Girls in Cubscouts?

[ScoutNut]

What would be the point to having your GS Troop attend Pack meetings?

 

What would the girls get out of it? What would the boys get out of it?

 

Cub Scouts might not be "boy led", but Girl Scouts is supposed to be "girl led". This is true even at the lowest level (Daisy) to some extent & much more so by the time they get to Juniors. What do your girls think of the idea?

 

Personally, unless you had activities specifically for the girls, I think the girls would get bored real fast. And if you include activities for the girls you are defeating the purpose of a Pack meeting. Pack meetings should revolve around the boys & their families. They should showcase the boys accomplishments for the month.

 

 

[Newbie Den Leader]

QUOTE:

"Here's my idea....

As a GS troop leader, I could blend what I've learned from being a Webelos leader with the expectations of a Junior Girl Scout troop -- up the bar scoutcraft-wise.

As a Cub Master, why couldn't I invite the GS troop to our pack meetings, if not every one, at least periodically? Since a pack isn't "boy led", I think it could work and not be disruptive to either program.

 

What do ya'll think?"

 

 

Go for it! It's not uncommon to invite guests to a Pack meeting. Have them give a talk about what they do or make some kind of presentation/demonstration to the Pack. This would be a good learning experience for the boys and can be done without being disruptive to the purpose of the Pack meeting.

 

 

[resqman]

"As a Cub Master, why couldn't I invite the GS troop to our pack meetings, if not every one, at least periodically? Since a pack isn't "boy led", I think it could work and not be disruptive to either program. What do ya'll think?"

 

I think you are unhappy with the Girl Scout program. Instead of improving the Girls program, you are trying to integrate BSA. If the Girls program does not have enough scout craft by design, add some as voluntary programs for your unit. Take the girls to a state park for the day and run their typical program at a picnic table. Introduce more of the outdoors into the girls program.

 

Cub scouting is NOT co-ed. Instead of making end runs around the rules of the boys program for the girls benefit, work within the girls program to change it to what you think it should be.

[ScoutNut]

Resqman has a valid point.

 

You state -

 

"My daughter is really happy to be identified as a Girl Scout, but as she has grown older (now finishing 3rd grade) she has frequently asked why the Girl Scouts don't do as much "fun stuff" as the Cub Scouts."

 

Have you asked the girls what they want to do? Do you try to make their requests happen? The only thing stopping the girls from doing as much "fun stuff" as the boys, is their leaders & the girls themselves.

 

Next year, as Juniors, they start in a whole new program with lots of interesting badges to earn. There should be plenty for them to learn & do, including the Girl Scout Bronze Award.

 

 

 

"Girl Scouts have 1 campout a year -- no familiy, please. Cub Scouts have AT LEAST 2 family camp weekends each school year."

 

Why doesn't your Troop camp more often? Do they tent camp, or just cabin camp? Is it that the girls don't like camping - or the leaders? My girls used to camp 2-3+ times a year. Once in the winter, in a cabin at a council camp, and 2X+ tenting at state parks. Once they got into high school they had significantly less free time, but we still managed to get out at least 1-2X a year.

 

There is nothing in GSUSA rules that says a GS Troop can't have a family campout if that is what the girls want.

 

 

 

"Girl Scouts have holiday sing alongs and ice skating parties. Cub Scouts have the Pinewood Derby and Snow Play Day."

 

Nothing stopping the girls from having PWD, Snow Play Day, fishing derbies, kite flys or anything else. The only difference between BSA & GSUSA is that the girls don't usually have the activity planned FOR them. It is usually up to the GIRLS to do it with some help from adults in the Service Unit. At your next Service Unit meeting find out from the other leaders if their girls might be interested in a SU level PWD. You might even have your Pack loan the track to your SU. Our GS have done them & had a BLAST!

 

 

[Cheerful Eagle]

Thank you, Den3702 for starting this thread.

 

And, thank you to all the scouters who have responded; your feedback truly is a gift.

 

On the one hand, we dont want to make the girls second class cub scouts. Much of your feedback is a challenge not to shirk my responsibility as a Girl Scout Leader, and it is well taken. As we all know, developing a youth led troop sounds easier than it actually is. As my girls are maturing, I need to constantly be willing to step up to the challenge of handing them the reins and enabling them to lead. In fact, the differences between girls and boys developmentally at this stage I think would increase the difficulties of running such a unit. I have no interest in trying to get them to pull in the same yoke, as it were.

 

On the other hand, girls with serious interest in outdoor skills, science and technology, are often in the minority in their troop. The Junior program is loaded on the social sciences and light on the natural sciences. So it can be difficult to steer a troop in the direction of outdoor adventure. In addition, whether sanctioned by National or not, many men feel unwelcome, even strongly discouraged from being involved in their daughters troop. Family involvement is not a value stressed in leadership training, nor is it facilitated by traditional GS troop structure. This makes it difficult to attract scouts whose Mom may not be interested in camping, but Dad would really like to help out. I suppose this is where I have the most dissonance with GS culture/mission: I do not believe that girls need to be hothoused in order to grow to their full potential. Also, interaction between troops (usually around 8-15 girls) is not facilitated, so theres little cross-pollination between leaders or interaction between girls in different program levels.

 

As for girls being bored by the pack meeting. Funny, theyre already there with their brothers. Everybody gets to play. But they do wish their brothers and Moms and Dads could see them get their advancement awards and recognition patches, too.

