Help! How do I decide between rainbows, beavers and badgers for my HE'd little girl?

my DS's go to the local scouting group and DD's go or went to the Guiding groups.

I think it depends on the leaders and how they want to organise their packs.
We have a Cub group who all they do it walk, anywhere and in all weathers, through woods, towns etc. We have a beaver pack who play the same games every week and make a lot of noise. Our scouts have their own building.

our Brownie pack (I am a leader) try to do a variety of things to suit all the girls. We do crafts (mothers day, easter, Xmas) we play game and make noise and we try to encourage the girls to be interested in events locally and wider. We play games and
We dont do camping because I dont want to and becuase I think it is nice to ahve something special to save for when they go to Guides. We do guiding in a church room. Which can limit us sometimes but we do go out alot in the summer.

I would suggest try all(if you can) and then decide!

In my experience the scouting side of things is just a little bit more adventurous and less scared of red tape. Guiding is much more cautious and tie themselves in knots filling out forms. I am not saying Scout/ Beaver leaders don't worry about doing it right but they seem to be a bit more sensible about it all, Guiders seem to get a bit hysterical. Sorry I know this will vary widely from area to area and even pack to pack.

I help out with the brownies and it is a lot more girly, the beavers just seemed to get on with more things. They used to visit the section camps for the day and do stuff like crate climbing etc. I am helping at the Brownie camp and I am not going to dare suggesting anything like that, I will have to stick to making keyrings and playing games for fear of Brown owl having a heart attack.

I have two dd's. We've been through Rainbows, Brownies, Beavers and Cubs. I could present a phd thesis on all this we've tried so many I've not heard of Badgers but if it was on round here, you can bet we'd have belonged to that too by now.

Anyway, the consensus seems to be that Rainbows was ok-ish but a bit girly.

Older dd went on into Brownies and then really started to dislike it because it was so tame. All singing and doing good deeds at the local old folks home. Not her thing. She joined Cubs and loves it.

Dd2 started at Rainbows then tried Beavers when her brother joined and renounced Rainbows on the spot and jumped ship to Beavers which she likes.

I had forgotten that her name was also down for Brownies too at this point and she was invited to join.

In a crazy moment of dithering I stupidly let her convince me she could do both Beavers and Brownies (are you following all this cos it confuses the hell out of me) which she does atm too.

I hope fervently dont think it's going to last long though, as like dd1, she's finding it a bit wishy washy.

Belonging to two things is too much anyway and means you don't know what you want to dress up as whenever there is a parade. She needs one of those Tommy Cooper half and half uniforms, I think. Also it means I'm rrunning about like some crazy loon during the week stressing about uniforms and badges.(also have ds in the mix doing his thing too)

Anyway the upshot here is that Beavers and Cubs are the tops and Rainbows and Brownies is too girly for my dd's.

It depends on the girl though and also on who is running the groups as some are better than others.

Phew! I need a lie down.

Ds loves Badgers. You don't pay for the uniform - at least not round here, but they also have a promise and a purpose. Ds can put you in the recovery position whether you want to be there or not...! But it is a lot more than that, it's a great social activity and includes family events and activities too.

We have family nights such as Play Your Cards Right/ Race nights/ quiz nights. We are having an Abba night in a few weeks. Day trips for all the family. Parents are invited to the campfire on one of the evenings at camp. We are also having a gang show in March, guides have been invited to take part but the leaders don't seem that interested and told dd and her friends that they couldn't do an act "because people are paying and don't want to see rubbish "
Our scouts district have swim galas, football, sports days,art competitions
The lady who runs beavers is an absolute dynamo and has a family evening on beaver night on a regular basis, sometimes to help with the gardening at the scout hut or to cook something together.

Actually, this is a fantastic time to get into Guiding as it is the centenary next year.

We are kicking off our centenary celebrations in September of this year in our county, and this will run for 13 months.

No one will be able to say we don't do anything exciting - the opposite, as we are all going to be exhausted by October 2010.

If it is of any help... I have located a PDF of the Badger Passport (from 2004 looking at the copyright date).

oh sorry I see you haven't got them near you. I missed that bit.

Woodcraft folk is mixed boys and girls, it has a lot of home ed children in it.

no religion, no patriotism, no monarthism, no need for uniforms.

I have been very impressed with it (having come from a brownie/guide/scout background).

