Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My older DD is in Daisies. We are in NoVA, and it took forever to find a troop with an opening, and she will be aging out of this troop at the end of the year, so we will need to start all over again in the search for a Brownie troop. From what I understand, this is a common problem, and there's no ability to form a group that lasts beyond 2 years or so, because every time you move up a level, you're on your own to search for a troop, and then it is an entirely new mix of kids.
I did Girl Scouts from K-5th grade as a child, and this was no a problem back then (1980s).
I'm a money manager, but I can't afford the time commitment to be a good Troop leader. Fortunately, the 2 ladies who volunteered to lead our troop are excellent. There's lots of inexperience at the council level that has impacted our troop's ability to get some things done. Every time we reach out with questions, we're talking to someone who is new to their role and also doesn't really have a clue. We've been told that lots of the more experienced leadership dropped out during the pandemic.

That is extraordinarily unusual. My daughter has been with the same group of girls for six years now. I know of no troop in our area who just disbands as girls reach each level. (Of course troops do occasionally disband, especially as the girls get older)

The troop has a mix of K and 1st grade, mostly K. Troop leaders’ DDs are both K. So, my 1st grade DD and one other girl will need to find a new troop for Brownies.
Surprised to hear this is unusual, as the coordinators for our area indicated this is a common problem here.

Ahhh… got it. Is your current leader not willing to keep the first graders and just have a multi level troop? (No judgement if that’s the case - it’s definitely harder!)
If you do need to find a new troop hopefully you find one for her grade that she can stay with for the long term.

I am a lifelong Girl Scout. When I did it in Massachusetts, we had them all set up within each elementary school, so we had a Brownies (Daisy hadn't been invented), Juniors in our Elem School, a Cadette troup in our middle school and a Senior Scout in our high school. So each troup was 3 grades in it ( Brownies was grades 1-3, Juniors Gr 4-6, Cadettes 7-9, Seniors 10-12 grades. I went through the entire thing, then travelled internationally, did some wider opportunities, etc.

Now it seems that troops start with a group of girls in 1st grade and they stay together through Brownies, Juniors and Cadettes.

I think that can work, and the kids get really close, but I also have seen where leaders are so used to parenting/leading the little kids where they had to do it all that they never pushed/encouraged/expected the girls to take over more responsibility as the years go on. As Cadettes we ran our tro0p, with an adult around as a coach/support/question answerer. In Juniors we did lots of things ourselves with more guidance from our troop leaders.

Again, though, so much relies on the leaders, how much energy they have, and whether the parents of the girls are also willing to help, drive, support, etc. It's not babysitting one night/afternoon a week - it's a troop and everyone needs to participate in some kind of way or it's just a leader trying to push a rock uphill all the time, and given that most women are now working (instead of most Moms being at home in the 60, 70s) we don't have hours to spend on leading a troop!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My older DD is in Daisies. We are in NoVA, and it took forever to find a troop with an opening, and she will be aging out of this troop at the end of the year, so we will need to start all over again in the search for a Brownie troop. From what I understand, this is a common problem, and there's no ability to form a group that lasts beyond 2 years or so, because every time you move up a level, you're on your own to search for a troop, and then it is an entirely new mix of kids.
I did Girl Scouts from K-5th grade as a child, and this was no a problem back then (1980s).
I'm a money manager, but I can't afford the time commitment to be a good Troop leader. Fortunately, the 2 ladies who volunteered to lead our troop are excellent. There's lots of inexperience at the council level that has impacted our troop's ability to get some things done. Every time we reach out with questions, we're talking to someone who is new to their role and also doesn't really have a clue. We've been told that lots of the more experienced leadership dropped out during the pandemic.

That is extraordinarily unusual. My daughter has been with the same group of girls for six years now. I know of no troop in our area who just disbands as girls reach each level. (Of course troops do occasionally disband, especially as the girls get older)

The troop has a mix of K and 1st grade, mostly K. Troop leaders’ DDs are both K. So, my 1st grade DD and one other girl will need to find a new troop for Brownies.
Surprised to hear this is unusual, as the coordinators for our area indicated this is a common problem here.

I don't think most of us are familiar with multi-grade troops. Typically the girls form a group based upon their grade level - our school has a Kindergarten Daisy troop and a 1st grade Daisy troop, for example.

