Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are your girls honestly and truly taking away anything from GS other than that it’s basically an elementary-level sorority? I don’t think my Brownie cares what patches or badges she earns, she just likes going twice a week to be with her friends, and taking the occasional field trip. She is super excited about camping this year though.

The absolute only benefit and difference between the GS and BS that I can tell is becoming an Eagle Scout, and the long term benefits of becoming one. Most GS and BS don’t stick with it that long anyway, so comparing the two at elementary level is pointless. It’s a bunch of kids getting together to essentially socialize, and that’s just fine and a healthy part of development in and of itself. I do wish their were equal incentives for GS to stick with it in middle and high school though. That’s the only benefit of BS that I can think of, of course, if your girl sticks it out for the long haul.

My daughter loves GS but for the reason that you mentioned above, she enjoys hanging out and playing with her friends. I don't think she has really gotten much out of it. From what I have seen Boy Scouts, even at the elementary age seem to be much more active than Girl Scouts. I think this is because Boy Scouts encourages more active family participation. It is common for both moms and dads to be actively involved in boy scout troops. Girl Scouts seems to be more discouraging of men participating. There have been a few times where my DH has taken/picked up my daughter from girl scout events (not troop level but council wide) where the woman in charge was very discouraging of him being around. When he picked up DD from Brownie Encampment, he wasn't even allowed to go near the cabins!

Interesting. We do not have this experience at all. One of the fathers in our troop is extremely knowledgeable about camping and he comes on every camping trip (stays in his own tent or, if we are in a lodge, stays in his own room). He has taught the girls knot-tying, geocaching, many things about camping and leave-no-trace, etc. On these trips, he often wears a t-shirt that says, "Man Enough to be a Girl Scout," and we all completely think it's true and love his participation!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are your girls honestly and truly taking away anything from GS other than that it’s basically an elementary-level sorority? I don’t think my Brownie cares what patches or badges she earns, she just likes going twice a week to be with her friends, and taking the occasional field trip. She is super excited about camping this year though.

The absolute only benefit and difference between the GS and BS that I can tell is becoming an Eagle Scout, and the long term benefits of becoming one. Most GS and BS don’t stick with it that long anyway, so comparing the two at elementary level is pointless. It’s a bunch of kids getting together to essentially socialize, and that’s just fine and a healthy part of development in and of itself. I do wish their were equal incentives for GS to stick with it in middle and high school though. That’s the only benefit of BS that I can think of, of course, if your girl sticks it out for the long haul.

My daughter loves GS but for the reason that you mentioned above, she enjoys hanging out and playing with her friends. I don't think she has really gotten much out of it. From what I have seen Boy Scouts, even at the elementary age seem to be much more active than Girl Scouts. I think this is because Boy Scouts encourages more active family participation. It is common for both moms and dads to be actively involved in boy scout troops. Girl Scouts seems to be more discouraging of men participating. There have been a few times where my DH has taken/picked up my daughter from girl scout events (not troop level but council wide) where the woman in charge was very discouraging of him being around. When he picked up DD from Brownie Encampment, he wasn't even allowed to go near the cabins!

Because men are toxic, don’t you know!

Anonymous wrote:Are your girls honestly and truly taking away anything from GS other than that it’s basically an elementary-level sorority? I don’t think my Brownie cares what patches or badges she earns, she just likes going twice a week to be with her friends, and taking the occasional field trip. She is super excited about camping this year though.

The absolute only benefit and difference between the GS and BS that I can tell is becoming an Eagle Scout, and the long term benefits of becoming one. Most GS and BS don’t stick with it that long anyway, so comparing the two at elementary level is pointless. It’s a bunch of kids getting together to essentially socialize, and that’s just fine and a healthy part of development in and of itself. I do wish their were equal incentives for GS to stick with it in middle and high school though. That’s the only benefit of BS that I can think of, of course, if your girl sticks it out for the long haul.

My daughter loves GS but for the reason that you mentioned above, she enjoys hanging out and playing with her friends. I don't think she has really gotten much out of it. From what I have seen Boy Scouts, even at the elementary age seem to be much more active than Girl Scouts. I think this is because Boy Scouts encourages more active family participation. It is common for both moms and dads to be actively involved in boy scout troops. Girl Scouts seems to be more discouraging of men participating. There have been a few times where my DH has taken/picked up my daughter from girl scout events (not troop level but council wide) where the woman in charge was very discouraging of him being around. When he picked up DD from Brownie Encampment, he wasn't even allowed to go near the cabins!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good. I think a lot of little girls got the idea that boy scouts is now cooler than GS. I think it's partly sexism that we encourage little girls to do things that boys do, but never encourage boys to sign up for "girly" things like dance.

I loved Girl Scouts and was very involved through hs even.

