Can you start Brownies wearing uniform?

[Awcw1234]

My daughter starts Brownies next week. I’ve read online that girls are not expected to wear the uniform until their promise. Does this mean they aren’t allowed to wear it? My daughter is very excited and wants to attend her first session wearing the uniform.

Brownie leader here - you can absolutely start wearing uniform. In fact, i love it when new members arrive for their vist meeting in uniform . Hope she has a great time!

Vist = first ^

I would check with the brownie leader. We've been part of a couple of groups due to moving - one where this was allowed and one where they were definitely asked not to wear it until they had made their promise.

I'm a Guide leader. The older leader in my unit prefers them to wait until they make their promise. So it's awkward when you get an enthusiastic new Guide who turns up in uniform on her first night and she tells her not to. I think they should if they want to. There's always girls who decide it's not for them after a couple of meetings, so I think if you feel that's likely, it could be sensible to hold off buying one.

With Cubs its you need two things to make your Promise... uniform and attended 3 weeks. Some parents want to make sure they want to continue before buying uniform.

Both of mine wore uniform before they made their promise. The pride of having their badge pinned on their uniform was wonderful to see

I think its quite an old school way of guiding to not wear uniform until the promise is made. New leader training references girls making the promise when they are ready and they fully understand what it means. This could take a long time -is the girl expected not to wear uniform until then? Doesn't seem very inclusive to me. Absolutely fair to wait a couple of weeks to see if the child sticks at it, but after then i would expect uniform to be worn whether promise had been made or not.

I wouldn’t go rushing to buy uniform, I LOVED being a Rainbow and a Brownie and begged my mum to guy my Guides uniform just to quit after 2 weeks

I’ve bought a second hand bundle off eBay. Not too worried about my daughter deciding she doesn’t like it as I haven’t spent much. Just wondering if she can wear it on that first day :)

My daughter wore hers from day one.

Thank you. Think I’ll just send her in it from day 1. Surely we would be told if it a definite no?

There are definitely still some ‘old school’ brownie leaders who won’t let girls wear uniforms until they make their promise, thankfully I think they are becoming less and less. I always told parents that if their daughter had their uniform, they could wear it, but as a parent, I would advise them to check their daughter enjoyed coming before spending money on uniform.

It could take months for a brownie to make a promise (for various reasons and especially now with covid issues still affecting meetings in some areas). It seems ridiculous for a keen child to not be like her friends because of some local made up rule!

Send the guider in charge a quick message and ask their policy to put your mind at rest, they won't mind at all. I'm happy when new brownies turn up in uniform but don't expect it. I always tell parents to wait a few weeks to make sure their daughter is enjoying brownies and wants to continue before they spend money on the uniform, its pricy if you're buying new. I've noticed recently lots of our new girls wearing uniform right away, probably because the majority are wearing pre loved uniform which is brilliant.

There are no rules about wearing uniform pre promise. The only reason I used to say hold off was case child wasn’t keen and then it would have been wasted as they can be quite a lay out.