And very strong on all family or all age events. We got sucked in, from sending our 6yo 3 years ago we joined in the activities are now running a group.

Christy - We do plenty of outdoor events (weather and resources permitting - everywhere I look, the Scouts seem to have much better facilities for outdoor stuff ) but no Brownie or Guide group that I know of does family events. I've never seem them mentioned in Guiding magazine, either. What do you do?

I would suggest doing two groups initially - Badgers and Beavers (seems to be your preferred options so far). Hold off on purchasing new uniform as long as possible (when it comes to having to have uniform, seek out 2nd hand) and see how it goes... see if your DD likes both equally, or feels one is better than the other. It could get expensive... but other girls of a similar age could easily be doing Swimming one night, Ballet another night, Rainbows/Beavers/Badgers another night. Some may go as far as adding in Musical Theatre as well - though children I've known who are budding actors, tend to not do Rainbows/Beavers/Badgers... just isn't the time, given rehearsals, auditions etc.

Camping: Check with groups with regards to their policies about taking children camping (such as from what age, if under canvas or indoor accommodation). Back in my Assistant Beaver Leader days, I don't recall us ever taking the Beavers camping. Did with Cubs, though not always under canvas. Back in my Cub Scout days (so mid 80's), Cubs certainly went camping under canvas.

The Cub Scout Promise (from back in my days, so mid 80's was)
I promise to do my best
to do my duty to god and to the Queen
to help other people
and keep the cub scout law.

Scoutbase: Cub Scout's

Beaver Scout Promise
I promise to do my best
To be kind and helpful
And to love God.
Scoutbase: Beavers

Badgers has a promise as well, though can't yet locate the wording.

Found it...

During the Badger Welcome Ceremony the Badger makes the following promise:
I (name) promise to be a good Badger and try to do my best, in absolutely everything.
The Badgers then say the Badger Code of Chivalry:
I want to treat all living things with kindness and concern,
I want to do my very best the Badger ways to learn,
In absolutely everything I do and think and say
I want to keep the promise I am making here today

Source: ST John Wales - Brigade Regulations (could be worth a read if you want to know more about Badgers and onwards)

That's not the problem in our guides group they just don't do any outside events until the great patrol hunt in guides. They just don't seem very encouraging of help or arrange any family events at all. I would have pulled dd out( they made a huge fuss about her being a cub) but she did enjoy it.

I am on the scouts comittee and we are always arranging family events and encouraging parents to take part and crying out for parents to help.

I'm a Brownie leader. We have that same problem with critical mass for outings and holidays - in the past, I've been told by several Brownies that their parents don't want them to attend events at the weekend because that is family time.

There isn't a directory of good and not-so-good districts, I'm afraid. You have to go by word on the street.

Most units will let you have taster sessions.

It's usually parents that hold the girls back from going to camp, tbh. If enough opt out, it could mean there isn't critical mass for those that want to go.

If you are in a good district or division, then there should be plenty of opportunity for doing the full breadth of Guiding.

I was speaking to my counterpart in Scouts at church this week, and they have exactly the same issues as we have in Guiding.

DD 11 has been a rainbow, brownie and now a guide and the first time she got to camp with them was last year and then they put restrictions on it ie had to got to two great patrol hunt sessions before hand and some of her friends were not allowed to go.
She was allowed to go to camp with cubs from the age of 8.

DD came back from a guide weekend a couple of weeks ago

She went canoeing, on aerial slides, singing in a choir (& playing hand-bells). The last weekend away they had a climbing wall, archery & cooking on a fire (sleeping in a tent)

Rainbows are baby guides......so they all have their plus points

my dd was a cub. and a brownie at the same time and got different things from both ie she is very sociable girl and liked the social side of brownies but also enjoyed camp etc with the cubs.

The Rainbow promise is:

I promise I will do my best, to love my God, and to be kind and helpful.

Rainbows have the Promise and wear a uniform. They have a programme called the Rainbow Jigsaw, with elements Look, Learn, Laugh and Love.

It is not just an arts and craft session - or shouldn't be. They are part of a much bigger whole.

it depends on what you value.
my dd did football because she wanted to. but i want her to do rainbows because she spends far far too much time with boys. sort of goes withthe territory of having two older brothers.

I hope that DD will go to Beavers when she is older. I prefer a mixed environment with lots of activities. Rainbows seems to do loads of arts and crafts which, tbh, I could easily do at home.