My DD git the idea by comparing what she was doing to what her brother was doing ...which was way cooler. I am sure there are some cool gs troops but hers was lame. If she were younger she would eagerly sign up. I am fine with girls included in boy scouts.

Both organizations rely on volunteers. That means that every troop will be different because it will be determined by the parent volunteers for that troop. Your experience is different than mine. At our school the GS troops were by far better organized, more adventurous and better attended. My sons were in Cub Scouts and enjoyed what they did. They also begged their leaders to talk to the Girl Scout leaders to find out how to do the fun activities the girls were getting to do.

Anonymous wrote:It was Juliette Gordon Low who stole the idea from Lord Baden Powell when she first started the GSA in Savannah, GA on March 12, 1912. Powell began the Boy Scouts on January 24, 1908 on Brownsea Island. The Boy Scouts of America began on February 8, 1910.

If anything, the trademark infringement is the other way around. This is simply the desperation of the GSA trying to stem the loss of girls from their organization. Girl Scouts are doomed, and that's a good thing.

If BSA had chosen to rebrand themselves as "Kid Scouts" or "Family Scouts" or "Scouts for children of any gender" or literally any other descriptor in front of the "Scouts" work, then GSUSA wouldn't have a leg to stand on and you could consider this sour grapes.
But they didn't. By calling themselves simply "Scouts" they're trying to send the signle that they are the one and only scouting organization in the US. Which factually incorrect and easily leads to confusion by the general public.
I think GS will probably win this suit.

As for the doomed portion of your post... my guess is you actually know nothing about Girl Scouts.
And I have no idea why you would care if Girl Scouts continues to exist or not. I'm not a big fan of short distance track - I hate running in circles and think it's a stupid thing to do. But if other people like it, bully for them. Why in the world would I want to destroy something I'm not even part of?

So what name would be more fitting and less confusing?

Anonymous wrote:1. Those badges don’t look like real ones (maybe the books). Some troops used to get custom ones. I think that’s what the photo was. I was a Girl Scout in the 80’s , and those were not the badges we had.

2. Please heavily discount any post that refers to “GSA”. It’s GSUSA, and no one who knows the program well makes that mistake.

I'm a leader who used GSA in my posts, a couple of times correcting myself after first typing GSCNC (because I do type that multiple times a week). I don't know that I've ever had cause to actually type GSUSA, and I wasn't really thinking about what the proper acronym would be.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Girl scouts should allow boys.

Agree 100%.

And should be sued to force the issue. Don't wait until it's voluntary, use the force of law. That's what a lib would do.

The Boy Scouts should just be disbanded altogether.

Anonymous wrote:Girl scouts should allow boys.

Agree 100%.

1. Those badges don’t look like real ones (maybe the books). Some troops used to get custom ones. I think that’s what the photo was. I was a Girl Scout in the 80’s , and those were not the badges we had.

2. Please heavily discount any post that refers to “GSA”. It’s GSUSA, and no one who knows the program well makes that mistake.

I wouldn't mind the crafts, if they learned cool things like sewing, knitting, embroider, etc. Most of the crafts I've seen in GS consist of things like decorating a poster for the next GS function.

Anonymous wrote:It was Juliette Gordon Low who stole the idea from Lord Baden Powell when she first started the GSA in Savannah, GA on March 12, 1912. Powell began the Boy Scouts on January 24, 1908 on Brownsea Island. The Boy Scouts of America began on February 8, 1910.

If anything, the trademark infringement is the other way around. This is simply the desperation of the GSA trying to stem the loss of girls from their organization. Girl Scouts are doomed, and that's a good thing.

If any organization should be folded, maybe it should be the one that's been paying lobbyists in multiple states to take a Catholic Church-style approach to shielding BSA from lawsuits brought by victims of sexual assault within its organization.

Anonymous wrote:It was Juliette Gordon Low who stole the idea from Lord Baden Powell when she first started the GSA in Savannah, GA on March 12, 1912. Powell began the Boy Scouts on January 24, 1908 on Brownsea Island. The Boy Scouts of America began on February 8, 1910.

If anything, the trademark infringement is the other way around. This is simply the desperation of the GSA trying to stem the loss of girls from their organization. Girl Scouts are doomed, and that's a good thing.

Why do you think it is a good thing?

It was Juliette Gordon Low who stole the idea from Lord Baden Powell when she first started the GSA in Savannah, GA on March 12, 1912. Powell began the Boy Scouts on January 24, 1908 on Brownsea Island. The Boy Scouts of America began on February 8, 1910.

If anything, the trademark infringement is the other way around. This is simply the desperation of the GSA trying to stem the loss of girls from their organization. Girl Scouts are doomed, and that's a good thing.