Girl Scouts

Any former Girl Scouts out there? I started in Brownies and our troop stayed together through 7th grade. What a great experience that was!

A few days ago I came across my Girl Scout Handbook, and it inspired me to write a little essay. If you're interested, you'll find it here:
Boomers & Books - Girl Scout Wisdom

Yes Sandy...I was a leader for Brownie and Girl Guides..that is how the movement is known in UK,Spent many years do this.Also I attend a monthly meeting for leaders and former leaders called The Trefoil Guild...these women are like sisters to each other.We donate out capitation fees and gift aid to local causes each year...I have visited London and stayed at Baden Powell House the hostel where leaders and packs stay from all over the world several time.a safe and happy place to stay
I have also been in a Gang Show a musical with all the male/female packs together being patriotic //four shows in one week,,,

the Rule book of Scouting...wise words...

I recall being a Brownie and, still, strive to live up to the rules. Like you, I do some better than others. Nice article on
"Girl Scout Wisdom."

Yes, I was a Girl Guide many, many years ago. And both of my sons are Eagle Scouts. These are truly good rules to live by.

Nice article, Sandy, thanks for sharing it!

I too was a Brownie and a Girl Scout. I quit sometime in grade school, due to a major argument I had with the leader over something quite silly. I don't recall the details anymore...

But you are right, the Girl Scout Laws are worth following. I wonder how many of us grew up and eventually became the people that we are today because of the fact that we absorbed this training early and it has become part of our core?

When I grew up, I also pledged a sorority, and I had a similar experience a couple of years ago: I found the Chi Omega Symphony, which was a similar set of rules to live by, read it, and realized that I am the woman I have become partly because I strive daily to embody THOSE rules...

I found the Chi O Symphony just now on a public page online, so I don't think I am breaking any rules by sharing it here.

It was penned in 1904, by Ethel Switzer Howard, and reads as follows:

To live constantly above snobbery of word or deed; to place scholarship before social obligations and character before appearances; to be, in the best sense, democratic rather than 'exclusive', and lovable rather than 'popular'; to work earnestly, to speak kindly, to act sincerely, to choose thoughtfully that course which occasion and conscience demand; to be womanly always; to be discouraged never; in a word, to be loyal under any and all circumstances to my Fraternity and her highest teachings and to have her welfare ever at heart that she may be a symphony of high purpose and helpfulness in which there is no discordant note.

Having the training to guide the young people who were under our care was an ongoing process.The rules came from years of experience by those who came before us as leaders.
At my guild we adhere to respecting those we are with..we make our promise to do our best and keep the Guide laws..
recently four others and myself did the catering for the regional leaders.we also cook for camps where the young people gather..we can be asked to fill in a vacancy if a leaader is ill.
It is a pleasure to be able to still do my part in the youth movement.
At the end of each meeting we sing Taps...and salute our flag..
my friend who also attends tells me her grandaughter says that we go to the Granny Brownie Pack...she may be correct..

My experience with the Girl Guide organization wasn't so great. I was in Brownies for several years and LOVED IT!! It was the highlight of the week for me, and I had lots of friends there. But eventually they all "flew" up to become Girl Scouts, and I wasn't allowed to until I could learn to knit. I tried, and everyone tried to help me, but I still could not knit well enough to "graduate" and eventually they asked me to leave the Brownies. I was mortified and felt so ashamed. To this day, while I can strip a computer apart and put it all back together in a matter of minutes and know exactly what everything on that motherboard does, and while I can sit down to a brand new piece of music and play it reasonably well within minutes...I still cannot knit. Or sew beyond a simple straight line.

We had a family cottage for over 30 years. Right next door to our property was the summer camp for the girl guides. After watching the shenanigans and outright bullying that we saw going on over there, I wonder if I was actually blessed to have escaped that.

After I was thrown out of Brownies, my church minister got me involved in a summer camp for children, which became one of the most pivotal, awesome and healing experiences of my life. I went on to become a counsellor there for eight summers and will be forever grateful for my time there. I guess if I had been allowed to fly up to Scout level, I might never have become involved in the other camping venture, so in hindsight I'm glad it went the way it did. Still, I have to question any organization with such ridiculous rules that ban a little girl just because she couldn't knit 10 rows for a silly badge.

I dont know of a rule that would ban a child for not knitting.Acomplishment badges were chosen and believe me there is a badge for every interest you can think of.
I still observe girls when they are ready to have a test when ready to "sit" the activity..
Likewise bullying...I believe our girls were respectful to others it is a basic rule to work and play together..

Sad that you were subjected to this Eagle

Looked up what would be expected in UK from a Brownie.

