Family Stories
Girl Scouting, Part 1
Lots of children get involved with various groups. Especially in this modern age, there are groups available for every interest group. It wasn't that way when I was a kid. The world was simpler then, in many ways.
I grew up before the American Title IX ruling about equality in sports. That meant there weren't really a lot of sports options available for young women after school. My school had an "after school sports" program two days a week, and games on Saturday. Although I took part, I didn't have any skill, so I wasn't encouraged. There was no Little League or football for girls.
I took part in what was called "release time religion." It was a program where, if parents wanted, their kids could attend a class on the religion of their choice for an hour a week. The choices were Protestant or Catholic. Since I was raised Roman Catholic, I joined the other Catholic kids in my grade every week. I think there was like 6 of us.
Which left scouting. I appreciate Boy Scouting. I was a cub scout leader for my son. But it is frankly too militaristic for my tastes. But then, the original intent of the organization was to train young men to be ready to be soldiers. Check the literature if you don't believe me.
Luckily, Girl Scouting wasn't that way. It couldn't be. Instead, Girl Scouting was an organization that encouraged girls to become more than society expected them to be. It's always been that way. We've always pushed boundaries when young women wanted to do so. In the days of the founders, it was the idea that women didn't go camping and do other masculine activities. Women learned to camp. But also how to cook and sew. And to explore job opportunities beyond that of wife and mother. I didn't know it when I started, but Girl Scouting was just what I needed.
I started scouting in the second grade, as a Brownie Scout. All of the girls were my classmates, in the same grade. One of the mom's was out leader. We met at out school, one day a week, after school was out. We all happily learned the mysteries of our new organization, the songs, the stories and forced our fingers to make the Brownie salute. The culmination of this was a few weeks later, when in front of our families, in our new brown uniforms we made our Brownie Promise for the first time officially. It was a proud moment, made even better by the unexpected appearance of my older brother, Doug, home on leave from the Marine Corps. He wore his uniform and everything. My social status rose, temporarily.
The two Brownie years were pretty simple. We sang, made crafts, had snack, learned stuff, and generally had a good time. I think we even went to a Brownie Play Day at the local Scout House.
At the end of 3rd grade we "Flew" up to Junior level scouting. This was our first experience being "real" Girl Scouts. Green uniforms and everything. Our troop was still comprised of the same girls and the same leader. Since our leader wasn't into much outdoorsy stuff, we tended towards more of the social skills. I remember us taking a class together about fashion and stuff. I didn't care and it didn't stick. But some of the girls loved that stuff.
I think that was when I attended the local council's day camp. For me it was a horrid experience. The site was up in our local mountains, so we took a bus every day from Council headquarters. That part was ok. The problem was that the camp site was down a very steep road from where the bus dropped us off. Asthma was still a problem for me, especially exercised induced asthma. And at the end of that hill up the first day I knew it was going to be an ongoing problem. That hill was so hard for me it haunted the days. Would that be the day I wouldn't be able to make it up that hill? I somehow did finish the week, but I promised myself, never again!
The following year my parents signed me up for a 10 day Girl Scout resident camp. I still don't know why, but I'm eternally grateful. I was dreadfully homesick (like most of the first year campers), but once I got over that I realized that I had found my way into something pretty wonderful.
Out here in CA we don't have a lot of the month or summer long camps like you see in movies. Most Scout or church camps are only a week or two. But like the movie camps, it's a separate reality from home. You can form friendships with people you only know at camp, and you can see them every year. The people there take you as you are, they don't care about your social status outside of camp.
Let's see if I can explain this properly. I lived for 10 days up in the mountains in a unit of 26 girls with 4 counselors who lived with us. Each unit had a small hut for the counselors (so they had some privacy). The girls had wooden A-frames where we stored our stuff. Since it was unlikely to rain, we slept outside of our A-frames on metal cots with mattress to put our sleeping bags on. Two girls to an A-frame. My partner that first year was a mess. Not only was she major league homesick, she couldn't stand dirt, bugs, or really anything about the out of doors. Others made friends with me, she was such a pain.
We took out meals with the rest of camp up at the main dining hall. All of the units took turns setting up and serving. We could sit anywhere. All the tables had a counselor at it. The rush was always to sit with our friends with our favorite counselors. Swimming at the camp poor almost every day. Horseback riding at least twice. Down to visit the horses too. Those that wanted to (and who didn't) could work on the Junior or Cadette level horsemanship badges. Camp wide campfires with an amazing view. Deer at sunset often. Crafts. We also did our turn at the camp wide daily flag ceremonies. We even did an overnight camp out at the lake that was 1 1/2 mile down the road. And evening snacks, and counselors who understood homesickness. What's not to like about that?
My parents took advantage of my absence to schedule a mini vacation for themselves. I would have been jealous, but I was having too much fun. My parents were wise enough to send me a lot of mail. In future years they would send me the daily comics. Always popular with all of us!
By the time camp was over and I was on the bus home I had decided several things. The first was that I was going to come back the next year. I had survived being in the "baby" unit, but next year I would be with the older girls! I realized that I liked the girls I had gotten to know and I hoped to see them again. We were all in the same Girl Scout Council, so maybe, there would be some events outside of camp where we could be together again (there were). And I think most importantly, I realized that my self esteem didn't need to be tied to my elementary school. So many of those people had a warped idea of who I was. I liked who I was at camp. That needed to continue!
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