I was a Girl Scout in Utah. Ten years. Got the ten year pin. My experiences were a mixed bag, but mostly tending towards the positive.
The thing is, my dad wanted me to join the Boy Scouts. I'm sure I would have been one of those law suit cases, but the LDS church practically owns the Utah Boy Scout Council, so our local bishop put the pressure on my dad to drop the thing. So I was enrolled in Girl Scouts instead. (Which in the long run, I think was better, as I was exposed to a lot of non-Mormons that way.) But my memories don't really run towards the style and boutique-ness that you describe. We camped in snow and ice and started mini-businesses and scuba dived and rappelled and a bunch of other things, some of which tended towards the societally "girly" but most of which did not. Mormon church camp, by comparison, was more like what you describe: finding out if you were a spring or a winter, painting crafty country ducks in appropriately pastel shades, and discussing marriage goals. Mrfl.
I'll have to admit I liked the badges and cookie sales. But I was a competitive little bugger who actually sold almost all her own cookies. No making my dad haul the sales sheet around to the office. I sold over 2000 boxes one year going door to door in Utah County. And the badges? You could explain my attitude toward badges like a video game: I like games that reward you constantly and have a variety of things to level up. (Hence my WoW and Civilization addictions.) Getting badges was like...levelling up.
I do wish there was a co-ed program for Geek Scouts though. That sounds tres awesome.
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The thing is, my dad wanted me to join the Boy Scouts. I'm sure I would have been one of those law suit cases, but the LDS church practically owns the Utah Boy Scout Council, so our local bishop put the pressure on my dad to drop the thing. So I was enrolled in Girl Scouts instead. (Which in the long run, I think was better, as I was exposed to a lot of non-Mormons that way.) But my memories don't really run towards the style and boutique-ness that you describe. We camped in snow and ice and started mini-businesses and scuba dived and rappelled and a bunch of other things, some of which tended towards the societally "girly" but most of which did not. Mormon church camp, by comparison, was more like what you describe: finding out if you were a spring or a winter, painting crafty country ducks in appropriately pastel shades, and discussing marriage goals. Mrfl.
I'll have to admit I liked the badges and cookie sales. But I was a competitive little bugger who actually sold almost all her own cookies. No making my dad haul the sales sheet around to the office. I sold over 2000 boxes one year going door to door in Utah County. And the badges? You could explain my attitude toward badges like a video game: I like games that reward you constantly and have a variety of things to level up. (Hence my WoW and Civilization addictions.) Getting badges was like...levelling up.
I do wish there was a co-ed program for Geek Scouts though. That sounds tres awesome.