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AIBU?

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Original poster

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

160 replies

Wandaaa · 09/07/2012 22:39

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.

OP posts:
FallenCaryatid · 10/07/2012 11:37

'shouting out at boys was unladylike behaviour and we brought shame on the guiding movement'

Yes, I've always seen the guide movement as more ladylike and restrictive than scouts. There have been quite a few threads on the subject, including why it should be kept as an all-girl recruitment unlike scouts.

MadamFolly · 10/07/2012 11:37

Apart from the balloon incident I think the main reason I was asked to leave was because all the other girls hated me and me them. I thought they were awful goody two-shoes and they thought I was loud and uncouth and disapproved of my smoky, snoggy and sweary habits.

BelieveInPink · 10/07/2012 11:45

I wish they'd throw my DD out of Brownies. I pissing hate Mondays, they're such a faff.

solidgoldbrass · 10/07/2012 11:45

I do think that the movement has changed a bit since most of us were kids (almost thrown out of Guides myself: I said I was leaving and they said, just as well, we were going to ask you not to come back.)

And I don't find it hard to believe that girls could be kicked out 20/30 years ago for not conforming to a rather narrow right-wing stereotype eg for rebelling against racism, sexism or bullying.

I have a couple of mates who are Brownie leaders and they make it sound good and inclusive and sensible - if I had a DD I would probably let her have a go with their packs. As it is, I am considering checking out Cubs for DS.

Lilymaid · 10/07/2012 12:04

I was thrown out of the Brownies (with all the other sixers) when we refused to learn Semaphore ... still a requirement back in the 1960s. Reason was "insubordination". I'm very proud of my achievement.
My father was pleased - he managed 2 weeks in the Cubs before being thrown out for not wearing his hat, though they asked him to come back just to play in the football team.
My brother was also asked to leave the scouts.
I don't think my family are natural conformists!
Hopefully things have improved in recent years, but back in my day, a lot of the people running these groups were not very pleasant people.

Sarcalogos · 10/07/2012 12:07

I think I'm convinced it is an age thing. Just as expectations/discipline/the way adults talk to kids has changed in schools/society in general, as it has in guiding.

Although I do still expect my guides to show a healthy respect to leaders, that very much goes both ways, and we do have a huge amount of banter. Probably more than I would have had with my leaders 15 years ago.

Guiding has more than half a million uk members and is the largest all female voluntary organisation in the uk, so it must have adapted to the modern world! Huge proportions of girls will/have been a brownie, it is a massive part of British collective experience.

lastnerve · 10/07/2012 13:01

LOL bless brownies what a rebel.

5Foot5 · 10/07/2012 13:19

"You hear it often on TV by minor celebrities? "
"Who? I've never heard anyone say it. Famous or not"

Only last night on "Jamie's cook stuff over a campfire at a festival and ignore the fact we are having a crap summer" he claimed to have been kicked out of cubs.

I was never kicked out of Brownies but I did get told off for flippancy. As I recall we were collecting silver paper for Guide Dogs for the Blind and Tawny Owl told us it cost £500 for a blind dog - she wasn't very impressed when I asked how much it cost for one that could see,

Hownoobrooncoo · 10/07/2012 13:26

Thrown out? They wouldn't even let me join, I'm still in therapy.

ComposHat · 10/07/2012 13:30

I would see getting kicked out of the cubs/brownies/scouts/guides etc. as a good sign that I'd get on with the person in adult life.

Anyone who sees these quasi-military organisations for the narrow minded, tight arsed, reactionary brain washing institutions for what they are at such a tender age is alright by me.

AmberLeaf · 10/07/2012 13:31

I don't know why its so hard to believe people were kicked out. Things were very different 30 years ago!

I was in brownies in 1981 in London.

There was lots of blatent favouritism too.

seeker · 10/07/2012 13:35

"I would see getting kicked out of the cubs/brownies/scouts/guides etc. as a good sign that I'd get on with the person in adult life.

Anyone who sees these quasi-military organisations for the narrow minded, tight arsed, reactionary brain washing institutions for what they are at such a tender age is alright by me."

That is such a fucking pig ignorant thing to say.

ComposHat · 10/07/2012 13:44

Is it? As an ex-Scout ( alas not kicked out, I left!) I'd disagree. Getting dressed up in militaristic uniform, snapping to attention and saluting a union flag and promising to 'do my duty to god and to the queen' seems rather troubling in retrospect.

