Being thrown out of Brownies isn't something to be proud of

[Wandaaa]

Watching Who wants to be a Millionaire on ITV +1 and contestant has just said whe was thrown out of the Brownies. I hear this often on TV by minor celebrities and it really annoys me.
There got that off my chest.

I was a brownie, a guide and then a young leader and enjoyed my time Guiding, I hope to get involved again when DD is old enough . I don't remember anyone being thrown out of any of the groups...

I did get chucked out of ballet though, the teacher clutched her pearls and fretted about a child who ran when er, told to run!

Me too,

I wasn't even allowed in since my mum and dad had decided we were too young to have religion forced on us.

so cruel, i still carry the scars of rejection

I got thrown out of Brownies. I was 11 and too old to be there. I loved it so much I didn't want to go to guides :(

YANBU

I was miserable at Brownies and at Guides. I persisted and never asked to leave or got thrown out as I desperately wantd to make friends, but none of them wanted to be friends with me (like TheEnglishWomanInTheAttic I was at a different school - the school was local but "posh" and the other brownies and guides went to local normal schools).

I don't think I'd ever send a daughter to Brownies or Guides. For all the organisations claims to embrace diversity, I've heard of too many people being made to feel miserable because their diversity wasn't the "right" kind.

I was thrown out of guides and I'm rather proud. It was the most boring awful thing I ever had to go to and the rest of them were the sappiest, most humourless girls you could ever meet.

Incidently I did other volunteering at the time that actually required me to be useful and I won awards and all sorts at that so I wasn't a complete hooligan.

I'm a Brown Owl too and tend to agree with Seeker here. Even twenty or thirty years ago, when attitudes were different, I very much doubt that Brown Owls were 'expelling' girls for one cheeky remark.

I'm sorry to hear that HeadShouldersKneesandToes thinks that Guiding still doesn't embrace diversity. That isn't my experience.

'I don't think I'd ever send a daughter to Brownies or Guides. For all the organisations claims to embrace diversity, I've heard of too many people being made to feel miserable because their diversity wasn't the "right" kind.'

Can I put in a word for cubs and scouts and children with an ASD here? They've been nothing but fabulous for us. True embracing of diversity, even with the effort that they had to make.

Surely different groups would have had different atmospheres 30 years ago, when there were fewer expectations on how adults should behave around children, Maud?

Think about teachers- some of them were lovely 30 years ago because they were just nice people, others were cane-wielding bullies because they could. A lot harder to get away with that these days.

I nearly got into trouble at school for standing up to dinner ladies who bullied the smaller children: I don't think many headteachers would put up with dinner ladies behaving like that nowadays, and anyone who works in a school these days would get instructions about acceptable behaviour.

I think the final incident that got me chucked out was I went to the loo with some balloons which I fit over the ends of the taps, turned the taps on and then left the room.

Claimed innocence when resulting carnage was discovered but somehow they know it was me. :o

MY dd loved brownies and now guides and wants to be a young leader round here guides inst 'cool' and she gets teased for being in guides which is I told her my guide story and she was disgusted at my behaviour

So what sort of "diversity" is the right kind for Brownies and Guides?

There are so many myths and downright misinformation floating around about Guiding and Scouting.

not least that it's a bit of free childcare, a bit like a youth club, and it doesn't matter how appallingly your children behave there. And there is no need for parents to show any sort of commitment or interest, or offer to help that's what the leaders are for. Because they love turning out for free in their spare time to give your child a good time.

I agree with your cory years ago leaders didn't really get in tune with children and they had to be seen and not heard girls are allowed to be themselves these days when i was in brownies and guides you were taught how to be a 'young lady' not that i want my DDs to have no manners but there isnt that expectation that girls must behave like young ladies, I hope i am making sense

Cory - Yes, attitudes were different 30 years ago and leaders would have expected to be deferred to but even allowing for that I struggle to believe that girls were being booted out of Brownies for one cheeky remark. I suspect Seeker is right that there would have been more of a back story than that.

FallenCaryatid - I don't want to risk identifying the girls in my Brownie pack or in the local Guide unit, but we have a number of girls with quite demanding additional needs and work hard to adapt our meetings so that they can participate and have fun. I'm glad your experience of Scouting has been so good.

Oh, I do get sense of humour failure on this subject!

Well in my 22 years experience (as a girl through to adult leader, in 3 different locations), I've never known anyone get thrown out for anything other than being too old for the section (when they are pointed at the next one).

I have known and loved working with girls from almost every nationality I can think of, girls with EAL needs and different religions.

I've supported a 15 year old through unplanned pregnancy ( without feeling the need to kick her out!)

I've worked with girls who swear, occasionally at adults, girls who refuse to wear uniform, girls who refuse to camp, girls who bring white towels to camp (hahaha), girls who smoke, girls who would prefer to nip off to the next field to snog scouts that might have been me age 15 . I refused as a teenager to do the hardest badges, mainly because I couldn't be arsed. Noone kicked me out.

And yet if I had a £ for everyone I've heard claim they've been kicked out, I'd be rich. I wish I knew where these kicky out units were based. I genuinely can't imagine kicking out a girl for anything that wasn't actual criminal behaviour (and even then I'd try and work with her first).

Are you saying that we are lying or just misremembering events, Sarcalogos?
You sound like an exceptional leader, the exception to many of the other guide leaders of troops around the country who do indeed collar parents and ask them not to bring their child back, or tell the child that 'You are a wild animal, and there is no place for nastiness like yours here' as in my own case.

I was never AT the Brownies :( my mum was an overprotective nutter.

Wandaaa I completely agree!

I was in the Brownies (I had the most badges don't you know)

And I was in the Guides (I had the most badges don't you know)

I went to a different Brownie Pack and Guide Troop to all of my friends, yet between all of our different groups, no one ever got kicked out!

I sometimes think it's one of those things that people think it's cool to say. Like when they have those "celebrities remember..." type programmes and Martine McCutcheon is wheeled out talking about how she fondly remembers things that weren't even around when I was born and she's younger than me!!!!

Not lying Fallen, maybe in some case exaggerating or misremembering the whole situation.

I also think there's a lot of truth in what someone unthread said about guiding being a very different place now as it was 30-40 years ago. I guess the behaviour of adults has changed across all walks of life in that time. It is easier to believe a bosom hoiking brown owl kicking someone out for not polishing their shoes in 1962-72 than say the early 90s when I was a brownie.

Although I am good (family) friends with someone My mum caught smoking at guides in the 80s and didn't kick her out (let her live with us later when her own parents kicked her out for something else though). This is the kind of guiding I recognise.

Although for those telling the whole truth I am genuinely curious as to which areas of the country guiding was like that/what decade.

Nottingham, 1972
So it could be an age-related phenomenon.

Another one here that was told that Brownie's wasn't suitable for me.

Was thrilled that I didn't have to go back!

But more importantly, will someone please point me in the direction of the 'My Toddler is a Twat' thread? Sounds great!

DS and I got banned from a soft play centre - twas a proud moment

central scotland 1982 We were asked to leave the unit as shouting out at boys was unladylike behaviour and we brought shame on the guiding movement , honest

I don't know - I was thrown out of ballet class when I was 4. It is my only claim to notoriety - I have been goodie-two-shoes ever since.