Adventerous scouting for 9YO girl

Abigail (9YO) and Mark (7YO) are involved in Brownies and Cub Scouts. But
Abigail finds herself becoming more and more envious of the level of
involvement and fun activities that the Cub Scouts engage in. By contrast,
Brownies tend toward teas and the artsy-craftsy. Abigail would much rather
be climbing a rock or routing a piece of wood.

Browsing the net, it appears that exactly what she wants is available in
Explorer Scouts, which seems to have largely supplanted Girl Scouts. But
that is only for ages 13.5 and up. The re-renamed "Camp Fire USA"
(originally "Girls" but now nearly a 50/50 mix) would seem a good fit, but
I can't find any activity where we live in Northern Virginia.

Is there anything else out there?

Christopher Biow wrote:

Abigail (9YO) and Mark (7YO) are involved in Brownies and Cub Scouts. But
Abigail finds herself becoming more and more envious of the level of
involvement and fun activities that the Cub Scouts engage in. By contrast,
Brownies tend toward teas and the artsy-craftsy. Abigail would much rather
be climbing a rock or routing a piece of wood.

Browsing the net, it appears that exactly what she wants is available in
Explorer Scouts, which seems to have largely supplanted Girl Scouts. But
that is only for ages 13.5 and up. The re-renamed "Camp Fire USA"
(originally "Girls" but now nearly a 50/50 mix) would seem a good fit, but
I can't find any activity where we live in Northern Virginia.

Is there anything else out there?

I'm risking stating the obvious, but the Girl Scout experience largely comes
down to who the leader is and what that particular person is interested in
doing. Many Girl Scout troops, including those working with kids that are
Brownie age, are interested in troop camping and what-all...and my daughter's
troop leader has never, ever suggested that the troop take part in a tea. If
you do have the option of investigating other troops, you might want to try
that -- as well as looking into avenues, as you've suggested.

Best wishes,

beeswing,
mom to a Brownie scout, and
an ex-Girl-Scout myself

"Christopher Biow" wrote in message
...
Is there anything else out there?


I don't know much of anything about it, but I know that one of the YMCAs in
our area has a program called "Indian Guides" which is more of an outdoorsy
type group. I think it is more family oriented than just for the kids, and
I am fairly certain they do a lot of camping/hiking type things.

In ,
Christopher Biow wrote:

*Abigail (9YO) and Mark (7YO) are involved in Brownies and Cub Scouts. But
*Abigail finds herself becoming more and more envious of the level of
*involvement and fun activities that the Cub Scouts engage in. By contrast,
*Brownies tend toward teas and the artsy-craftsy. Abigail would much rather
*be climbing a rock or routing a piece of wood.

I wonder, is that a local thing, or is it that the Brownies have changed
since I was a girl? I was a scout from oh, 1st grade through 10th, I
believe. We did camping trips, knot tying, building fires, that kind of
thing. Definitely we did not have "teas." Are there any other
relatively local Brownie troops you could check out?

Good luck.

--
hillary israeli vmd http://www.hillary.net
"uber vaccae in quattuor partes divisum est."
not-so-newly minted veterinarian-at-large

Christopher Biow wrote in message . ..
Abigail (9YO) and Mark (7YO) are involved in Brownies and Cub Scouts. But
Abigail finds herself becoming more and more envious of the level of
involvement and fun activities that the Cub Scouts engage in. By contrast,
Brownies tend toward teas and the artsy-craftsy. Abigail would much rather
be climbing a rock or routing a piece of wood.

Browsing the net, it appears that exactly what she wants is available in
Explorer Scouts, which seems to have largely supplanted Girl Scouts. But
that is only for ages 13.5 and up. The re-renamed "Camp Fire USA"
(originally "Girls" but now nearly a 50/50 mix) would seem a good fit, but
I can't find any activity where we live in Northern Virginia.

Is there anything else out there?

It sounds like your daughter just needs another Girl Scout troop. Girl
Scout troop events and activities are determined by the troop leaders
and what the girls want to do. If her troop is doing tea parties
instead of camping then she's probably not in a good troop for her
needs. Not all troops are like that, but a lot are and a lot of girls
like it that way.

My troop (I'm 27 now) was very into camping. Our service unit held a
couple of weekend campouts every year, our troop had their own weekend
campouts, and I went to summer camp for 2 - 3 weeks every summer. Most
of my physically challenging experiences in my life happened while I
was a Girl Scout. When I was a Brownie, the Cub Scouts were jealous of
us because the Boy Scouts restrict what Cub Scouts can do more than
Girl Scouts. As a 2nd grader, I was already going to sleep-away camp
(without parents), going on canoe trips, and horseback riding.

I did join Explorers when I was in Jr. High/High School and I didn't
find it to be comparable to my Girl Scout experience - most notably
because girls were still second-class citizens there. Explorers are
part of the Boy Scout organization and the male members are allowed to
wear the badges and awards as part of the uniform while the female
members aren't allowed to earn them. Most Explorer groups are loosely
based around an occupation (such as paramedics) and only meet once a
month or so.

I was employed by a Boy Scout council for a while and was around a lot
of troops. Your child's experience in either is largely determined by
the quality of the council and the leaders.

Manda

Abigail (9YO) and Mark (7YO) are involved in Brownies and Cub Scouts. But
Abigail finds herself becoming more and more envious of the level of
involvement and fun activities that the Cub Scouts engage in.

By contrast,
Brownies tend toward teas and the artsy-craftsy. Abigail would much rather
be climbing a rock or routing a piece of wood.


What grade is she in? If she'll be moving up to Juniors soon, she may find
Scouts more to her liking. Usually Brownies don't do much camping, but in the
older levels they do a lot. (Or at least have the opprtunity to, depending, as
another poster noted, on the troop and the particular leader.)


Naomi
CAPPA Certified Lactation Educator

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