Has the church as an organization ever sponsored or participated in the Girl Scouts? All I ever heard about was Boy Scouts. Seems kind of arbitrary to me if they never gave the girls a chance, but then again, I am not sure they ever did.

Nope. I think it has something to do with the Girl Scouts being okay with gay leaders.

They have incompatible purposes. The mission of girl scouts is to empower girls. That is not the mission of the church.

GSUSA makes the girls uppity

Individual TBM girls have been in Girl Scouts, but the church has rejected any affiliation with them because of the Girl Scouts' "liberal views". I was a brownie scout when I was little, but had to miss the campouts or activities that fell on Sunday. I was the only girl in my ward that went. Most other TBM moms felt it was a little too woman's lib, and since the church didn't accept it, they shouldn't either.

I recently read that Girl Scouts of America has affirmed that ANYONE who identifies themselves as a girl (and is girl scout age) is allowed to participate in their programs. Many conservative groups criticized the idea because it potentially allows transgender kids to join. That's something you'd NEVER see in Boy Scouts. They can't handle people who are gay yet.

My daughter is in a very strong troop. We hold meetings in a Lutheran church. When I asked my bishop, who was also my neighbor why the church didn't take girl scouts under their wing like boy scouts he replied that girl scouts tend to teach girls just strength and independent thinking and doesn't focus enough on family. My daughter and I are going to Costa Rica for a humanitarian mission this summer, you don't do that in young women's. Although they do teach you how to knit some useful pot holders :-)

Are you implying that only submissive women knit? Because if you are, you're wrong. Most of the women I know who knit are strong, independent, intelligent, accomplished women who also happen to knit. Most of them support themselves and won't put up with any crap from the men in their lives.

I think the implication was: there are a lot more useful skills than JUST knitting. And, while knitting is surely a useful skill, I can get a sweater faster and cheaper by buying one. But first I have to know how to make money. And selling Girl Scout cookies is one way to learn that.

GS teaches leadership, organizational skills, public speaking, business acumen, accounting, economics, survival skills -- all confidence boosters. You don't want a bunch of strong-minded, independent-thinking, self-sufficient women out there, do ya? Who's gonna iron the shirts and make lunch for the men if you teach little girls how to take care of themselves.

That's why there's no GS in the church.

Then I'm even more proud to have my daughter in girl scouts. I already know that she isn't going to fit with the mollys in the ward. I'm ok with that, she needs to be her own girl, and honestly, girl scouts has given us reason to work together on several projects that are simple and fun. She has become empowered in several ways because of girl scouts. It makes sense to me that the churh would want nothing to do with that. I was in yw on every capacity for 10 years. It was always the same old dreary lessons about finding a husband and blah blah.

I have seen them try to do something similar to girl scouting, with the lake activity days. My kid goes, and I hope she see the contrast, at the very least.

Girl Scouts is organized and run differently than Boy Scouts.
The troop leaders and the girls can earn money for their activities (which they vote on).

The girls badges require them to think for themselves.
The badges have them exploring all kinds of careers and activities often seen as outside what even girls camp allows.

The girls can plan raft trips, camp trips, cruises, pacific trail hikes that take more then one overnight, they can tour our nations capital, hike the grand canyon, climb a glacier in Alaska, fish the Columbia, run in marathons, be on a swim team, get a horsemanship badge, study introduction to chemistry, pilot an aircraft,study martial arts, and still earn a grooming badge where they learn the proper way to care for their bodies and use hair spray!

I ran a Girl Scout troop in a Mormon town that had never had Girl Scouts. We taught them to raise and lower the flag at the school (which they wore their uniforms for) something only the boys had ever been taught how to do! They knew what a color guard was and the commands!

You see, with girls scouts the TSCC can't dictate which badge their girls earn. They can't dictate which activities the girls can do (like the GS troop in Vegas that earned enough $$ Selling cookies to Protestants coming out of church on Sunday to go on a Caribbean cruise!)

Also the girls tour colleges and discuss career options; be a stewardess or be a pilot? which one???

Can't have a woman knowing how to read and think for herself when her job is to never be smarter than the man she is with!!!

OK, let us say for a moment that the girl scouts does have some "liberal views" that are not compatible with the church. Fair enough, then why doesn't the church have it's own separate girl scout like program. They used to have their own MIA scouts, before they combined with the boy scouts, and the only reason the boy scouts have not soften up on certain issues is because the church has told them they will leave, take their money with them, and go back to the old MIA model.

The church as tight fisted as it is with money, has threatened this numerous times, and they also spend a lot of money on the BSA program. The only explainable reason for them neglecting the girls with a similar program, rather ran by the Girl Scouts, or by a new inner-church org, would be because they don't feel it is worth their time to look after the needs of the girls.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/2012 01:54AM by forbiddencokedrinker.

Exactly. Why waste your money on a bunch of worthless women when their only purpose is to lie back and catch some sperm?

They do. It's called activity days. It was the response to complaints that boys had cub scouts and girls had nothing. It focuses on the "Faith in God" program--which is kind of a lite version of young women's and scouts combined.

And NOT as much fun as girl scouts...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/2012 10:04AM by nowI'mfound.

I never heard about it. Are you talking about the young women having a Wednesday night class? That doesn't start until 12, and it is not the same thing. They don't get near the budget or camp outs that the boys get, nor do they get to have uniforms, or have a merit badge system.

No, it's a program they start at age 8--same time as the boys start church cub scouts. The original program was much more fun--I was a leader 11 years ago or so. There were 12 areas of focus including spiritual stuff, community, service, and physical activity. The newer program streamlines the categories but offers less choice.

