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Thread: Cub Scouts for girls

  1. #21
    Member Gray Ghost's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by revchuck38 View Post
    On a Civilian Carry Radio podcast, I heard Baracca (sp?) talking about his daughter being in "American Heritage Girls", which sounds like what the Girl Scouts used to be, without the cookie sales. That's all I know about it.
    My daughters have been in AHG for several years. It is a solid program. My son is in Trail Life USA, which is equivalent organization for boys. Both are expressly Christian and espouse pro-America, conservative values.

    ETA: I got a ton out of Boy Scouts as a kid. I loved it. Got my Eagle, worked at camp, etc. There is no way I would let me son anywhere near what the BSA has now become. Pedophile central.
    Last edited by Gray Ghost; 08-23-2019 at 08:17 AM.

  2. #22
    Site Supporter rob_s's Avatar
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    So for anyone following along...

    The whole fam dambly took a golf cart ride up to the school last night to see what they had to say. Was pretty much chaos, but we ran into a guy we know from the neighborhood, whose daughter is the same age as our little one, and it turns out she was in the pack last year which was the first year for girls. He said they had a fantastic experience, but that they were excited about more girls being involved this year. He also said that they are *not* segregating the dens, and that the dens are mixed gender. I don't think that bothers me much, and it didn't seem to bother him.

    He said that his den last year met once a month, the pack met once a month, and there was one monthly activity. As I understand it from reading the papers we got, some dens meet weekly, only skipping the week where they have a pack meeting. I'm down for the former, not so much for the latter.

    We got a calendar that shows activities from this September to next August, with Pack Meetings running from September to April and the Blue and Gold Banquet in May. So basically it's a school-year activity, with some summer activities presumably to keep interest up but likely not "mandatory".

    Other dad also remarked that this pack is sponsored by the Elks Club in the neighborhood, whereas some are church sponsored, so this pack is pretty "secular". Good to hear, from our perspective, and also would seem to be accurate as he's a pretty liberal professor and my guess is they lean atheist. Even if he's not, I doubt they'd be back for year two if there was a bunch of holly-roller stuff (not that there's anything wrong with that... it's just not our jam).

    Current reservations are:
    1. Potential time commitment. We are generally pretty swamped with vacations, trips, family stuff, etc. throughout the school year as it's the active months in Florida.
    2. Religious component. Seems to be mostly assuaged, but still a concern. Mostly, I just don't want to be a fraud. I'm a pretty agnostic guy and really don't care about atheists or holy-rollers, I just try to respect both of their beliefs and not pretend to be one or the other.
    3. Campouts. Kind of a personal thing, but I have some health-related issues that make "get up and rush out the door" pretty impossible in the best of circumstances, and mornings in general a bit of a challenge, let alone navigating from a tent with a group dealing with communal facilities... Not exactly sure how to navigate that without totally disappointing or letting down my daughter.
    Last edited by rob_s; 08-24-2019 at 12:54 PM.

  3. #23
    I don’t know if any squadrons are close to you, but something else to maybe consider is The Civil Air Patrol. It’s the auxiliary to the USAF. I had amazing opportunities and experiences. Can’t join though until 12 years old or have completed the 6th grade.

  4. #24
    Site Supporter rob_s's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by El Cid View Post
    I don’t know if any squadrons are close to you, but something else to maybe consider is The Civil Air Patrol. It’s the auxiliary to the USAF. I had amazing opportunities and experiences. Can’t join though until 12 years old or have completed the 6th grade.
    The older girl is starting 6th grade now, and is in a local pre-law middle school program. I'll let her know the CAP comes highly recommended.
    Last edited by rob_s; 08-24-2019 at 01:41 PM.

  5. #25
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    Rob S.

    Mixed gender cub dens would not bother me re my daughter either. I confess I might have different feelings re my son and what I mentioned above.



    Potential time commitment. We are generally pretty swamped with vacations, trips, family stuff, etc. throughout the school year as it's the active months in Florida.
    [ It sounds like it is 1-2x month. You do the best you can. Attendance becomes more of an issue as a Scout re weekly meetings (usually Mon in many places etc.)

    Religious component. Seems to be mostly assuaged, but still a concern. Mostly, I just don't want to be a fraud. I'm a pretty agnostic guy and really don't care about atheists or holy-rollers, I just try to respect both of their beliefs and not pretend to be one or the other.

