Boy Scouts accepting girls. Girl Scouts not happy.

Our family would still be excluded from Boy Scouts. We are atheists and won’t pretend otherwise. DH was an Eagle Scout, his parents told him to lie about their non- religious beliefs. He still feels queasy about the whole thing. Would never have let our kids do that.

Kids most often do not get to choose to abstain from “family” activities. They center around the scouts, not giving equal fun to siblings. When I was a kid scouting was mainstream but there seem to be more options now- especially with computers for information on so much.

If people want the Eagle opportunity for girls then why not ask Girl Scouts to change and make their Star award comparable? If girls want some of the Boy Scout activities, Boy Scouts has Venturing groups for that.

My son is an Eagle and I can say this is a sad day for BSA. Just like families choose single sex education for the benefits, we feel that way about Boy Scouts. As my son was journeying through Boy Scouts during his adolescence (I’d say especially middle school all the way through 10th grade), it would not have been as fantastic if girls were part of the experience. As my son was growing up and going through all those changes having his Boy Scout experience where he was with “just the guys” learning skills, growing up, forming bonds, learning and experimenting with leadership, it was the single sex experience that made it invaluable.

If people think its important for Boy Scouts to go co-ed, then I guess its time to end all single-sex schools, fraternities, sororities, clubs etc. The worst of its is that BSA gave their members and Eagles no vote in this.

If people wanted a compromise they could have given Troops the option to decide for themselves if they wanted to be co-ed or not. I would imagine then there would be some all boy Troops/packs.

If the Boy Scouts start broadly accepting girls, should the organization change its name? If so, to what?

Both of my kids (D and S) were in scouting through 5th grade. Both left to pursue other activities. D’s experience in Girl Scouts was a mix of camping/outdoorsy stuff and more “girly” stuff. To be honest , while she is active and played sports at that time the outdoors stuff did not really appeal to her. Just not her thing.

Two of D’s best friends stayed in scouting and got the Gold Award. Unlike Eagle Scout, most people here had no idea what that was and did not seem to regard it as highly which ois very unfortunate.

Neither of my girls were involved in any type of scouting so my opinion is probably unimportant. I find it interesting that Boy Scouts have changed it and kind of ridiculous that Girl Scouts are so upset. Even if my girls had been interested in scouting, even if Boy Scouts were allowing girls when they were younger, they wouldn’t have wanted to be in something so clearly for boys that it was labeled as such. Additionally, while they liked activities that were a balance of boys and girls, they would have been miserable in an activity dominated by boys. In their experiences, when boys were the majority in activities they tried to participate in, the boys would be overly aggressive and/or discount the girls. It just wouldn’t have been fun for them. But since there are girls that wouldn’t have minded the labeling or being the minority group in scouting, then Insee it as a positive that girls can join Boy Scouts.

I’m against it. When I was in Boy Scouts, there was a lot of backpacking: hiking 10 miles a day with a 50 pound pack and going several days without a shower. Would most girls be physically able to do that? Would they want that experience? If you had too many girls, or perhaps in an end state merged boy and girl scouts, boy scouts would eventually change to something with fewer traditional “boy activities”. It seems like dealing with mixed gender hormonal immature teenagers on overnight camping trips would be a chaperoning nightmare for the adult leaders, on a number of levels.

I was a co-leader for Seniors and Ambassadors for four years while my D was in high school. She earned her Gold Award. By this stage we were down to only 6 girls and we had to pull them from three different towns. We did have a couple of girls who dropped out almost immediately after hearing our plans to continue on with the prior leaders’ focus on outdoor activities, survival skills, and community engagement. They weren’t looking to recycle the town bottles and cans to earn money one Sunday morning each month (btw, we earned upwards to $1000 each time for 3 hours work). They didn’t embrace the once monthly mentoring of the local Brownie troops. They disliked that the girls had to do all the planning, purchasing, cooking and cleaning for our 3-4 camping trips each year.

The girls who stayed had a fantastic last couple of years. We went to a dude ranch, skiing (cabin camping), made and sold gingerbread house kits each Christmas, joined in Veterans Day marches and services, held joint tea and scone afternoons at the senior center, babysat on Friday nights at the community center for donations only, went to Boston at least once a year to see an show, rough camped several times a year where the girls learned to build wine box ovens and cook over the open fire. They ended their girl scouts years with a 10-day trip to London, staying at a famous girl scout hall there.

No, we didn’t like to sell the darn cookies and only did what was required by council. We were able to make enough money for the troop in other ways and dues were not necessary for the most part. Any time there was an expense, we made sure there were ways for each scout to earn the money so it didn’t cost the family (if the effort was put in).

As for the Gold Award, it is actually much more difficult to earn than the Eagle Scout. The requirements are tougher in that it is built on past achievement of the Bronze and Silver Awards and that the project must be sustainable. It took my daughter nearly a year to complete her project. She did a co-project with another girl scout for their Silver Award and that took nearly 6 months. I wish I could say I thought it helped with admissions but I didn’t see that. Unfortunate because like a varsity sport, she was committed to many hours each week.

My son was a Cub Scout and Boy Scout. I found their leader(s) and activities boring, as did he. I made suggestions about local activities including netting, cleaning and cooking herring, learning to sail, building dog houses, that sort of thing…no one was interested. They never went camping, never learned to tie knots. He bailed when they refused to let me help lead.