Multi-grade troops are more common in upper grades or in more rural areas. In most of the DC suburbs we have more than enough girls in one grade at a school to form a troop. Our school usually has two troops per grade level.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My older DD is in Daisies. We are in NoVA, and it took forever to find a troop with an opening, and she will be aging out of this troop at the end of the year, so we will need to start all over again in the search for a Brownie troop. From what I understand, this is a common problem, and there's no ability to form a group that lasts beyond 2 years or so, because every time you move up a level, you're on your own to search for a troop, and then it is an entirely new mix of kids.
I did Girl Scouts from K-5th grade as a child, and this was no a problem back then (1980s).
I'm a money manager, but I can't afford the time commitment to be a good Troop leader. Fortunately, the 2 ladies who volunteered to lead our troop are excellent. There's lots of inexperience at the council level that has impacted our troop's ability to get some things done. Every time we reach out with questions, we're talking to someone who is new to their role and also doesn't really have a clue. We've been told that lots of the more experienced leadership dropped out during the pandemic.

That is extraordinarily unusual. My daughter has been with the same group of girls for six years now. I know of no troop in our area who just disbands as girls reach each level. (Of course troops do occasionally disband, especially as the girls get older)

The troop has a mix of K and 1st grade, mostly K. Troop leaders’ DDs are both K. So, my 1st grade DD and one other girl will need to find a new troop for Brownies.
Surprised to hear this is unusual, as the coordinators for our area indicated this is a common problem here.

I don't think most of us are familiar with multi-grade troops. Typically the girls form a group based upon their grade level - our school has a Kindergarten Daisy troop and a 1st grade Daisy troop, for example.

My kindergartener is in a Daisy startup troop run by the 8th grade troop and their leader, as part of a Girl Scout project they’re doing. It’s a mix of K and 1st grade girls. DD loves it and I think there will be enough interest to start an actual troop next year.

I did Girl Scouts for a few years as a kid. Like most things, the experience is really dependent on the group of kids and the troop leaders.

We're in our second year of Daisies, so still pretty new, but we really like it. My daughter is shy and has trouble making friends, but has made some real connections at Girl Scouts. She has fun with the activities and loves camping with her troop.

Cookies are a big part of my experience of it, but I'm the cookie dad and I think it's not that much for other parents. My daughter likes the cookies and enjoys working the booths, but we've got kids who don't sell at all and it's not a problem.

I will say we have a great troop leader who really puts a lot into it. I know other parents who have had bad experiences.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My older DD is in Daisies. We are in NoVA, and it took forever to find a troop with an opening, and she will be aging out of this troop at the end of the year, so we will need to start all over again in the search for a Brownie troop. From what I understand, this is a common problem, and there's no ability to form a group that lasts beyond 2 years or so, because every time you move up a level, you're on your own to search for a troop, and then it is an entirely new mix of kids.
I did Girl Scouts from K-5th grade as a child, and this was no a problem back then (1980s).
I'm a money manager, but I can't afford the time commitment to be a good Troop leader. Fortunately, the 2 ladies who volunteered to lead our troop are excellent. There's lots of inexperience at the council level that has impacted our troop's ability to get some things done. Every time we reach out with questions, we're talking to someone who is new to their role and also doesn't really have a clue. We've been told that lots of the more experienced leadership dropped out during the pandemic.

That is extraordinarily unusual. My daughter has been with the same group of girls for six years now. I know of no troop in our area who just disbands as girls reach each level. (Of course troops do occasionally disband, especially as the girls get older)

The troop has a mix of K and 1st grade, mostly K. Troop leaders’ DDs are both K. So, my 1st grade DD and one other girl will need to find a new troop for Brownies.
Surprised to hear this is unusual, as the coordinators for our area indicated this is a common problem here.

I don't think most of us are familiar with multi-grade troops. Typically the girls form a group based upon their grade level - our school has a Kindergarten Daisy troop and a 1st grade Daisy troop, for example.

Anonymous wrote:No. My kid tried to join and there was like a two hour meeting that was super boring. We live in a city and don't have a car and they talked all about all these events outside of the city not on train lines and when I asked about transportation they were like "You can carpool!" and I was like "But I can't reciprocate!" Anyway DD ran into a girl she knew at that meeting and the other mom and I decided we'd just take the girls to the zoo and aquarium once a year and call that good enough.

No problem if it's not for you - nothing's for everyone - but FWIW it's not tit for tat like that. There are a couple parents in our troop who have mini vans and they drive a bunch of kids to encampment or whatever. There are parents who don't drive but they volunteer at meetings or handle the budget.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a Lifetime Girl Scout. Girl Scouting is an excellent organization, and I have worked for and with them in several states. There are weak spots in any large organization, and the troop leader in the earlier years does have a large impact on the troop experience, however, GSUSA has put a real emphasis on encouraging many parents of troop members to participate in leading the girls. You can always leave a troop that isn’t a good fit and find another.

