You’re right about the social prestige (few know about the Gold Award), but Gold Award takes more hours of work on the part of the Girl Scout to earn the last time I compared it to Eagle Scout. Less than 5% of girls who stay in Girl Scouts through the end of high school earn this because the requirements are really tough.
A word about Girl Scout vs Boy Scout sales.
With Girl Scout cookies for every $4 box they sell the troop gets about 50 cents. That money goes to the troop and goes to pay for troop expenses and any money left over the troop decides on what to spend it on.
In Boy Scouts they sell more things. Popcorn is most common but also trash bags, candy, christmas trees, and even fireworks. Some set up concession stands at fairs. When a Scout sells an item like say popcorn after they have sold over a certain amount (say $150) the extra money goes into a fund for the boy to use for summer camp or scout fees. When they sell things as a group, say christmas trees or concessions, some of the money goes to the troop, the rest goes into the boys fund.
Now something different. As I said in GS ALL the money from cookies goes to the troop and the girls decide as a group on how its spent. It doesnt matter if your daughter sold 10 boxes or 200 she gets no extra say over how the money is spent. Only recently have girls been allowed to earn personal “cookie credits” which can go to the individual girl for summer camp.
My BIL troop sold Christmas trees and this often goes so well each scout gets a certain amount they can spend on the scout store (provided they also worked at the lot). My sons troop also does a pancake breakfast once a year which pretty much covers all the basic expenses plus money to purchase some new equipment like say new tents.
An interesting difference, in BS popcorn sales they also earn some cool prizes for selling over a certain amount so say selling $50 they can get a flashlight. Over $100 they get a fishing rod. Over $200 they get a lantern or a tent.HERE is a sample.
With GS and prizes, it depends. It used to be just a few years ago all they would earn were pins and teddy bears. This council’s prizes are pins, toys, purses but they can also earn cookie credits. This one in Los Angeles its pins, toys, dolls, and also some camping equipment. Another is pins, toys, dolls, purses, and clothing.
On Boy Scout merit badges.
There are currently 120 BSA merit badges. Its true some of the requirements have become watered down. HERE is a site listing all of them and their requirements.
Some are easier than others and it depends upon the scout. My son whipped right thru his swimming and lifesaving merit badge requirements because he’s a good swimmer. A science project at school could also meet the requirements for a science merit badge.
On advancements I agree with the above posters that the GSA Gold medal is more difficult to earn than the BSA Eagle. I’ve only known 1 girl to ever earn the Gold while I know dozens of Eagle scouts.
Just wanted to put this out.
Many places offer merit badge programs for all Scouts. Here in Kansas the Kansas Cosmospherehas a program for Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and American Heritage girls with programs tailored to meet each groups requirements for merit badges or patches.
Girl Scouts has 123 official GSA badges. The ones at the lower levels for little girls are easier (and that is when most girls collect most of their badges) the ones at the higher levels are much more difficult.
The incentives for cookie sales are determined by the baker of the cookies. There used to be many more bakers licensed to bake Girl Scout cookies and so there was more competition and generally better incentives. When I sold cookies 20-30 years ago, the incentives in my council were pretty awesome. Now there are only two bakers for Girl Scout cookies. Every year, our council chooses which one to select based on how good the incentives are, but they generally aren’t that great anymore. This has more to do with the consolidation of bakers (and less competition) than anything else.
And yes, it’s true, GS doesn’t give cash straight to the girls, but over 80% of that money is spent on activities for girls. This is why, as I said earlier, the councils (who receive a lot of that money) have an obligation to provide programming/activities that are popular with the membership.
Are you talking about THESE?
I cannot believe they have 12 badges just for selling cookies like (Cookie CEO).
That site lists several the BSA also does like photography, art, and first aid.
But they also list “badges” like hosting a dinner party, babysitting, making a collage, finding the “Science of Happiness”, and finding the “Voice for Animals”.
Uh, maybe it’s BSA that’s a little lopsided? Being able to cook and entertain is a valuable lifelong skill, and one you don’t want to have to learn the first time you have your boy/girlfriend’s parents over for dinner.
Babysitting, of course, is the go-to odd job for older girls. I made quite a pretty penny babysitting neighborhood kids when I was in middle school, and that would have been enhanced by knowing a bit more about child safety and development.
Collages are art (I even know a professional collage artists). The Science of Happiness is named after a class taught at Yale, and refers to techniques that have been scientifically proven to improve mood regulation. Maybe this is news to you, but teenagers and adolescents often deal with strong emotions.
The Voice for the Animals badge is about researching and creating projects around animal rights. Maybe that doesn’t resonate with you, but it resonates with a lot of girls.
I want my daughter to grow up learning about sports and science. But that doesn’t mean she is somehow lesser if she enjoys crafts and cooking. Feminine/girlish things are not inherently weak, fluffy or worthless. They are also a valuable part of the human experience.
Nm
*Be prepared! That’s the Boy Scout’s marching song,
Be prepared! As through life you march along.
Be prepared to hold your liquor pretty well,
Don’t write naughty words on walls if you can’t spell.
Be prepared! And be careful not to do
Your good deeds when there’s no one watching you.
If you’re looking for adventure of a new and different kind,
And you come across a Girl Scout who is similarly inclined,
Don’t be nervous, don’t be flustered, don’t be scared.
Be prepared! *
And the cookie badges are business based badges. Develop and implement a marketing plan. Forecast your sales and track sales volume. Budget your cookie proceeds to pay for troop activities.
The Brownie level badges are pretty easy, but I’ve dealt with Business School grads who couldn’t create a marketing plan.