Oh, and now you don't get anything for completing the program except for the back of your booklet being signed by the bishop and primary president. They used to get a little pendant. For boys, the program is added to scouts. For girls, it's separate. No campouts or anything...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/2012 10:46AM by nowI'mfound.

They were always trying to get my daughter to do Activity Days and she did go to a few while we were still in the church. She was involved with Girl Scouts at the same time and they definitely aren't comparable programs. First of all, Activity Days is underfunded compared to the Cub Scout program funded by the church. The BS programs get more money and Activity Days are always trying to scrape by. Cubs to to camp for 2 days, Activity Days girls went for one day - then that got cut and now they have a morning activity at a local park they call camping but is mostly like any other Primary activity except it's outside. Girl Scouts, at least the troop my daughter participates in, has more money than the Activity Days program and Boy Scout program combined - because they make it themselves they don't wait for it to dribble out from the TSCC.

Second, the stuff is definitely more church and home focused - cooking, quilting, service projects etc. One year, once a month they planned a FHE lesson so the girls would have a file full of FHE lessons when they grew up. They made felt boards and cut outs and hand outs and visual aids for each lesson.

Third, Girl Scouts are able to earn their own money and make their own choices about what they want to do with the money. Our troop has gone Ice Skating, went to a first aid/CPR class, saw several plays, went on a haunted graveyards tour they do here at Halloween etc. They vote about what badges they want to earn as a troop, earn others on their own and help decide where to go on our field trips. In the church, you take what money is given you and you do what your leaders decide you are going to do.

Most of all, if you look at the stats (via GMA) something like half of female astronauts were Girl Scouts, 11 of the 17 congresswomen were Girl Scouts and approximately 80 percent of women CEO's were once Girl Scouts. What percentage of those were Mormon Activity Days participants?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/2012 10:57AM by CA girl.

Exactly! And as a former primary president, I know only too well how little budget went to activity days vs scouting. Very second class in comparison. So sad that more TBM woman don't see the value in Girl Scouts. Too many use the excuse that that's what Activity Days are for. Uh...they're not even close.

The Girl Scout organization is not interested in conforming to the needs of the LDS church, and that's a good thing. Its goal is to form strong, independent, confident women. It's a remarkable organization that can give girls many opportunities. I would recommend it for any interested girl.

I'll take girl scouts over achievement days or whatever they are calling it these days. My son was in boy scouts at church when we went he hated it - I wouldn't let my son go without my husband the leader had been in jail for Christ Sake. Church programs suck! My girls love GS never have to make them go! They want to go. Great leaders that want to be there; not assigned.

I don't mean to pry, and I am not trying to tell you how to be a parent, but to me, it would matter what he had been to jail for. A lot of normally good people get popped for minor offenses that gets them sent to the lockup for a few hours. I once arrested a guy, who was sleeping in his truck because he was too poor to afford a room, but had come into town to look for work, because he was two months behind on child support payments, and his wife had sworn out a warrant. He had been out of work for months, and was desperately looking for work, but the law said we had to arrest him. Another time I busted a sixty year old doctor at a car show, because him and his buddies were constantly making burn outs and the threat of a hundred dollar fine just didn't detour them. Other things have included driving without insurance, w/knowledge, because again, they were out of work, and coming to town to try to find work, or they had just started a new job, that they had to get to, so they could get insurance. I hate arresting people in situations like that, but your lawmakers pass laws that say the cops have to do it.

I got arrested for putting dig marks into my first husbands wrists for trying to release his hands from around my neck. I was in jail 3 hours for trying to breath. 125 pounds to his 170 pounds. He got released first. That was 12 years ago and I still have no understanding of why. Carry on ...

Would you want that if you were Joseph Fielding Smith? They used to try to have a version of girl scouts complete with "bandalo" and merit badges. That's probably even where girls' camp came from. But that deteriorated and so eventually did girls' camp.

What is the female's position in the Morg? So why would the Morg sponsor any female-empowering organization?

My mind was definitely of the opinion that there aren't official GS programs because well, why should females have the opportunity to be somebody? Learn something really useful? (as opposed to cutting out paper flowers, making projects with beans, etc. lol). I see so many women in our ward who have just abdicated from their lives- no makeup, no hair fixed, no self esteem, namby pamby mumbly answers that sound like robots...etc. It makes me sad. They are completely defeated.

Girl scout merit badges.

Knitting
Quilt making
cooking
Home making

it is in our troop.

among the top five, in my opinion, in importance.

because those aren't currently Girl Scout badges. We had a few that included those elements, along with career exploration type things but they could all be combined into 3 or so of the dozens of badges available. Our girls have done Mathematics, Sailing, Horseback Riding, Careers in Science etc. as well as a Textile Design badge and a Folk Arts badge - those did sound similar to what you describe.

Now if Mormons got a hold of the program, those badges wouldn't surprise me at all.

I seem to recall that the LDS church tried to get a Girl Scout program going but they running against the policies of the Girl Scouts organization. They parted ways and the church has never tried to join after that. This was a long time and I'm not sure what the issues were.

This makes me angry inside. Girls are royally screwed in that church.

suckafoo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This makes me angry inside. Girls are royally
> screwed in that church.

That's why I asked the original question. Now that my blinders are off, I see the same thing.

Believe it or not there have been some mormon Girl Scout leaders. LaRae Orullian was the first mormon to be elected as President of the Girl Scouts Organization for the US in 1991 and last I heard is vice chairman on the World Board for the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.