27/2024 07:42     Subject: Re:Why do girls drop out of Girl Scouts in the 5th, 6th, 7th grades?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Agree with pp that it may be perceived as not cool enough by some, but I don't understand it, nor would it cause me to want my daughter to drop it. I love the opportunity to camp, do archery, canoeing, other outdoor activities. I do think you need to find other parents who are willing to do some work on activities. It can be a lot for one leader.

This was what I thought it would be, but it was NOT so we left. Depends on the troop I guess


I would say it depends more on the parents in the troop. Rarely will one of the other parents volunteer to be the second required adult in my DDs troop. I'll bend the rules some to do meetings in public places, but I'm not going hiking by myself, so no hiking for us. There's no chance anyone volunteers to do the work to be camp certified, so no camping for us.
Anonymous
Post 02/27/2024 07:04     Subject: Re:Why do girls drop out of Girl Scouts in the 5th, 6th, 7th grades?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I don't think I know a single Girl Scout past older elementary age. What are they called when they are older? Whereas I have known boys who did Scouts into high school. I know some recent Eagle Scouts and have run across adults who were Eagle Scouts. Never run across someone in adult life who said they had done Girl Scouts in high school (or whatever the teen equivalent is).


Juniors in 4th/5th grade, and then Cadettes, I think.


Cadettes is middle school, then seniors (9th and 10th) then ambassadors (11th and 12th), but they all wear the same color uniforms so it's easy to confuse them. It's obviously a lot fewer but there's definitely some girls that still do scouts; if you do any of the council/service unit events, they're usually around helping out.
Anonymous
Post 02/27/2024 07:04     Subject: Re:Why do girls drop out of Girl Scouts in the 5th, 6th, 7th grades?
Anonymous wrote:Agree with pp that it may be perceived as not cool enough by some, but I don't understand it, nor would it cause me to want my daughter to drop it. I love the opportunity to camp, do archery, canoeing, other outdoor activities. I do think you need to find other parents who are willing to do some work on activities. It can be a lot for one leader.

This was what I thought it would be, but it was NOT so we left. Depends on the troop I guess
Anonymous
Post 02/27/2024 07:02     Subject: Why do girls drop out of Girl Scouts in the 5th, 6th, 7th grades?
I have boys who did cub scouts and stopped around that age. Travel sports for two boys left no time for scouts. Their friends all stopped doing scouts including our den leader and her son. For Boy Scouts, they have to switch from cub to boy and we just didn’t do that switch.

My daughter is currently in 1st grade and loves Girl Scouts. I hope she continues with it.
Anonymous
Post 02/27/2024 06:46     Subject: Why do girls drop out of Girl Scouts in the 5th, 6th, 7th grades?
I think some of it is the Mom wants it more than the girl. The idea that it transitions to more girl led is crap. Our leader does a lot of the planning, managing and execution. My girl in 9th does not really care. She’s doing this for her college application. The activities are cringy. Most girls are a little dorky, including mine. Most girls don’t care about the mission. It’s not as cool as sports as they get older. Let’s be real.
Anonymous
Post 02/27/2024 06:20     Subject: Re:Why do girls drop out of Girl Scouts in the 5th, 6th, 7th grades?
Anonymous wrote:I don't think I know a single Girl Scout past older elementary age. What are they called when they are older? Whereas I have known boys who did Scouts into high school. I know some recent Eagle Scouts and have run across adults who were Eagle Scouts. Never run across someone in adult life who said they had done Girl Scouts in high school (or whatever the teen equivalent is).


Juniors in 4th/5th grade, and then Cadettes, I think.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2024 19:15     Subject: Why do girls drop out of Girl Scouts in the 5th, 6th, 7th grades?
It stops being “cool.” The badges etc are a lot more work. And parents lose interest. Girl Scouts is entirely volunteer run and a lot of work for the leaders. At that point, many will have done it for like six years..
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2024 19:11     Subject: Why do girls drop out of Girl Scouts in the 5th, 6th, 7th grades?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:They're just called Girl Scouts. And I think it just depends on the kids and the scout leaders, but I've known many girls scouts well past elementary school.


Have you known any past 8th grade? I think activities and sports ramp up in middle and high school, and Scouts/Girl Scouts drops away for most.


I have actually, there were alot of kids that I knew that did it and loved it.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2024 19:07     Subject: Why do girls drop out of Girl Scouts in the 5th, 6th, 7th grades?
Anonymous wrote:They're just called Girl Scouts. And I think it just depends on the kids and the scout leaders, but I've known many girls scouts well past elementary school.


Have you known any past 8th grade? I think activities and sports ramp up in middle and high school, and Scouts/Girl Scouts drops away for most.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2024 19:05     Subject: Why do girls drop out of Girl Scouts in the 5th, 6th, 7th grades?
They're just called Girl Scouts. And I think it just depends on the kids and the scout leaders, but I've known many girls scouts well past elementary school.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2024 19:03     Subject: Re:Why do girls drop out of Girl Scouts in the 5th, 6th, 7th grades?
I don't think I know a single Girl Scout past older elementary age. What are they called when they are older? Whereas I have known boys who did Scouts into high school. I know some recent Eagle Scouts and have run across adults who were Eagle Scouts. Never run across someone in adult life who said they had done Girl Scouts in high school (or whatever the teen equivalent is).