New girls in Scouting

[MikeS72]

1 hour ago, cocomax said:

Last night the rep contacts us and says, "I recruited a whole bunch of girls for you! They will be coming to your round up tomorrow night. Be ready to sign them up!"

So, in our area the district is trying to force girls into boy only packs,  I never read anywhere that was part of the plan.  The lady scouters that lead our pack are very upset, and might throw in the towel just fold the pack.

Should not have been a part of the plan.

In my district, it was explained to everyone that it was up to each CO to determine if they would accept girls, and if so, would it be an all girl pack or a co-ed pack with separate dens.  The caveat however, was that if a pack was not accepting girls, there would be representatives from a pack that would accept them at the school night program.  I am not aware if that actually happened, as we have had large numbers of new scouts so far, both boys and girls.  in fact, of that 32,000 girl number mentioned recently, the last numbers I heard here in Central Florida Council was that we had brought in 3004 new cubs, 1002 of whom are girls. (this was as of 3 weeks ago).

In your particular situation, I think I would contact some one a little higher up in your council and let them know that you had voted to remain boy only and why.  I would then inform them that your DE seems to feel that they can force that change on you, and that you plan on following your original plan.  It sounds to me as if the DE has decided that if he/she paints you into a corner by having girls show up at roundup, you will give in.

[Eagle1993]

That is crazy DEs would do that to a unit... unbelievable.  If a DE wants a girls Pack in the area and existing Packs are boy only then:

- Find a willing CO

- Find if any Pack would be interested in mentoring their leaders or identify key council volunteers who will help.

- Recruit girls and parents making it clear they would help found a new Pack.

Sending then your way is garbage and lazy.

In my area 60-70% of the Packs have decided to go coed, but not sure of the results yet. We have at least one girl from another Pack who decided to remain Boy only.

 

[carebear3895]

3 minutes ago, Eagle1993 said:

That is crazy DEs would do that to a unit... unbelievable.

DE's do some stupid things when the pressure is on. Unfortunately that's a by-product of the toxic professional culture. 

Forcing girls into an All-boy unit is just asking to have volunteers hate you. 

[Jameson76]

13 minutes ago, carebear3895 said:

DE's do some stupid things when the pressure is on.

Remember (and you know doubt live this) that unit volunteers and professionals approach this with different agendas

• Unit volunteers will look to what quality program can I provide to the youth and what is the long term window (hopefully years) for participation with the youth coming to my unit
• Professionals see youth as a commodity and are mainly interested in the numbers NOW, this month, this year.  Goals must be attained.  If they can get the money (make the sale / ABC Always Be Closing) and add widgets to the spreadsheet, their job is done

Cajoling or bullying a unit is doing what it takes to be successful.  No issue with professionals, they are doing what they are being incentivized to do.

[Eagle94-A1]

56 minutes ago, carebear3895 said:

DE's do some stupid things when the pressure is on. Unfortunately that's a by-product of the toxic professional culture. 

Forcing girls into an All-boy unit is just asking to have volunteers hate you. 

Yes some DEs will. As for toxic professional culture, THAT IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT! (emphasis)

As for forcing girls into packs, yep it is happening.Currently we have 5 packs in my district. 1 is LDS, so they are automatically all boy and cannot be pressured.  out of the 4 remaining, only 1 has stated they will accept girls. The pack my son is with is still trying to meet with the CO about whether to accept girls or not. CO has questions, and the pack cannot honestly answer. The pack's leaders know what BSA is stating what will happening, but know it is not practical at this time and it seems as if the majority of packs are going full blown coed with mexed gender dens, which is somehting the CO is against. But the DE said that pack will be accepting girls. Only thing saving us is that the schools will nto let us in at night to do the actual signing ups unless we pay money per nigh, per school

As for causing volunteers to hate you, we have one pro who tend to treat volunteers like human waste. One of the reason i stepped away from council stuff was him and the way he treated volunteers when under pressure. Tried to threaten me with legal action over some application I turned in and the office lost. sadly the attitude rolls downhill. The DE started that attitude. Between the both of them several long time volunteers have quit, or resigned their position.

