Girl Scouts afar...ish

Brenda's Girl Scout troop has finally reached the point of no return. Too many girls have moved on the other activities. Junior high does that to kids out here. Suddenly there is cheerleading, volley ball, and topped with band, swim team, neighborhood soccer, and everything else that shows up at about 7th grade. We knew we would combine troops this year, but the other troop has actually transformed their dynamics. It has gone from 5-6 graders to half the troop being 5-6 graders and the other half to be 4th graders. Brenda comes to the meetings, but being an 8th grader is not getting enough out of it.

So this year she is a Juliette. A Juliette is a Girl Scout who doesn't have a troop. There is a homeschool troop available for her age group about 1/2 hr away from us. I offered to take her there and try it out. I even switched my Junior/Cadette meeting dates so they don't conflict with the homeschool troop meetings. They have a set-up that is really pretty cool. It is in a church gym that has a layer of doors on both sides with classrooms. The Daisies/Brownies get a classroom, the Junior/CSA's get a room, and the CubScouts get a room. So all ages can participate and be working within their Scout age group.

Today we showed up, me, Brenda, and Marley (6). Bret chose not to go with us. So Brenda went to the classroom for her age group. I asked Marley did she want to try out the Daisy/Brownie troop activities even though she has a troop starting in a few weeks. She said no but promptly changed her mind when she saw that room full of like-aged girls.

Brenda was not impressed. Marley cannot WAIT to come back, stating that she will drop her other troop if it means she cannot come back to this one. lol. I asked Brenda to give it a few more tries. If it doesn't work after that she can move on. Marley will go back anyway. Marley thought she finally found a place where she could fit in that wasn't too cliquey for her to meet friends. Brenda thought it might be too cliquey for her to get comfortable. Funny what a difference a few years makes.