My first posting, so please bear with me!
I was a prenatal Girl Scout (my mother being a member of Troop 1 in Miami in the 1930's) and I'm a leader trainer in our GS council. However, I have three sons, so I've spent the last twenty years breaking barriers in our local BSA council as well. I'm loyal to both organizations, and will remain active in both.
But the suggestion of the last posting, that the parent consider Camp Fire, caught my eye and is something I am equally passionate about. Camp Fire USA is only three weeks younger than Boy Scouting and was started for girls by several of the same people who began Boy Scouting (for example, Ernest Thompson Seton). It became co-ed in the 1970's, and offers a wonderfully balanced program of outdoor skills, citizenship, the arts, technology, health and first aid, and sports. The program is nationally designed and tested, and linked to educational standards, so it's adaptable to classroom use. However, local Councils play a much larger role in adding, adapting, etc., than in either Scouting organization, giving you a great deal more flexibility as a leader. Because it is co-ed, all your children can join, from preschool through age 21. You can create curriculum, you can join as individual members (like Juliettes), you can join as a family in a community family club. You can work the new curriculum (which is incredibly detailed and organized) or you can choose individual activities from the "Bead Book" or you can create your own activities and design your own awards. Your teens can do the traditional curriculum, or they can choose to be issue oriented and deeply involved in advocacy. Children (and adults!) can learn leadership skills outdoors or indoors. Camp Fire USA offers extensive training options, but, at least in our council, they are far more relevant and far less onerous than anything I've taken or taught in either Scout program.
Why do Camp Fire INSTEAD of Scouting? Why not IN ADDITION to a Scouting program? For the last 10 years, each time I have led a GS or BSA youth program, I have also registered the youth as a Camp Fire USA unit. This is completely above board, and all the organizations are aware that the youth are registered in both or all three organizations. I file an activity plan with the organization that makes the most sense for a particular activity. For example, if it's going to be a co-ed event for youth under 14 years of age, I go with Camp Fire. If the girls plan an activity that I don't have time to work thru the service unit approval process (normally 3 month in our council!), I go with Camp Fire. If the guys want to earn an award in sewing or child care or any other "Girl Scout" topic, it's available in Camp Fire. I get to use Camp Fire properties, and operate on Camp Fire insurance/safety policies (which, in our Council, allow for tent camping at younger ages, archery at unit events, etc.) The youth are still involved in their respective Scouting programs, advancing and earning awards as they would in any Scouting program, accumulating tenure to support applications to international programs, etc. However, they are also having opportunities to work with youth of both genders, and earning awards in an additional national youth development program. Because Camp Fire is so much smaller than the Scouting programs in our area, they are big fish in a much smaller pond, and have far more opportunities for leadership at the local and even national levels of the organization... real resume boosters for teens! All that for ten bucks a year in our CFUSA Council.
These are the significant differences, in my experience, between Scouting programs and CFUSA:
it's co-ed
it's smaller and less bureaucratic
the highest award, the WoHeLo, requires THREE Eagle/Gold Award level projects
learning to use a variety of leadership styles is encouraged
setting your own goals and working towards them is encouraged (so that if a set of award requirements doesn't offer you the best opportunity to use your resources and challenge yourself, you are encouraged - not just allowed - to create new requirements for yourself)
it's more family oriented
units can make exclusionary membership policies, but the national organization doesn't have such policies (though CFUSA does do rigorous background checks to ensure youth safety) So, for example, a particular church group can have a girls only club for its girls' youth program, or a sponsoring church can require its leaders to be members of the church or make particular professions of faith; but another unit in the same council might be co-ed and not require any religious profession of its adult leaders
If either Scouting program doesn't fulfill your children's needs, instead of dropping out, I'd suggest you supplement! I'd love to hear from anyone else who has tried something like this!
mrwscouter