Forgot to mention, I am against mixed gender scouting. There were many badges in freshman year that dealt with female-only subjects, things that boys don’t need to know or wouldn’t want to know lol (think hygiene, dating “rules”, that sort of thing). I think some mixing during the year would be good for both organizations and we did that for parades and other community activities but they don’t need to be camping together or hiking together for weekend trips. It just complicates everything.

You do know that there will not be co-ed Scout dens, right? I hear lots of complaints (not necessarily here…) about co-ed camping trips and “watering down” Boy Scout activities.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/boy-scouts-will-admit-girls-allow-them-earn-eagle-scout-n809836

Female only subjects? Are the girls scouts teaching girls to use tampons, pads or bras? I can’t think of any other female only subjects.

From what I read, the choice will be up to the troops. The LDS, which is the largest supporter of troops in the country, will not have co-ed troops.

Yes, female-only subjects. Things that the girls would not be comfortable discussing with boys in the room. Hygiene, body changes, emotions. Healthy Habits, Looking Your Best, Babysitting, Savvy Shopper, Room Makeover, Dinner Party. While I know there were many that could be co-ed, I just don’t think most boys would be interested, certainly not my son or his friends.

And yes, there were many open-style meetings that the girls wanted to discuss hygiene products, bras and appropriate dressing for certain occasions. There was a fine line here for leaders but when it got down to just 4-6 girls/women, all the moms were friends and no topic was off-limits.

I was a girl scout troop leader for 12 years. My troop did a lot of camping, hiking, and outdoor stuff when the girls were young, because that’s the kind of leader I was (and the kind of Scout I was when I was a child.) No Build-a-Bear workshops, no manicures. So much of the Girl Scout experience depends on the leadership, including leadership from other troop parents. (I know I would have been THRILLED if a parent asked to help or wanted to lead an activity - too many of my parents just saw Scouts as a baby-sitting service.)

However, when my girls got older, the troop became less outdoorsy and more focused on leadership activities and travel. That’s because the girls themselves took over all the planning and re-shaped the troop into what they wanted it to be. (That’s the way Girl Scouts is supposed to work - it’s girl-driven.)

What I loved about Girl Scouts: that girl-driven focus and the inclusiveness of the organization. In my Senior troop I had an atheist, a Muslim, a Hindu, and a Presbyterian. It was all cool. One of my girls came out as a lesbian during her junior year of high school, and no one cared.

What I hated about Girl Scouts: all the paperwork required of us leaders and the incessant leader meetings/training sessions/etc. I hear it’s better now.

What I loved most about Scouts: the girls I got to know. It was an honor to be their leader, despite the paperwork.

I’m not sure how I feel about girls joining the Boy Scouts, but in general, I think choices are good. We’ll see what the impact is on the Girl Scouts.

P.S. Put me down as one who thinks that the Gold Award is more difficult to earn than is the Eagle Award.

We have a boy and a girl who both participated in scouting. In our area the GS program is much better than the BS program.

Girl Scouts - D went to meetings every couple weeks after school with occasional fun outings including camping. I picked her up after meetings and was cookie mom for several years. D earned regular badges, marched in parades and generally had lots of fun. She stayed with it from kindergarten through to high school.

Boy Scouts - Meetings once a month on Sunday evenings. Parental attendance was required. For the first half of the meeting the kids went outside and played while the parents watched a power point presentation. Yes there was a power point presentation every meeting. Then the kids would come in and we would do some arts and crafts activity. S hated it. I hated it. We kept thinking it was going to get better but it never did. S never went camping or did anything outdoorsy other than the summer camp we sent him to. He quit after a couple years.

There are also issues of leadership. Many people choose single sex education because they feel it gives the students more leadership roles, more chances for the students, especially girls, to explore subjects like STEM the have been traditionally male dominated. My nephew went to an all male school and enjoyed the experience. There is a girls’ division to his school but they keep everything separate. In the early years they had a joint track team but decided they didn’t like it.

Having co-ed troops might work for families that have boys and girls of similar ages, but I bet that for the majority the girls will be in girl scouts and the boys in boys scouts.

My future son-in-law is an executive with the national leadership of BSA, and I was a Girl Scout all the way through high school. I think this is a shame. I have kids of both genders and strongly support single gender activities and spaces.

There have been a few girls on our troop’s multi-day backpacking trips, and they often put the guys to shame. I know because I was there, along with another mom to meet youth protection guidelines. These kids were high school age and knew each other from school, so spending time together on a co-ed campout was not an issue for them. As a mother of two boys, I agree that most cubs scouts would be happier in single-sex dens.

One girl I know earned the Gold Award and the Venture Award. I could see motivated girls participating in both groups.

Every time I got a chance to give feedback to the GS org, I would suggest they run commercials promoting their Gild Award recipients. It would increase the visibility of the award, showcase some great young women and their accomplishments, and maybe create some of the “pull” that Eagle has for boys who come into the BS organization with the goal of reaching that level. Their response was that they didn’t wasn’t to spend their ad $ that way, “too expensive”. That, of course, was back when people watched TV & saw commercials. :slight_smile:

I think Eagle is a great accomplishment-- but I admit that it annoys me when people fawn over Eagle recipients, and women who did something quite similar are all around us without getting similar recognition.

My son is the SPL for his boy scout troop. One of the parents shouted the news to him before the game. He just yelled back “Cool.” This lines up with most scouting groups in the world which are coed. They already have girls in the Venture program.