Rangers/ senior section girl guiding

[cola2019]

Hi. Does anyone here have a daughter who does rangers?? My DD is due to leave guides now and can't decide whether to go up to rangers or not. She has done rainbows since she was 5 so she says she feels obliged but think she is actually a bit bored of it. It isn't seen as a cool thing to do and currently there are only 2 girls in the rangers/senior section (before lockdown) so they basically join in with guides. There are 6 girls due to go up but 3 have made the decision not to and 2 are going to go up. I can't really find much information on what they actually do. Out of choice I would prefer her to do some kind of sea cadets/air cadets/ or scouts as she goes to an all girls school and I don't think an all female environment is healthy. So any information on what a typical rangers meeting is like and what it involves would be greatly received. thank you

I think, like guides, and also like Explorers, it will very much depend on the individual unit.
There is no doubt a lot they could do, but I suspect they will be limited a bit by not existing separately from the Guides.
Though of course this is a bit of a 'chicken and egg' situation in that people won't join when it isn't thriving, and it won't thrive until there are enough people for it to run independently of the guide company. It is a shame that all 6 won't give it a go, together, as a unit of 8 sounds much more feasible than 2.
I do think it is something you need to ask about locally though - find out from others what the Explorers are offering local to you, and what Cadets are offering, etc.

I am a ranger and Guide
leader if you have any questions

My dd is part of a very active Rangers group. She loves it. It is all down to the leadership team though. She has been going for 18 months and has been camping and had a long weekend abroad which they raised the funds for. They do a lot in meeting times and occasionally at the weekends. I find it is good for my dds confidence and she feels included. Her sister who is 14 has no interest in joining and her other sister 10 is only persevering with guides to make sure she gets into rangers.

I was a Ranger (a long time ago.....) in a relatively small section - joining in with the Guides is not the point... the idea is that the Rangers lead the section and plan and execute the activities they want to do themselves and the adult leaders support the process. We attended much larger organized camps as leaders and crew as well as participating, hiked, learned budget cooking, went up to London etc. The skills I learned around planning outdoor group trips have been incredibly useful in later life (I fell in love with my husband on a group backcountry trip I organized in the Canadian Rockies...) but if this model doesn't appeal or Guiding type activities don't appeal then there is absolutely no point participating out of obligation. If the local Scouts is more active - absolutely join that! I have a son - so I'm now a Scouter....