 

[ScoutNut]

"As for girls being bored by the pack meeting. Funny, theyre already there with their brothers. Everybody gets to play. But they do wish their brothers and Moms and Dads could see them get their advancement awards and recognition patches, too."

 

So you want to invite your GS Troop to Pack meetings in order to award them their GS recognitions in front of their families?

 

Why not just hold a Court of Honor for your GS Troop? You can invite all of their families, have snacks & a ceremony presenting the girls with their recognitions.

 

Many GS Troops do this 2 or 3 times a year.

 

As to girls who enjoy the outdoors being in the minority in their Troops, that's just the way it is sometimes. Any time you get more than 2 kids (and their families) together you will have varing likes & dislikes about just about everything. My Cubmaster is not very outdoorsy & does not like camping. Neither does anyone else in his family, except maybe his wife, but she gets outvoted! If it was up to him the Pack would not camp at all. However, we do not let that stop us. We now have 3 BALOO trained folks & do 1 or 2 Pack Overnights a year. The folks that like the outdoors come, the ones that do not, don't.

 

The same goes for the girls. If you want to get them outdoors, & the girls are not real outdoorsy, then start slow & give them a choice of a few different outdoors things to do (hike-kite fly-etc) & let them pick one to try. Have the girls help plan different kinds of activities. Maybe have them pick a theme a month.

 

BTW - If YOU make it clear that dads are more than welcome to help the Troop out (perhaps backed up by your husbands involvement) you might get some of the girls dads to take you up on it. You could even ask them, personaly, to help with a specific thing. I know many men involved in GSUSA with their daughters. You might help the moms to feel better about it by getting everyone together so they get to know each other. We had a family picnic each summer. Also remind parents that your council does a background check on everyone who fills out a GSUSA volunteer application.

 

 

Yes, there are many differences between BSA & GSUSA, but that is because they ARE DIFFERENT PROGRAMS! Being different does not mean that one is better than the other. Just different.

[Cheerful Eagle]

I posted earlier:

"As for girls being bored by the pack meeting. Funny, theyre already there with their brothers. Everybody gets to play. But they do wish their brothers and Moms and Dads could see them get their advancement awards and recognition patches, too."

 

Scoutnut wrote:

 

"So you want to invite your GS Troop to Pack meetings in order to award them their GS recognitions in front of their families?

 

"Why not just hold a Court of Honor for your GS Troop? You can invite all of their families, have snacks & a ceremony presenting the girls with their recognitions.

 

"Many GS Troops do this 2 or 3 times a year."

 

Well, yes. Ok, I admit part of this is selfish on my part, but many families in my Pack and GS Troop are in the same position. How many meetings can we attend in a given month. It would be nice to streamline if at all possible.

 

In addition, I get the court of honor thing, but why is it so important to recognize the young boys right away, but only recognize their female peers a couple of times a year? Yes, I know they're a bit more mature than the boys, but not THAT much more.

 

Scoutnut wrote:

"As to girls who enjoy the outdoors being in the minority in their Troops, that's just the way it is sometimes."

 

Ok, I have to admit, that just gets my hackels up. I have been in the minority all my life. As a "tomboy", a chemistry major in College, and a camping enthusiast as an adult. When I was a youth, I left Girl Scouts for the same reason: too many crafts, not enough scouting. Oddly, I ended up in Cival Air Patrol (a program origionally started by BSA). But I missed out on all the backpacking, canoing and high adventure that my husband was exposed to as a scout. Yes, my daughter can get involved in Venturing when she's older, but I want to keep her engaged in souting until she's elgible.

[Kaji]

Boy Scouts do Courts of honor on more or less either a quarterly or a semi-annual basis, but they still recognize them in an informal fashion amongst each other when the rank/badge/etc. is actually earned. The CoH is for recognizing them in front of the parents and everyone else.

 

If you feel that isn't often enough, you can take the last meeting of every month and make it a "pack meeting", just like many packs already do (the one I'm with meets every Monday night at a Methodist church for den meetings in their own rooms, and then the last meeting of the month is a pack meeting instead). There are a number of ways you can fix the problem without forcing the girls in where they don't belong (as part of the Cub Scout program, in this case). Besides, this is smack dab in the middle of the "girls are gross!" phase, so I don't know how well it'd actually be received by the boys, themselves...Just as it's good for girls to have a place to be to be with other girls, learn what it is to be feminine, etc., same goes for boys and masculinity (even if the latter is rather frowned upon in today's society).(This message has been edited by Kaji)

[funscout]

Although parents with both cub and girl scouts might like a combined awards ceremony, I don't think anyone else would like it. As it is, in our Pack, the younger boys get fidgety listening to the other den awards. Also, since it's usually on a school night, most parents would not want to have an even longer Pack meeting, in order to accommodate the parents who also have girl scouts.

 

My Webelos 1 son just looked at the computer screen and let me know his feelings about girls in cub scouts. With a really disgusted look on his face, he said, "No Way!" He started to complain big time, so I relieved his mind, and told him he didn't need to worry about girls joining his den.

 

We had my son's 10th birthday party today at a bowling alley, and coincidentally, there was a party of same aged girls there, too. When I jokingly mentioned that we could join up with the girls, all of our boys looked at me with horrified faces and said, "No!!!!!" I was tempted to join the girl's party, since they were much quieter, less rambunctious, and MUCH more mature than our group.