Girl Scouting offers girls a chance to try new things, to gain skills, to work cooperatively with others, and to have fun and be accepted for who they are.

Girl Scouting offers older girls so many unique experiences, from travel both in the US and overseas, to participating as a delegate to local and national conventions, and as a participant in outdoor experiences that all serve to build girls of courage, confidence, and character.

Girl Scout resident camps are safe, relatively affordable, and accept non-Scouts. I, and later my daughter, have had the chance to take whitewater canoe trips, ride horseback for overnights in the mountains, kayak in the most beautiful areas of our country, and cook meals over a campfire before crawling into a tent.

It is what you make of it.

Is Girl Scouts now open to boys too?

It is not open to boys, girls only. I'm not sure how they deal with "gender fluid" issues.

Cub Scouts(K-5th grade) and Boy Scouts(6th grade through 18yo) is co-ed and now open to girls(recently in the past 5-6 years).

Girl Scouts are super open and inclusive of gender fluid kids and the LGBTQIA+ community in general - I have a friend, a troop leader in fact, who credits a lot of their confidence and openness about their sexuality and gender fluidity to growing up in Girl Scouts. They were accepted by their fellow scouts and never judged. I am sure a lot of that was based on where they grew up (Massachusetts), but I'm glad to know this about Girl Scouts ands tolerance and acceptance of all.

Now I can imagine that there are GS troops in conservative communities that are not like this at all, and although it's against national policy, I'm sure there are troops out there that are not tolerant of others. As many have said, so much depends on the troop leaders and volunteers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a Lifetime Girl Scout. Girl Scouting is an excellent organization, and I have worked for and with them in several states. There are weak spots in any large organization, and the troop leader in the earlier years does have a large impact on the troop experience, however, GSUSA has put a real emphasis on encouraging many parents of troop members to participate in leading the girls. You can always leave a troop that isn’t a good fit and find another.

Girl Scouting offers girls a chance to try new things, to gain skills, to work cooperatively with others, and to have fun and be accepted for who they are.

Girl Scouting offers older girls so many unique experiences, from travel both in the US and overseas, to participating as a delegate to local and national conventions, and as a participant in outdoor experiences that all serve to build girls of courage, confidence, and character.

Girl Scout resident camps are safe, relatively affordable, and accept non-Scouts. I, and later my daughter, have had the chance to take whitewater canoe trips, ride horseback for overnights in the mountains, kayak in the most beautiful areas of our country, and cook meals over a campfire before crawling into a tent.

It is what you make of it.

Is Girl Scouts now open to boys too?

Anonymous wrote:We don't have enough girls and parents interested in our elementary school to start a Brownie or Daisy troop and I am aggravated that I've reached out many times to the regional designated contact, and she refuses to try to match us with another troop nearby that has "openings," nor will she permit my daughter to just join the well-established troop of girls at our small elementary school one grade above her (and she knows many of the girls!). It all sounds very unnecessarily rigid (at least in the Montgomery County area) and has turned me off, though I had a wonderful experience doing Scouts as a child myself in a different part of the country.

So to the above PP who mentioned you can easily just leave a troop and find another if it's not working for you, I'd love to know how this works!

Multi-level troops are definitely allowed, it's possible that the troop a grade older than her is full. There are volunteer to child ratios - we couldn't fit another girl if we wanted to because we'd be above the ratio and there aren't any other parents willing to volunteer. You can definitely use your zip code to find nearby troops and just sign up to them without asking - two of the girls in my troop did that, they go to a neighboring school and just found our troop and joined because their school doesn't have one.

No. My kid tried to join and there was like a two hour meeting that was super boring. We live in a city and don't have a car and they talked all about all these events outside of the city not on train lines and when I asked about transportation they were like "You can carpool!" and I was like "But I can't reciprocate!" Anyway DD ran into a girl she knew at that meeting and the other mom and I decided we'd just take the girls to the zoo and aquarium once a year and call that good enough.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there much diversity in Girl Scouts?

Their is for my DD's Daisy troop, but we live in a very diverse community.

Oops. Autocorrect fail. There, not their.

Anonymous wrote:Is there much diversity in Girl Scouts?

Their is for my DD's Daisy troop, but we live in a very diverse community.

Is there much diversity in Girl Scouts?

Anonymous wrote:You can also consider 4H. Kids work on independent study projects, leadership development programs, group activities, no selling things.

+1. I was in both Girl Scouts and 4-H. Both are excellent. We did, however, sell food items to fundraise in 4-H.