General Advice about Scout Troops

I was a Girl Scout troop co-leader for a couple years and my daughters have participated in several different troops. For us, it was definitely worth it. The program is flexible and empowering, and I think it's meaningful for girls to have their own scouting experience. Parent time commitment varied from troop to troop and person to person -- it's really hard to generalize, but most troops these days are run on a co-op model, which means you would have some ongoing responsibilities, and in all of our troops the parents were expected (but probably not required) to help out with camping trips and field trips and other group activities. I think cookie sales only took over the lives of the parents in charge, which it seems you're unlikely to be. For the girls, the time commitment depends on how many boxes each girl wants to sell and and the sales goals set by the troop as a whole. Looking back, I believe my daughters developed a lot of confidence and initiative, and learned to feel comfortable talking to a wide range of people because they did cookies sales, and they've kept these skills six years down the road, but I can't speak to other girls' experience. At any rate, consequences for not participating would also depend on your troop -- I think some troops offer "buy-out" options for families that would rather make a donation than actually sell cookies, but none of our troops did that. The one thing I want to add is that a universal complaint among troop leaders (and I imagine this is the same for boy scouts) is the parent who doesn't keep in mind that the whole local organization is run by volunteers. Every time a parent doesn't turn in a piece of paperwork because they're too busy to fill it out, or decides not to participate in an activity that needs parent support, or pulls their kid from a cookie sales booth or other commitment, they're directly adding to the workload of another person who also has a very busy life. I hope both your kids participate in scouting, but if your need to minimize your time commitments would translate into more work for a troop leader or den leader, you might want to restrict your search to activities with paid staff.

My son doesn't participate in any of these types of fundraisers. I ask how much they hope for each person to raise and then donate that amount. You could buy the cookies and then give them away as gifts. I hated doing sales like this as a kid and have no desire to go through it again as a parent. If I thought that I was depriving my son of an important life lesson I'd suck it up. But the only life lesson that I learned was what a bad use of my time it was. 

I found Boy Scouts more time consuming. They required a parent attend every meeting, whereas I could drop off my girl at Girl Scouts and help out with one-time commitments. Cookie sale was a good experience for my daughter. It was a bit time consuming for me, but we could have skipped it without consequence.

Have you considered 4-H?  It offers activities for both girls and boys, and there is almost no fund-raising involved.  You did not specify location but there are several clubs in the East Bay.  As a mom of a girl and boy, joining two different scouting troops seems like an inefficient use of my very limited time. 

http://4halameda.ucanr.edu/4-H_Club_Contacts/

My daughters are in girl scouts and I don't find it to be a significant time commitment at all. They have meetings every other week and the meetings are drop-off. You are of course welcome to volunteer with the troop if you want to, but I truly don't understand this resistance to girl scouts on the basis of it being overwhelming, time-wise. The cookie sales aren't bad, though "dreaded" is a strong word. The fall sales are really terrible and I have opted out of them. It depends on the troop. You can just look for a troop that doesn't do fall sales. 

I wouldn't allow my child to be part of boy scouts, myself. They are an entirely different organization from girl scouts, and they are politically very troubling. Like no way, no how, hate their anti-gay agenda. And it feels sad to me that you would make your boy the higher priority and just send your daughter along for the ride. 

There are alternatives to both of these organizations that I'm sure others will mention. I personally love girl scouts though I struggle with the sales. But this time commitment issue is so weird, I don't know where this idea came from. Just don't volunteer if you don't want to!

My daughter and son have both been in scouting and it's been rewarding. I want to address specifically your concern about cookie sales. Before my daughter started her first sales I detested the idea. It seemed uncouth to be pimping out the kids to make money. I came around to seeing it as a very positive thing the very first day. I saw her go from shyly mumbling "do you want to buy something" when someone answered the door to giving her pitch and answering questions clearly and with good manners. It's also very empowering for the kids to be making their own money for their projects and activities (my daughter's troop went to Oregon in middle school with their own money). Cookies were never that much work for us. That said, my understanding is that Cub Scouts is supposed to be a parent participation activity, though it may not always be so in practice. And Girl Scout troops are mostly co-op, where the work is divided among the parents. I agree with another commenter, you may need to stick with activities run by paid staff if you're looking for a drop-off activity that won't require work from you.