    [ I suspect the religiosity of a given Pack/Troop is highly dependent on the sponsoring organization. Our Pack and Troop is sponsored by an Episcopal Church. With the exception of Scout Sunday where the Scouts are celebrated during church and fed home made cookies thereafter, not much religion involved. "Church" on a camp-out, Sun Morn. consists of singing Amazing Grace, saying the Lord Prayer and doing Roses/Thorns/Buds where everybody says what they like most about the campout, what they liked least about the campout and what they are looking forward to in the week, the next campout etc.]


    Campouts. Kind of a personal thing, but I have some health-related issues that make "get up and rush out the door" pretty impossible in the best of circumstances, and mornings in general a bit of a challenge, let alone navigating from a tent with a group dealing with communal facilities... Not exactly sure how to navigate that without totally disappointing or letting down my daughter.

    [Again do what you can. Perhaps Mom takes point on these. Not a lot of camping out in Cub Scouts, perhaps a few nights a year total beyond a 2-3 day Cub Scout Summer Camp. Camping is again quite Pack/Troop dependent. Most campouts are one night such that, at least for many, communal facilities are not an issue.]


    Good Luck


    PS- I recall a posting some time ago re time balancing with sports etc. I would offer this- with sports, no matter how passionate you are, no matter how hard you work, there almost always comes a time when our children hit a plateau and/or their abilities will only take them so far.

    With Scouting (Boys and Girls), if your child is passionate about it, works hard, and the leadership is even remotely competent, they will earn their Eagle/Gold Award. That award will mean far more to an employer (and to a child) than a typical athletic career for most kids (some varsity playing time, no college scholarship prospects, minimal impact on college acceptance chances re them being accepted to play for the accepting college.) FWIW/IMHO.

  6. #26
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    Matt F.

    "ETA: I got a ton out of Boy Scouts as a kid. I loved it. Got my Eagle, worked at camp, etc. There is no way I would let me son anywhere near what the BSA has now become. Pedophile central."

    I would disagree that BSA has become "pedophile central." The vast majority of litigation Scouting is presently facing is for incidents that took place prior to the implementation of Youth Protection Programs beginning in the late 80s. In other words, it was much more likely to be what you claim it to be when you were a youth in Scouting as opposed to today.

  7. #27
    Site Supporter rob_s's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by vcdgrips View Post
    PS- I recall a posting some time ago re time balancing with sports etc. I would offer this- with sports, no matter how passionate you are, no matter how hard you work, there almost always comes a time when our children hit a plateau and/or their abilities will only take them so far.

    With Scouting (Boys and Girls), if your child is passionate about it, works hard, and the leadership is even remotely competent, they will earn their Eagle/Gold Award. That award will mean far more to an employer (and to a child) than a typical athletic career for most kids (some varsity playing time, no college scholarship prospects, minimal impact on college acceptance chances re them being accepted to play for the accepting college.) FWIW/IMHO.
    thanks for this, and the rest of your post.

    Not getting overly committed to a 2-nights-a-week and all-day-saturday-and-sunday type nonsense is always a concern for us with the kids' activities. So far it doesn't seem that this is an issue with Cub Scouts, although one dad told me their den meetings were on Sunday mornings "before everyone went to church", which isn't going to work out for us.

    I don't anticipate our daughter pursuing this past the cub-scout level, if she even lasts the whole year.

  8. #28
    Member Gray Ghost's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by vcdgrips View Post
    Matt F.

    "ETA: I got a ton out of Boy Scouts as a kid. I loved it. Got my Eagle, worked at camp, etc. There is no way I would let me son anywhere near what the BSA has now become. Pedophile central."

    I would disagree that BSA has become "pedophile central." The vast majority of litigation Scouting is presently facing is for incidents that took place prior to the implementation of Youth Protection Programs beginning in the late 80s. In other words, it was much more likely to be what you claim it to be when you were a youth in Scouting as opposed to today.
    I knew two adults leaders in my council who were predators and who molested boys I knew. That was in the late 80's and early 90's. One of those guys went to prison. There were youth protection policies and background checks in place back then. Both of the culprits had come up in the scouts as boys. I don't see how allowing open homosexuality can have possibly improved things since then, but I am not going to let my kids get close enough to find out. The BSA seems to be in a race to become as social justice/PC as it can possibly be. No thanks.

    I mean no offense. If you are having a positive experience with the modern BSA then have at it.

  9. #29
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    None taken. Matt F.

    Modern Scouting is not without its issues and concerns.
    My son is a Freshman in college so my time in Scouts is winding down.

    To your concerns, my work and nature simply had me always going on camp outs and activities w my son.
    I was happy to go, happy to drive and happy to be “on station.”

    Be safe and well.

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