[WisconsinMomma]

We have two girls in our Pack now!  They are sisters, a 1st grader and a 2nd grader.   

I asked if we might pull in a few more girls, but was told that every other 2nd grade girl is already in Girl Scouts, and that these two girls are not "Girl Scouty".

I like them already.  Their mom is volunteering in the Pack as an assistant Den leader and we'll make the whole thing work. 

[WisconsinMomma]

On 9/25/2018 at 2:09 PM, Eagle94-A1 said:

 

 But the DE said that pack will be accepting girls.

 

Um, it's not the DE's job to dictate to the Pack, as I'm sure you know.  Can you have your COR call the DE and put them back in their place? 

If a DE is being a PITA, then let the Scout Executive know that they've got a professional that's hurting the program. You will have to be aggressive to change things and protect your unit.  

Now, of course you should be polite and kind and encouraging to the girls and their families and let them know there is a misunderstanding and that your Pack is not working with girls yet.  Send them back to the DE to start a new unit. 

[Ranman328]

On September 24, 2018 at 2:07 PM, Eagledad said:

Yep, and it supports my deepest concerns of inexperienced adults leading the program. I can't see it going any direction other than Advancement based Eagle Mill camping programs. 

Barry

Already seeing and hearing this from Adult Leaders within our area.  Lots of questions about making exceptions and changing the requirements.  Unfortunately, I think that is where it is headed.  I predict the first lawsuit no later than February 2019.

[Eagle94-A1]

41 minutes ago, Ranman328 said:

Already seeing and hearing this from Adult Leaders within our area.  Lots of questions about making exceptions and changing the requirements.  Unfortunately, I think that is where it is headed.  I predict the first lawsuit no later than February 2019.

I already see  packs making exceptions and changing requirements. Biggest one is the Whittling Chip requirements. It specifically states "Pocketknife," not "plastic cutlery knife" not "imitation wooden knife", and not "popsicle sticks." Irks me to no end that I need to redo Whitting Chip with my Webelos since they didn't really earn it and the previous DL thought they were "too dangerous"

 

On a side note, I am also culpable in changing the requirement. I had folks at day camp teaching Whittling Chip with wood carving knives from Paul's Supplies https://pauls-supplies.myshopify.com/collections/knives/products/carving-knife which is technically a fixed blade, not a pocket knife. But at least it was a real knife.

[Setonfan]

I think Venturing and all the girls joining Cub Scouts now seems to support that there are a lot of girls who enjoy the same activities.  I met a number of new girl Cub Scouts recently who have made pocket knives one of their first Scouting gear items.  Fire and knives are a sure winner for almost all kids (safely of course)!. 

[ianwilkins]

15 hours ago, Treflienne said:

Also:  don't assume that the addition of girls is going to water-down the interest in knives and other traditional scout stuff.   You may find instead that cub scouts and scouts BSA attracts the kind of girls that want to do the things that BSA does.

Bingo!

From what I've experienced in the UK, that's exactly how it works. You don't join the football team to play basketball. We get the girls that like the running around and poking fires and camping. Okay, we get a few girls that are being sent by parents because they want their kids to be more outdoorsy, but plenty of boys are sent for the same reasons.

 

[Cambridgeskip]

Ian is absolutely right.

There is reason girls come to us rather than girl guides, because they are getting something that they are not getting there.

This is one of my favourite photos of this year, some of my girls in the Scottish Highlands back in April. Do these look like girls that want a watered down program?

[RememberSchiff]

I moved Whittling Chip posts to

which was already in progress.

RS

Edited October 3, 2018 by RememberSchiff

[NJCubScouter]

5 hours ago, Cambridgeskip said:

This is one of my favourite photos of this year, some of my girls in the Scottish Highlands back in April. Do these look like girls that want a watered down program?

Not to me.  And we'll take your word on their gender. 

[Cambridgeskip]

43 minutes ago, NJCubScouter said:

Not to me.  And we'll take your word on their gender. 

The one on the left and one on the right in better weather!