My 6 y-o daughter wants to join Brownies

[Sabriel]

Does anyone here have anything to say about it, either way? What's their stance, how much involvement for the parents?

Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated. I always thought brownies were little pixie people....

[SoCalDem]

1. I was a Brownie.. It's a very benign organization..

Brownies turn into Girl Scouts.. I would let her do it, since she wants to. I lost interest in girl scouts, but your daughter might really like it.

[wildeyed]

2. I thought it was really boring when I did it.

But they might have changed in the ensuing years.

[SW FL Dem]

3. I was a Brownie and my mom was leader

I still ended up as a Lib and DUer. My son tried Cub Scouts for a year and then gave it up. If she wants to do it, try it. If the local leader is an idiot or Bushbot, you can quit with little or no consequences. Don't buy the uniform until you know, it can be pricey.

[Sabriel]

4. Do parents attend the gatherings, too?

Or is it just the leader/den person? (Can you tell I know absolutely nothing about it?)

[SW FL Dem]

5. When my son was a cub scout in 4th grade

I attended the meetings so did many of the other parents. I think it depends on the leader, the parents and the age of the kids. Some parents just dropped their kids off, but they tended to be people with multiple kids. My kid is an only and I wanted to be involved.

[Sabriel]

6. Thanks for the responses

I'm a little squeamish about the whole thing. I'm personally not a big joiner. My partner's and my views about politics and religion are non-mainstream, and we're in a pretty conservative city. I'm nervous about who might be involved and to what degree they're accepting of difference.

[SoCalDem]

7. She'll be fine.. She just wants to do what her friends are doing

If she had hooked up with some little soccer players, you'd be out buying soccer shoes..

She wants to belong to a group..and that's a good thing at her age.. She may join , and after you have bought the cute little jumper and sash, she'll have a fight with the other girls and say.. "Mom, I want to play soccer"..:evilgrin:

[FourStarDemocrat]

8. At the Brownie age especially there's usually a lot of parent involvement

I'm not involved in Girl Scouts, but I'm a parent volunteer leader for my son's local cub scout pack. It often requires a lot of work on the parents' part, because the parents organize and plan everything and come along to events. I was also a Brownie and Girl Scout for a few years growing up. It's a good way to get girls involved in community service projects and camping/outdoor activities and promotes the learning of skills and independence on the part of girls. And it's fun for them if their friends are involved also, or if they want to make new friends. If it's a big troop, you might be able to get away with less involvement if they already have enough volunteers.

Most troop leaders are not politically inclined. I can speak for the Boy Scouts in Long Island, NY that although maybe the organization's top national leadership is somewhat conservative, and encourages religious belief or belief in God, you have parent leaders of every political and religious or non-religious stripe in there and people don't pressure others to conform to something that they're not comfortable with.

Hope that helps.

[Sabriel]

9. That does, thanks a lot

I'll have to re-examine my squeamishness, I guess. Thanks to all who responded.

[MrsMatt]

10. My daughter was a Brownie last year

Her troop, which was comprised of her schoolmates, collected for food shelves, books for underpriviledged overseas and did Christmas carolling at a nursing home.

But it may all depend on the troop leader - ours was a very liberal and civic minded person. Try to meet the troop leader and assistant if possible.

My daughter's only criticism (and the reason she isn't joining this year) is that they sing too much.

[SoCalDem]

11. I quit because the Scout leader's daughter Charmaine

was allergic to EVERYTHING, and we never got to do any outside activities.. I got bored from making potholders, drawing pictures, and weaving raffia baskets:)

I waited and just joined girl scouts and we did great stuff.. We even attended Jungle Survival School..camped in the jungle, went cliff diving.. It was tons 'o fun :)

[blondeatlast]

12. I loved Brownies and Girl scouts (mom was a leader) and I

turned out to be an activist progressive!

I found it great fun and if you get involved you might enjoy it too.

It all depends on the leadership--if they can come up with great activities, you can't hardly go wrong.

[Midlodemocrat]

13. My 9yo is a junior.

Just returned from a weekend campout. She loves it. It is pretty benign. Not like the boy scouts in terms of homophobia. I have two lesian mom friends whose daughters participate.

[AlCzervik]

14. I was a Brownie/girlscout leader for 5 years--GS is not affiliated with

the boy scouts in case you were wondering. It was a very good experience for both my daughter and me, lots of arts and crafts and our troops also did many charity drives for womans shelters.