May 30 2017

I’m Sorry We Leaders “Failed” Your Daughter

Opinions    4 Comments    , , , ,

Strongly worded letter time!

This post pairs up with the last one (Camping, the Outdoors, and Defending Leaders Again), so if you have time, read it first.

I’m not a big fan of “open letters” because I think they are passive aggressive.  I’ve always said I hope the authors of these open letters at some point confront whoever it is they are taking to task.  So based on that criteria, the following is not an open letter but a strongly worded one.  Before writing this blog post, I’ve had discussions on Facebook at various times with multiple people who have made the following statement including an admin who shared the same attitude.  And I will continue to press when I see it on display again.  If someone says it to me in person, thar she blows! Continue reading

May 26 2017

Camping, the Outdoors, and Defending Leaders Again

Experiences as a Leader, Opinions    18 Comments    , , , ,

Our weekend at Chimney Rock

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

May 14 2017

Make Your Own Troop Crest

Reminiscing    2 Comments    , , ,

I’ll be honest – the past few weeks have been bummers Girl Scout-wise on many levels, but I’m looking forward to our Cadette camping trip to the GS Weekend at Chimney Rock next week.  The sun’ll come out… tomorrow!

Here’s a flashback Troop 20 post.  I haven’t done one of these in a while.

When we became Juniors, it was time for us to pick our own troop crest.  I was so excited to finally get one!  Being the Girl Scout nerd that I was at the time (because you know, I’m not one now), I remember looking over the available troop crests and wondering – would we have a bluebird?  Or a pine cone?  Maybe even a clover!  Continue reading