Scary "Christan" alternative to Girl Scouts

[uber frau]

I'm in the UK, not Aus, but we don't have cookies either. We have Brownies, which is the British version of Girl Scouts - I think Australia has the same?

Yeah, we have Brownies/GIrl Guides, just not the cookies.

[Wolfie]

I think that my Campfire group showed just how stubborn we were even when we were Bluebirds. We used to tell the Brownies that we were better than they were because, "Bluebirds eat Brownies." For unknown reasons the moms never provided brownies for our snacks...

[contrary]

1. Who asked for the birth control merit badge?

2. my husband was in Royal Rangers. He grew up AoG, and i guess BSUSA was too secular?

3. i'm a lifelong GS from a line of lifelong GS. I am newish to this state, and went online to find my local council, as my daughter will be old enough for daisies next fall...imagine my surprise when i found the council website was plastered, on every single page, with WE DO NOT SUPPORT PLANNED PARENTHOOD.

surely that's not GS-USA-approved! i mean, maybe they don't, and maybe they're worried about the cookie boycott, or something...but still...that seemed more than a little over the top to me.

[bionicmlle]

SDA churches have a GS/BS alternative called Pathfinders. BS/GS weren't okay because they had events on the Sabbath and weren't God-centered. I LOVED Pathfinders (it was co-ed and my parents were NOT involved so I would get to go to campouts and bike-a-thons and other events with my friends much cooler parents). Now, I sort of see Pathfinders as a religious para-military organization -- there was a lot of focus on marching and emergency preparedness (this was in the 80's so it was more about being ready to "flee to the hills" in the end-times).

[Caxpax]

The UUs/neo-pagans have something called "Spiral Scouts" and that is open to boys and girls. And I've found the UUs are generally awesome when it comes to youth activities.

[MissSeptember]

...When my husband was in Amway, his sponsors told him how wonderful Royal Rangers and Rainbow Girls at the local AOG church. It was on Wednesday night when they'd have their "plan meetings" so they wouldn't be bothered by having to find a sitter while they were hawking products. The kids got out of it after we moved to a new city...

Yes! We had Missionettes for the girls and Royal Rangers for the boys. Rainbows was the co-ed program for the kindergardeners, then as the girls grew up we went through Daisies, Prims, and Stars.

I finished the entire Missionettes program and was crowned an Honor Star. There was a big ceremony and reception at church for us. The other girls who finished and I all walked down the aisle of our church wearing white dresses, escorted by our fathers. It was a big deal. We had read the entire Bible, memorized all this stuff, done so many service (aka evangelizing) hours, in addition to traditional women's activities like sewing, cooking, and cleaning the church. After finishing the Missionettes program we were finally allowed to spend our Wednesday nights in youth group, with BOYS! I was in 7th grade.