I'm not out of line in thinking this is just too much, right?

[poppy]

I am a girl scout leader, that troop is bananas, run run away.

 

I hate it when the require parents to stay.  it's supposed to be a peer based group, not a mom-and-daughter activity. Requiring both parents to be registered is baloney.  Requiring sales is a no-no.  

 

There are good troops out there, I promise.

[HS Mom in NC]

What!? People are tired of having kids in the neighborhood, their friends and acquaintances, social media friends and others peddling products to fund band, choir, boy scouts, girls scouts, youth group trips, school trips, and a woman's dreams of staying at home by selling candy, cookies, popcorn, candles, make up, health supplements, kitchen items, brightly colored clothes, Usborn books, etc., etc., etc., in addition to getting links on social media for Go Fund Me and Kick Starter type solicitations. That doesn't include all the charitable donation solicitations that aren't selling goods.

People really are being bombarded by sales these days while the economy is sluggish.   That means they'll be buying less, so organizations should expect parents to fund these things more directly out of pocket. These organizations need to wake up to this reality and stop insisting on people participating in fundraisers.

[felicity]

I'm a GS troop leader for two troops.

 

One of them sells a lot of cookies and nuts and has a very healthy balance. In that troop there are no dues, parents pay for half of each activity (if it costs) and for the uniforms. The troop pays for everything else. They have a huge balance partly because the troop doesn't do many field trips or activities.

 

The other we charge $45 dues/year and half of each activity. They sell hardly any cookies/nuts so there's usually only $100 or so at the end of the school year. The parents pay registration costs ($25/girl this year) and uniforms. This troop does a lot of outside activities. I try to organize free activities as much as possible. We are fundraising to go to Catalina Island this year.

 

With the exception of the parent of our special-needs girl, we don't encourage parents to stay but we do ask that one is registered so they can help at cookie booths. If they want to do a buy out we have that option for $130 (the average amount we got from cookies last year).

 

At first glance the money sounds like a lot but I think my biggest problem would be with all of the parents required to be at each meeting.

[imagine.more]

Our Cub Scout and Boy Scout Pack/Troops are not, the cost are the same as I mentioned for our AHG group. 

 

I haven't heard that about Scouts. I much prefer the Boy Scout program over AHG, I'd love for there to be a option for girls, I can't wait until my girls are old enough to join Venturers.

 

 

Yeah, I know someone who works for the BSA ;) It's only been discussed openly at a few events but they are discussing what it would mean to have parallel programs, one for boys and one for girls but all under the BSA. So there would be girl dens and boy dens within a pack. One thing being tossed around is how to make that work with older scouts and possibilities for girls to qualify for Eagle Scout. 

 

Personally I'd love that! I see no current options I love for my girls honestly. I'd love something truly comparable. And Eagle is an excellent thing to put on a college application. I'd love for that to be open to boys and girls with the same rigorous requirements to keep it exclusive and meaningful. Venturing is a great program too, that's where I met my husband <3

 

That's odd some packs/troops are so expensive! Our cub scout packs have always covered dues with fundraising (popcorn) and so we just have registration which is $25 a year. The uniforms are more expensive than I'd like but with 2 boys it works out not so bad as they hold up well between kids.