From: kati@glnserv.UUCP (Lady Dragon)
Newsgroups: rec.scouting
Subject: Re: Girl Scout story
Date: Mon, 07 Sep 92 07:10:57 CDT
Organization: Vermi-net, Houston, Tx. 77098

dlm@galileo.ifa.hawaii.edu (Deborah Maraziti (aka Spacee)) writes:
> Gees, I wish _I_ had parents like you in _my_ troop!  I had to twist
> arms to get a co-leader this year and the parent of my _program aide_
> was the cookie manager last year since everyone else refused to do it.

When I was in Girl Scouts, my mom was a very gung-ho leader. I probably
got a lot of it from her. I also wanted to spend more time with my
daughter and I enjoy the Scouting experience. I'm still not sure I'd want
to do Cookie Mom however, after seeing it done. :)
>
> When you went through training, did you meet someone at the Council
> office that you feel comfortable talking with about this?  No troop
> should be subject to an abrasive leader.  It defeats the purpose of
> having a "troop" if the leader becomes a dictator.
>
I had talked to a couple of people at Council when the leader was wrong
about all girls needing swim cards to swim in the camp pool. The rules are
that anyone can if a) there is a lifeguard (we brought our own) and b) the
non-swimmers stay in the shallow end. What made it worse, was that my
daughter was the non-swimmer in our group, but I would have fought for any
of the girls to go. Anyway, every time I say something to anyone at
Council about her, it has gotten back to her, and she becomes even worse
to me. This last time, while I was looking for a new troop, she took me to
another room and told me several things that turned out to be 100% lies,
which were easily checked with other people. She is apparently very strong
at Council meetings and has a place there. She had mentioned earlier that
she was fighting with them to have money spent on improving the campsites
instead of furnishing the offices in style.

I have heard that the 2nd-in-command CoLeader has decided that she will
join the troop only as a substitute and driver when needed. This will
leave only the Leader and one CoLeader whose best thing is babysitting.
Also since the Leader is having a baby in November, most people are
guessing that she will drop out of GS altogether. The Leader said that she
wouldn't need to though, as her husband would help with the baby. We'll
see.

> How easy would it be for your daughter to join another troop?  Here in
> Hawaii, it's very easy to change troops.  The meeting places are
> fairly well known and are close together (within the Honolulu Service Unit,
> anyway).  Is it the same in Texas?  I still think that your council should
> hear your story; maybe in the meantime, though, your daughter
> and her friends should start attending the meetings of another troop.

My daughter and I have called up the Registrar to find another troop and
we may have found two. The first one has 5 4th graders and their leader is
leaving. She said that if I would replace her, it would be great. I'm not
quite ready yet to take the lead, but I said I'd think about it.
The second troop leader I called, is very friendly and excited to have us,
and she is even considering that if the troop of 4th graders wants to and
we can handle the number, we can lead them too. She had 27 girls last
year, and 3 leaders, one of whom doesn't do camping. In other words, they
can probably use me. Also she encouraged me to do what I want anyway: to
go to neighborhood meetings to keep up with the news, and to give her my
ideas. (One of the lies my old leader tried to tell me was that the new
troop was closed to outsiders. When I called up to verify this, I was told
that she should mind her own business. The leader's daughter doesn't even
go to that school.)

>
> Hope this message wasn't too garbled.  Someone was sending me about
> 30 test messages all through it!
You made it!

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Spacee                            ~     I'm conducting a search for a
> dlm@galileo.ifa.hawaii.edu        ~     planet made of chocolate.
> (astronomer in lace)              ~     Funding is hard to come by...



* * email address: nuchat!xcluud!glnserv!kati * Houston, Texas, USA, Earth * *




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