:dubious: you are aware that trans* people are people and not circus animals, yes?
I’ve heard Dangerosa tell the whole “selling girl scout cookies to a transvestite” story, and it doesn’t have the slightest “circus” flavor to it when you hear the whole thing. Don’t get your panties in a twist just yet.
After finding said story I see she is patting herself on the back for treating that person (which, without asking for pronouns, we don’t know that “transvestite” is the appropriate term to use. but considering it was the grocery store, odds are good she was a trans woman) with basic human decency. Sorry if I’m not impressed. I mean that’s better than the alternative, of course, but hardly something to crow that you are a champion of tolerance over.
ps, sorry OP for the hi-jack. I will not post again in this thread.
Yes, which is why when he walked by in the grocery store where we were selling cookies, I treated him like EVERY OTHER person who walked by and asked him if he wanted to buy cookies, instead of treating him like a circus freak and telling the girls “don’t look!” :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
Cross dressing man. He used the term transvestite, so I’m assuming that is what HE wanted to be called. And I didn’t tell the story to impress you. Nor did I do it to impress him. I did it to teach the girls that tolerance is an important value.
What if the dog dies? How’s the kid going to feel abut guardian angels then? That seems to be a dicey road to start down if you don’t know what the dog’s prognosis is.
Since your daughter’s enjoying it and hasn’t expressed any discomfort with weird things the leader says/does, I’d let it go unless something comes up. You might also want to see whether there’s anything the troop needs assistance with (trips,activities, etc.) so you have the chance to hang out and see how the leader interacts with the kids.
Has this woman been a troop leader for long? I’m curious since some troops rotate leaders every couple years or so and it seems odd to start a new GS troop towards the end of the school year.
This person is either crazy (if she believes this shit) or *a crook *(selling bogus nickles). Either catagory disqualifys them from a position of supervision for my kid.
I appreciate this, what you said is absolutely true. There is a grievous shortage of scout leaders and telling the OP to just “find another troop” because of the leader’s wacky beliefs is going to be inconvenient and difficult. Personally I would rather my kid had an angel wrassler as a leader instead of a biblethumper who blatted how Jesus was proud of their boondoggle making. There should be another co-leader, anyway, you can’t have just one scout leader, there have to be two. So maybe the OP can ask the other one what she thinks or has heard.
I wouldn’t be too worried about this based on the (admittedly pretty woo-woo) sig alone.
For several years when I was in early elementary school one of my Girl Scout troop’s co-leaders was a woman who I realize now must have been a Fundamentalist Christian who did not believe in evolution. But this didn’t even occur to me until I was an adult, because her beliefs almost never came up. I remember only two cases where it did. One was a brief remark about how God has a plan that’s beyond human understanding, which is a pretty mainstream Christian belief. The second one happened when we were having a meeting or party at her house, and she said that since I liked dinosaurs (I was about 7 and obsessed with them!) I might be interested in a book her kids had about dinosaurs. I looked through it and found it was about how dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time but most of the dinosaurs were killed in the Flood.
Years later something reminded me of this, and I thought “Wow, that was really inappropriate.” However, I don’t think it did me any harm to be exposed to these beliefs. I wasn’t even confused by the book, I just thought it was stupid and that the author obviously knew less about dinosaurs than I did. Even with young kids I think it takes a lot to get people to change their deeply-held beliefs. Unless this troop leaders starts doing things that would be inappropriate regardless of her beliefs, like arguing with the kids or telling them their parents are all liars or something, I don’t think even the occasional reference to what she does for a living would be harmful.
Why would you deprive your child access to this invaluable educational resource? How are you going to teach your child critical thinking skills without providing them concrete examples of non-critical thinking?
Bear in mind that talking to angels is her job. If she’s like me, she’s not going to want to spend her free time talking about work.
I developed a long-lasting appreciation for potable water after my parents forced me to drink a glass of raw sewage.
I was Girl Scout for several years and I can’t remember a single instance of a leader talking about her religion so I wouldn’t worry.
On the upside, your daughter has an in on the psychic channeling merit badge…
Meh, I don’t see a problem. Unless you’ve heard complaints about this person “evangelizing” people in the past, I wouldn’t worry about it. Out of curiosity, what does she have a PhD in?
From personal experience, her kids will have more direct contact with yours than the mom will and will be more likely to talk about their personal beliefs. I have frequent discussions with my son about god because his school friends and their families go to church frequently. We do not. This results in a lot of comments from my son like, “Mom, did you know god is in all of us?” Me, “Really? Where did you hear that?” Then insert brief, age-appropriate explanation of, “Well, some people believe that and those ideas can be very important to them. This is what we believe, blah, blah, blah.” I think something along those lines is more likely to happen than a drive-by from the mom during a troop meeting.
I could be totally wrong, though.
Guys, I think you’re all overly focused on the angel-talking stuff. Don’t sweat it… it’s crazy, but she only does that part-time. Don’t ignore the fact that she’s a perfectly respectable UFOlogist.
No different than any other mystical and/or religious beliefs. I would keep an eye on whether the scout leader is spending her time doing scout stuff or woo stuff, just as I would if the leader was Catholic or Baptist. Otherwise no big deal. Plus, your child has a leg on on the UFO and Talking to Angels badges.
Ya know, I come for the profanity, but stay for gems like this! 
Speaking as a Cubscout leader, there are aspects of scouting that don’t exactly align with my beliefs 1:1…but the vast majority of the program is worth more than the one or two aspects I don’t care for.
There are scout programs run by the Mormons…it’s a church edict the you will be involved and their membership is ACTIVE. I have a constant struggle to get enough volunteers to run our school based pack. For example, our PC take on the religous aspects of the program is to bring it up around christmas (when it’s part of the culture to talk about these things) then have the kids ask their parents…it exposes them to the topic while letting the parent relay their feelings on it.
Scouting requires two deep leadership. You cannot hold a scout sanctioned and insured event without two people having taken Youth Protection Training. It keeps everybody in-check and protected. Do girl scouts have a similar requirement?
Pushing my agenda as a result. 
Perhaps you should take an interest in assisting your daughter’s troop? It gets you involved in making some neat memories with her, and it ensures you’re aware of what doctrine the leadership is or is not spreading.