Camping, the Outdoors, and Defending Leaders Again
A few months ago, a link to the article The Girl Scouts Is Raising Our Next Generation of Rippers was posted in some GS groups, and this paragraph was noted in particular:
In my neighborhood in Washington, D.C., the local Boy Scout troop goes camping once a month and the Girl Scouts go three times a year. Chalk one up for the boys. Only 40 percent of Girl Scouts, in fact, do any kind of outdoor activity on a monthly basis. Although half of all Girl Scouts rate camping as a favorite activity, only 3 percent go out and pitch a tent every month. Four percent go hiking monthly, and 19 percent go walking, an activity that sets a pretty low bar.
And right on cue, it brought out some of the people who love to compare BSA to Girl Scouts (which is another rant for another time) and also the ones who like to bash Girl Scouts for not going on enough camping trips. Or just blame GSUSA for everything under the sun. Then throw in a parent who whines that Girl Scouts “failed” their daughter – whatever that means (yet another rant for another time). But they are being extremely unfair to GS leaders, and I have to say I take their comments personally because the volunteer base is a big portion of what encompasses “Girl Scouts.” Continue reading