Two, I believe.
Brownie.
I liked…a couple of the people in my troop. I disliked the rest of them, especially our group leader, who was very overbearing, unimaginative, and not very friendly. Most of our activities were really not very fun, and we only ever went on one trip.
Two years, 1st and 2nd grade
2) What level did you go up to?
Brownie. Then we moved and I didn’t want to join a new troop.
I disliked that they didn’t start the daisies until I was in 1st grade. I would have been a daisy in kindergarten…or sooner, I think they could be 4. I also disliked the workshop days, where we’d meet other troups and be “taught” things by grumpy older women; I especially hated the piano leason.
I liked the time we went to Echo lake and one of the girls turned blue so they told us all to get out of the water- it was April, after all. I also liked that we got to hang out with cub scouts at their bonfire when we were at overnight camp- they had climbed our cabin walls and made things fall down so inviting us was a peace offering.
6, from kindergarten through 5th grade. i quit after that because i really only had 1 friend there, the other girls were kinda snobby, and i wanted to stay home and watch tv instead.
juniors, i think. i think my 12-year-old sister recently dropped out too, or she’s working on convincing my mom to let her drop out.
i liked the early years, hanging out with my friends, going camping, making things, and having fun. when i got older, it seemed that i had less and less friends, i was too hyperactive and insane for the group, they all hated me, and nothing was fun any more.
i wish i had done indian princesses - my sis and dad are in that and they have a lot of fun. some of my friends were indian princesses too, and they apparently liked it too. and i feel like the only person in this town who has never been to deer valley, this interesting camping and recreational area. sigh woe is me…
cj, i didn’t know you were a girl scout!
I was in Scouts off and on for about four years. I don’t remember the earliest year I was in, except it involved an orange uniform.
When I got to Juniors, I really had a good time with it. We all went to the same school, so we knew each other, and there were only a few girls I didn’t really like. We got to do a lot of outdoor stuff and field trips that that kind of thing. I quit a few months after I became a cadette scout because it wasn’t as much fun. Also, there were some girls from other schools and I was painfully shy.
The only thing I disliked was the selling. We were discouraged from doing it door-to-door, and there was (and still is) a LOT of competition.
As for Baby Doors, I’d encourage him to join an organization of some sort, just not necessarily Scouts.
Robin
“…and to be a sister to every Girl Scout.” I forgot about that temporarily, but I have a sort of cute kid story that goes with that part of the Girl Scout Law. My daughter was the youngest girl in her Brownie troop - the others were all second graders, she was the only first grader. Naturally, at school, great big second graders do NOT play with first grade babies. Or they didn’t, until my daughter was turned away from a jump-rope session by two of her second grade troop mates. She got righteously indignant, and informed the older girls that they had taken an OATH and that meant a PROMISE to be a sister to every Girl Scout, and they were NOT being very good sisters to her and if they didn’t let her play too she would immediately inform their leader. The two older girls were totally speechless, and tried briefly to figure a way out of this, then conceded that she was absolutely right and spent the next 20 minutes twirling for her.
My daughter, the nitpicker.
I’m an adult member of GSUSA.
I’ve been a Boy Scout since before I could walk (well, not quite – more like age 5) along with my father (as a leader), and progressed all the way to Eagle. Meanwhile, my mother and sister were heavily involved with Girl Scouts …
So the summer I was out of High School, instead of working at a Boy Scout camp (my previous three summers), I started working at a Girl Scout camp. (I wasn’t even 18 yet, so this was technically against the rules … but it was only a day camp.) I was the Boating Director… It was a great job, and I’m still involved with the Girl Scouts. My mother and I still teach canoeing (she more than me, but I do so at least once a year) to girls, and I, too, went to a signalong for the 50th anniversary. My aunt and cousin’s troop were running the singing, my mother and I watched the campfire (for the s’mores). [Oh, I just remembered: I’ve also helped out at a few leader trainings, teaching basic skills.]
Favorite memory: I loved working at the camp – the staff was great, and the girls were a lot of fun – and teaching. I still love teaching, and watching their reactions as they figure something out.
Least favorite: The Girl Scouts are much more like the Boy Scouts in terms of activites, which is a Good Thing IMHO. However, their saftey plans haven’t always caught up… at the camp I worked at, the director blanched at the thought of two fourth-grade girls in a canoe by themselves. Never mind that I, and two other counselors would be out on the water with them … Thankfully, I finally set her straight and most adult Girl Scouts aren’t quite so paranoid…
Booklover, I was a Cadette and Senior in the late 80’s. Cadettes had ugly printed green-and-blue on white plaid blouses (I remember my mom carping about the printedness) and green sashes that tied at the waist. I think maybe Seniors were wearing blue, but our troop didn’t do uniforms by then, we just each got a red vest to wear over our clothes. Mine was too small then and is too small now, but I still love to see all the patches on it–such accomplishment! 