Craft


Choose and do three of the following. Finish two of them to show the tester. Explain how you made them and what you will do with them. Take the third item to the test unfinished to show the tester how you will finish it.

* Make a bag or T-shirt decorated with printing or dyeing.
* Use a paper craft, like marbling, paper making, quilling or origami to create something decorative.
* Weave an item, for example a friendship bracelet or coaster.
* Create a scented or textured collage using a variety of materials such as cloth, paper, felt, wool, natural objects, dried pastas and pulses.
* Make a piñata or other useful item using papier mâché.
* Create an ornament from natural materials such as wood or stone.
* Design and make a garden in a box or bottle.
* Design a garden using a computer programme. Print out your design.
* Design your ideal bedroom using pictures from catalogues, paint, wallpaper and fabric samples. You can use a computer design programme.
* Make two matching items of jewellery from home-made beads or pendants.
* Knit something that would be useful, such as a scarf, cushion or item of clothing for a baby or child.
* Sew, by hand or using a machine, a useful item such as a bookmark or pencil case. Decorate with embroidery stitches.
* Decorate a mirror or sun catcher with glass paints.
* Make an item using a craft from another country or from your local area.
* Create something using a craft technique of your choice.

I know I was not given this range of options (it would have been in the 60's). I remember having to sew something and knit something. I did the sewing project easily, but couldn't get the knitting. Amazing, I would have been able to do everything else on the list.

I don't recall having to sew or knit anything to "fly up" from Brownies to Girl Scouts. Perhaps we did, I don't know.

It couldn't have been the same, however, as I have really never known how to knit. I can crochet and embroider, and I did a lot of macrame as a young girl. But somehow my left-handedness seemed to confuse me when it came to knitting, though I had a grandmother who valiantly tried to teach me.

As for sewing, great seamstress that I am, I am positive I never learned anything about sewing from Scouts.

We always seemed to be doing stupid projects like making "sit-upons," which were mats made of oilcloth that we may have stuffed with old newspapers... Did anyone else have to make a "sit upon?"

As I said, I got kicked out of Scouts because I argued with the leader, and I don't recall the specifics of that - have never heard of anyone else getting kicked out until this discussion.

I was in the Brownies for 4 years, but I was never a Girl Scout because I went into the 4-H Club wholeheartedly. Living in the country we liked their options. I was into cooking even then and won several blue ribbons over the years, one for Stewed prunes, one for chocolate-coconut marble cske, one for chicken chow-mein. I also entered and won a ribbon for sewing matching dresses, one for me and one for my mother. We were in the County Fair Fashion Show. The last one I won was for raising a litter of kittens after I had got the pregnant cat as an assignment. All my kittens, 7 in all, were adopted into good homes...
The Brownies and Girl Scout organizations are woncderful but the 4-H takes lifes lessone a bit further, and seem more well rounded to many ...

This is so funny because just a couple days agto my DIL said Jason my Marine grandson in Japan asked her to send him a care package................Guess what he wanted???

Girl Scout cookies!!! He has several favorites. So now she is trying to find some. Usually in March they sell here but haven';t seen a one this year.

Sounds like different people had different scouting experiences. I'm guessing they varied because of the specific leaders involved. How terrible that the groups all weren't as much fun as mine! I attended a reunion with a half dozen women from that scout troop, back in December of 2010. The leader was even there - 90 years old! We had a great time.
I was lucky, wasn't I? Was it a combination of the time (1950s) and the place (Dallas, Texas suburb)? Do such experiences still happen today? I sure hope so.

I was in Brownies and then 4-H. My adoptive sister and I took dairy cattle; daddy loved watching us show his prize-winning cattle. Every animal won blue ribbons; some won Grand Championship and Showmanship awards. My ex-husband was an
Eagle Scout and an alter boy. My current husband is a prince, LOL.....

Jabber, sounds like you deserve your prince!

Thanks Anne. He is a kind, gentle human being. Reminds me of
my adoptive dad and even looks like him, somewhat. Sweet, soft
spoken men are a Godsend.

I agree! Too many of us - including me with hubby #1-- are/were more attracted to the "bad boy" type. Guess it's our innate need to nurture...

Well some say; third times the charm! But not in my case my first and second husbands were both wonderful human beings but being widowed twice and having tried for a third good husband I got a LEMON, a really sour lemon too!

Sorry Chatty. IMO longterm relationships are the hardest things; especially when two people from different backgrounds try living together. The smallest darn stuff aggravates a human, things that don't mean squat bug the heck of you. And even friendships sometimes are comparable to walking on hot coals. We're all put together with such complexity, it's a wonder any of us can withstand lifelong sociability.

Ain't that the truth????