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.

My mum was brown owl

She used to give me the badges I liked the look of and let me be sixer of the sprites and do whatever I liked on pack holidays

It was awesome

Yes Maud my DD is currently cleaning her rifle and putting on her camoflage makeup.

Ready for the bake off tomorrow.

Looking at my son's Explorer scouts, they are more the muddy guerilla fighting types with crawling through mud, making traps and fires and a very freely-structured hierarchy. The one in charge is usually the one who hasn't lost his torch, or who has food.
very little of the military or formal discipline about them. They looked a bit of a shambles on Remembrance day next to the Air cadets, but their hearts were in the right place.

DD's Brownie pack was great - they were really active and had loads of fun. DD made a lot of new friends there and had a great time. They did pack holidays to PGL and made/raced rafts, did hire wire ropes, etc. On normal pack days they did archery, bowling, bouldering and climbing, orienteering, camp fire cooking, swimming, etc. They did various crafts, raised money for charities of their own making, put inn shows, took part in challenges such as learning to use the equipment for key hole surgery, had talkers in to take about future careers, etc.

Mine in the 70s was mainly based on the Brownie hut but I remember having fun.

Yes - they wear a uniform - but then so do many groups; it is to have their sense of belonging and working together as a team. Many groups have uniforms - gymnastic groups, dance groups, drama, etc and obviously schools often too.

The toadstool thing is to do with the Brownie story - which takes place in a woods iirr.

My mates who are Brownie leaders tell me that there is a minor campaign/rebellion among the various pack leaders to ditch the god-and-monarchy aspects going on at present (even though they are a lot more soft-pedalled now in all but the most thoroughly backward, whitebread areas). Because that's what puts a lot of people off and it isn't appropriate for a supposedly all-inclusive organisation these days.

Groovee - Obviously, we only use broom handles, but when it comes to ovrerhrowing the government and installing the sinister Brownie junta, we need to be prepared! (We had to wash off our camouflage make-up on the night we did role play and games about the geo-politics of fair trade, though).

Or even overthrowing.

I was kicked out of brownies for fighting

Lots of organisations wear uniforms. I alsohave a problem with the God/queen bit, and there is a debate to be had about that. However, I find the "narrow minded, tight arsed reactionary" characterisation to be, as I said, simply pig ignorant. Unless you can somehow justify it?

Solidgoldbrass - The official line, fairly recently promoted, is that we can adapt the Promise if the usual wording is an obstacle to anyone joining and unofficially lots of us have been doing that for years.

Comeintothegardenmaud cheers... will contact -the Commandant- the DC with urgent messages.

::whispers:: Actually, I do wish the district organiser wasn't called the District Commissioner, which does sound like something out of the last days of the Raj.

Ah fond memories.
Not of brownies (waiting list was too long so never bothered), not of guides (didn't cross my mind) but of Rangers.

We didn't do promises or badges or whatever but did DofE and went camping with the Venture Scouts - lots of snogging shagging and smoking of illicit substances. Should have just joined the scouts

Anyone who finds the Brownie toadstool and enchanted circle a bit trippy might struggle in woodcraft folk.

Didn't Australia ditch the Queen bit this week?

Yes, they did.

I wasn't kicked out of brownies but it was made clear to me and may in the pack who were the favourites as the favouritism was just so blatant.

They did, I thought that was quite interesting.

However, promising to 'do your best' is the best get out clause of the uk promise I think. I can promise to do my best to love my queen and my country because I see the two as synonymous and I'm a bit of a royalist and I like tradition and history. Although I can quite see that a republicans 'best' in those circumstances might add up to something entirely different.

And let's be honest, in practice how many kids are really thinking about this stuff! They are far to busy getting muddy, making friends, learning new things and eating sweets....

DD (down syndrome) got chucked out of Brownies for being too lively but was welcomed with open arms by Beavers . Went right through the scouting movement until she was 18. Visited Norway, Sweden, Germany and Holland totally included. So yes she was very pleased and so was I.

I got into a whole heap of shit for being the driving force behind my sixes decision to send Frank Ifield's dd to Coventry for being the casting vote on making cross stitch glasses cases vs setting fire to stuff. She chose the cross stich.

Stupid cow. I never forgave her.

I've got the last laugh now though as in the totalitarian regime that is my Rainbows pack we always set fire to stuff at least once per term and never do cross stitch.

In your face Frank Ifield's dd.

There are loads of other activities without toadstools/the Queen/God though aren't there? It's not as if anyone's forced to go to brownies.

2old I'm sorry to hear that. That is really really bad, I'm afraid the problem with voluntary organisations is that not all the volunteers can be up to the same standard. At my guide unit we invariably have girls with a variety of needs and at the moment we have an 18 year old who has been with us since she was ten, her needs mean that she hasn't outgrown us and the younger girls are brilliant at befriending her.

We have also had (in the recent past), autistic girls, girls with limited mobility and cerebral palsy. As we usually have 30-35 girls having 3/4 with special needs isnt an issue and ensures proper inclusion can happen. I'm know this isn't the case in every unit, but it should be, and is the intention of gguk.

I'm pleased the scouts provided the service for your DD though. I think the scout experience is similar- a bit of a lottery of how good the volunteers in your area are. I'd like the think there is more good than bad in gguk and the scouts though.

'DD (down syndrome) got chucked out of Brownies for being too lively but was welcomed with open arms by Beavers . Went right through the scouting movement until she was 18. Visited Norway, Sweden, Germany and Holland totally included. So yes she was very pleased and so was I'

Well done for not retreating and taking your DD with you, so easy to do when the normal experiences of childhood become a minefield of other people harrumphing and judging.
DS will leave Explorers when he's dragged out in his 80s I think.

I was always inordinately proud of the fact that I didn't get a single badge in Brownies and then got chucked out of Guides.

I am otherwise law-abiding, just to point that out...