Hi there, busy fellow parent,

I've been a co-leader of GS troops and my daughter has been a happy and engaged member of 2 separate troops for the last 7 years. My daughter has reaped huge benefits from her GS experiences and has already informed me that she plans on continuing until she graduates HS and maybe beyond .I have also made some really great friends, which has been an unexpected but very much appreciated bonus. GS is a state of mind, a philosophy, and a huge support of girls of all ages. It is NOT free day care. BTW, selling cookies is a pain in the ass, if you're a grown up, but the girls mostly really enjoy it and it's considered both a learning experience (confidence-building, business acumen, money smarts) and a way to fund all of the awesome activities that GS is famous for. And it's for ONE MONTH A YEAR,  THAT'S ALL. If you can't commit to some participation in the troop, because this is a 100% volunteer organization, and some participation IS expected, because you look pretty shabby if you don't (yes, selling the cookies, but also carpooling girls to activities, participating in meetings, activities, potlucks, camping trips, etc) then GS is probably not for you. Because you're basically asking to get something for nothing, and that's not how GS works, and not the behavior that we as parents and women want to model for the children, the girls, and,  ultimately, the  young women in our troops. I was complaining to a much older and wiser friend about it once; I said, "I don't really know why I'm doing this, it's so much work," and she said, 'you're doing it because your daughter loves it, and you love your daughter." EXACTLY.

I would wholeheartedly agree with the first poster and add to that. You say that you want an activity with "minimal parental time commitment" and the thing is, scouting is designed to be a family activity with parental involvement. All the great things scouts get to do - camping, field trips, crafts, etc.- are all supported by involvement by ALL parents, not just the troop leader, and that is part of the experience. BTW, both Boy and Girl Scout have fundraising activities, and this is part of the deal - it's a way for the kids to learn about earning money to fund things they want to do, along with collaboration, business sense, etc. It also is what keeps scouting affordable and accessible, because that is what subsidizes the various activities. I would also say it is only one aspect of the experience.  Anyway, as stated by the prior poster, the troop leader and the parents managing the sales take the heaviest hit, but if your intention with scouts is to find an activity that doesn't require parent involvement, this is not the one.  In terms of whether to sign up your daughter or your son, I would agree that it would definitely challenging to be involved in BOTH Boy and Girl Scouts. I think you should consider each of your children and which would benefit more end enjoy it more. My daughter is in Girl Scouts and because she is not into sports, it's been great for her to meet other kids and have that sense of a team. Good luck in your decision. 

I am a current boy scout leader.

Our Troop, and I believe most, meet weekly, with one weekend outing (may or may not be overnight) a month.  Summer is mostly off, except summer camp!

We don't require parents to participate, except carpooling sometimes. But we do hope the parents stay connected and help make sure the troop knows which events the boy will attend and which he won't, and help get him ready, as needed. So communications is critical. There are plenty of ways to help out behind the scenes and on a schedule that works for you and your family.

Traditionally the boy scouts sold popcorn around Christmas as a fund raiser.  I don't know how common that is around here. I am in the Piedmont council, and we do Christmas Tree sales (Moraga Ave! early plug!) as a fund raiser.  Our troop also does a couple during the year (pancake breakfast). The fund raisers are not soliciting strangers, which I know is a challenge, but more about working together on a project.

Boy scouts is a great program which provides real leadership opportunities within the troop.  I think it is a strong program, and develops real world skills and experiences.  Gotta find a good fit with a troop.  And it really helps if the boys have friends/classmates in the troop together. 

My daughter is in a troop in Oakland. The cookie sales aren't really that bad. Yes, some kids sell 500 boxes, but we usually just sell 65 or so. The kids have fun activities including camping. You should check it out and see if there is a troop that you can feel comfortable being part of. 

Good luck.

Regarding fundraising - my partner's son just joined cub scouts, and before even having been to his first official den meeting he was already stationed at Safeway for the annual popcorn sale.  He was told that each scout is expected to raise $300 in sales.  As far as I can tell the fundraising expectations are at least as high as they are for girl scouts.

I'm a Girl Scout troop leader in Oakland and have friends whose kids are in Girl Scouts all over. The pressure of cookie sales--and the pressures/time commitment of scouting in general--is almost totally based on the leader. Understand HER expectations before you sign up. There are some really great troops out there, but they all operate in totally different ways. Seek out a low-key troop if it's important to you and your daughter really wants to do it.