Groovee · 10/07/2012 13:46

Anyone who sees these quasi-military organisations for the narrow minded, tight arsed, reactionary brain washing institutions for what they are at such a tender age is alright by me.

Can you tell me how I am brainwashing the brownies??? I truly would like to know seeing as every single parent, thanked me for my hard work, doing their many badges and every night I planned in the last year. I've never thought that I was a military person who was brain washing my brownies.

TeWiDoesTheHulaInHawaii · 10/07/2012 13:51

I was an obnoxious brat pretty naughty, rude and disrespectful but didn't get kicked out of Brownies.

I can't decide whether I will send DD or not. If it was 6yo me I would rather be at cubs/scouts/anything less boring...

VolAuVent · 10/07/2012 13:51

Brownies used to be fantastic. Games, socialising, holidays, parties, activities, learning things for badges (first aid, cooking, athletics, collecting etc. etc.) that I wouldn't have otherwise done.

piprabbit · 10/07/2012 13:58

VolAuVent - that sounds pretty much exactly like DD's Brownie pack today. I don't think much has changed.

TeWiDoesTheHulaInHawaii · 10/07/2012 14:01

Well mine (in the 90s) was crap. I didn't learn anything/do anything new at all. For the cooking badge we made a salad ffs.

ComposHat · 10/07/2012 14:02

I'm not saying you don't work hard or the kids don't enjoy it. I can see the value in camping and learning new skills but I just question the need for all this uniform/saluting/god/queen bullshit. Certainly from my experience in the late 80s/early 90s they were also very conservative places who had very traditional ideas about gender roles, were pro religion (particularly the established church).

As a hand wringing pinko lefty, I don't agree with the ethos of scouting and guiding, it is not something I would want any child of mine to be involved with (wouldn't stop them, but would feel I would have failed in some respect) and would try to steer them toward the Woodcraft Folk.

The origins of the Scouting/Guiding movement are inarguably militaristic. The Brownies probably less overtly so (given the age/gender of the membership) but all that stuff with the toad stool and the enchanted circle is way trippy. Sounds like something Syd Barrett would have written in the midst of an LSD trip.

VolAuVent · 10/07/2012 14:07

Wasn't commenting on any difference piprabbit, as don't know about present-day Brownies. Great if there's a lot still the same. It was intended as a counter to the "quasi-military/narrow minded/brainwashing" comment. If it had been anything like that at all I'd have been outta there!

Sarcalogos · 10/07/2012 14:10

Statement of purpose
Girlguiding UK enables girls and young women to develop their potential and to make a difference to the world.

Aim of guiding
The aim of guiding is to help girls and young women develop emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually, so that they can make a positive contribution to their community and the wider world.

This lifted straight from the guiding manual (like a rule book/set of regulations that the whole organisation in the UK must abide by).

So do get your knickers untwisted and your facts straight compos.

YouGoonie · 10/07/2012 14:13

I was never allowed to join Brownies because they chucked my sister out Blush

WildImaginings · 10/07/2012 14:44

I went to St John Ambulance, and was threatened with expulsion multiple times, although it never ended up happening. I'm not surprised they wanted to get rid of me, I was a cheeky sod!
I do remember one girl getting kicked out when she was about 15, because she got into a huge argument with our leader which came to a head when she threw a chair across the room and called the leader a cunt!

Also got asked to leave Sunday school a couple of times. The other teachers were absolutely lovely, but the person who asked me to leave was a truly nasty individual who once told me that my DM would go to hell because she didn't come to Church every week, then had the audacity to act offended when I told her what I thought of her Hmm
No one listened to a word she said though, and I carried on going every week, mostly to see the scowl on her face Grin

I was so well behaved in school, I think I made up for it by being a little toad in all extra curricular activities!

ComeIntoTheGardenMaud · 10/07/2012 14:47

Anyone who sees these quasi-military organisations for the narrow minded, tight arsed, reactionary brain washing institutions for what they are ...

Ah yes. I must practice my rifle drill, ready for tonight's Brownie meeting.

Groovee · 10/07/2012 14:54

Brownies used to be fantastic. Games, socialising, holidays, parties, activities, learning things for badges (first aid, cooking, athletics, collecting etc. etc.) that I wouldn't have otherwise done.

That's mostly how I run my brownies, but we sit down at the start of term and find out what the girls want to do. Many of them do badges at home and then bring everything in to show me it to gain their badge.

Ah yes. I must practice my rifle drill, ready for tonight's Brownie meeting.

Now where can a guider get local rifle drill training as I don't have a rifle warrant for that :o