On male leaders…
I’ve been doing Girl Scout recruiting events for a decade now. We’d take anyone we can get who can pass a background check - and actively encourage Dads to volunteer. The number of Dads that show up to recruiting events over the past ten years can be counted on one hand, and NONE of them have been interested in volunteering.
Now granted, with so few men involved, male leaders would have to be pretty comfortable with themselves to walk into a leader meeting where there were 30 women, and then be ready to lead a troop where the girls want to play with yarn for a month straight (my girl led troop did that as second graders - yarn pom poms, yarn crochet, yarn dolls…there was some sort of needlework badge that became “nothing but yarn” for a month because they weren’t ready to let go of yarn.)
I don’t know how many different groups you’ve been involved with, but most things in both Boy and Girl Scouts differ from group to group and leader to leader. And when I say most things, I mean everything from whether the group is very outdoorsy and camps a lot to what kind of camping to what is done with the fundraising proceeds. For example, in my son’s Cub pack and Boy Scout troop, there was no such thing as funds for individual boys. All fundraising proceeds went to the troop to defray the cost of activities - but different boys didn’t get different amounts based on how much popcorn they sold. The Cub pack did only family camping until the leadership changed, and the Boy Scout troop only camped in the summer. My daughter was in one Girl Scout troop that did not go camping at all, another that only went to “Mommy and Me” events sponsored by the council, and another where the leaders took the troop camping. There were even Girl Scout troops that allocated money to individual girls based on how many boxes of cookies they sold.
Just FYI- there probably shouldn’t be any troops with individual scout accounts funded by popcorn or Christmas tree sales anymore. Since it BSA has advised against it since early 2014. See here and this IRS letter. There was actually a nonprofit that lost its non-profit status because it gave individuals dollar-for- dollar credit for funds raised.
So a funny story on girls not being interested in camping.
My troop has always been small - over the past ten years I’ve had eight different girls participate. Three have been pretty long term members.
My daughter has always been the one most interested in camp (we just bought her a $300 tent - she is the only person who uses a tent or a sleeping bag in our house), but in middle school she talked three of the other girls into a week of horse camp. Horse camp for girls is a big deal. Its cabin camping, but the girls learn horse care and ride the horses - then they also do some other camp activities like watersports or archery.
Horse camp girls stay in cabins out by the horse barns - not so close you can smell horse, close enough that at 7am you can go feed the horses. The cabins are probably twenty years old, they sleep eight in four bunks, have electricity, windows with screens in them and AIR CONDITIONING. (There is a shared bath house with toilets and showers - no bathroom in the cabin - but its a bathhouse with toilets and showers, not a latrine and a pump). To me, this is definitely frou frou camp - not the two weeks canoeing through the Boundary Waters. I’m not a camper myself, but I don’t consider a cabin with air conditioning camping - its “going to camp.”
The one girl and her mother practically had a heart attack over how rustic it was. I think they expected something at least on the scale of a Holiday Inn. They never went “camping” again.
And that is the reason Girl Scouts have moved away from camping and have had to sell camps. Because you put a girl in a cabin with air conditioning and electricity and give her plumbing, and its “too rustic” for a lot of the girls and their mothers.
Had the girls been interested, I’d have roped one of my camping girlfriends into a volunteer weekend taking my girls camping (I’m Girl Scout trained and certified to take them camping - that doesn’t mean I can pick a spot where the tent won’t flood in the rain - and by the rules I need another adult - and my usual other adult needs her CPAP so there is no tent camping for her). I volunteered several times. They’d rather go bowling. Girl led.
Dangerousa,
Great response.
You mention camps. Our camps are all tent camping with latrines. Cabins are usually just for long term staff or for family camping. We are open and tell parents ahead of time though so they have no expectations of “frou frou” as you say.
I dont know why some parents think the word “camp” means some sort of fancy resort? To me it isnt camp until you get your shoes dirty and attacked by bugs.
You mention horses. Thats another big difference in BSA vs GSA camps. While the BSA does have a horsemanship merit badge, its not such a big thing at BSA camps. None of the BSA camps in our council have them. In other areas they do EXAMPLE. But really its more of a side thought and not the main focus of the average BSA camp. With GSA camps though, its much bigger and many a parent fears their daughter coming home from GSA camp with a love of horses and now they end up doing expensive lessons or even buying a horse.
Personally I think the lack of horses is what helps keep costs down.
Well as a Dad who’s often been the only man at a PTA meeting or helping on a school field trip, I totally understand.
Boys are not girls. Horse camps are one camp that our council fills, and manages to sell at cost. For some reason, girls go horse crazy. Without the horse camps, we’d have fewer camps, and fewer girls experiencing even frou frou camping.
Most of the Boy Scout camps in Minnesota have cabins and toilet facilities - very similar to the Girl Scout Camps. In fact, there isn’t a Boy Scout camp in the state that is only Wilderness camping. There is one Boy Scout camp and one Girl Scout camp that don’t have cabins - they both have lodges which is where most of the Scouts stay most of the time.
But this is Minnesota. Winter camping happens, but its pretty hard core even for high school age Scouts, male or female.
Yeah, I can see that in Minnesota.
But Minnesota is also home to the Northern Tier wilderness base where Scouts go up for extreme winter camping and use dog sleds and live in igloos and ice caves they make themselves.
Sure you do, my son’s patrol does. They make sure to wash the girl-germs off after, duh.
This thread certainly took an informative direction. Great contributions, all around (as someone who has never participated in either, in any capacity).