Girlguiding - Rainbows, Brownies & Guides

Gingham_R

What about adding some good songs/games?

Do you know 40 years on an iceberg?

The girls have to remember the actions and the words as each run through drops a line from the beginning and hums it instead, until all the song is hummed with actions.

GlasweJen

Now that I've looked I can't find this alternate promise, was on the 90s. I was also raised catholic but made the normal promise (the old duty to god version), this other brownies parents went nuts and she got another version from another book. I'm sure it was in the guide hand book at the time as I recognised it when I went up to guides.

malzu21

hi, i was recently thinking of putting my DD in Rainbows, however, could some explain the difference between girlguiding & scouting please. I am so unaware of these things

ta muchly in advance

adea

malzu21 wrote: »

hi, i was recently thinking of putting my DD in Rainbows, however, could some explain the difference between girlguiding & scouting please. I am so unaware of these things

ta muchly in advance

I'm not totally sure of the difference but girl guiding is only for girls and they can start with rainbows at 5. Beavers is the youngest scout group and both boys and girls can attend from the age of 6. The scouting movement is open to girls and boys.

HTH.

GlasweJen

I'm not sure of the differences but we sing the same camp songs, me and my flatmate had a sing song last night with the x-rated "not when the kids are about" tunes from scouting and guiding.

kingfisherblue

The main difference is that Baden-Powell started Scouts for boys, and when girls wanted to join, he founded Guiding (originally run by his sister). Scouting and Guiding have always run as two separate organisations, but Scouting have allowed female members in recent years. Guiding has remained female only - we allow men to be unit helpers, but they cannot become full members. It is covered by the Sex Discrimination Act, but I can't remember the exact sub-divisions of the Act.

Both organisations have similar promises, but the Scouts still say 'Do my duty to God', whereas the Guiding promise incorporates the words 'To love my god'. The wording was altered, I believe, because there was a misconception that Guiding is a Christian organisation. Although many units meet in Church halls, this is often for historic reasons and also because churches often charge little or no rent, thereby allowing units to keep prices low. There are a very small number of units that are sponsored by churches or by the Salvation Army, but these are few and far between. I am in a large division and there are no sponsored units in my area (to the best of my knowledge).

There was an article a few years ago in Guiding magazine about two units opening in areas that are heavily populated by Muslim families - the units meet in schools. This is because the families of the girls were refusing to allow them to join Guiding as it was thought to be a Christian organisation.

For those who do not agree with 'To serve the Queen and my country', my units (Brownies and Rainbows) talk about looking after our country - recycling, following the Country Code, respecting property, etc. We rarely talk specifically about the Queen, although my units will learn about Britain and the Queen next year when Elizabeth II celebrates her Diamond Jubilee. I think it is an ideal time for the girls to learn more about the country that they live in, including traditional songs and foods, both of which are popular with my units.

Former_MSE_Andrea

Hi everyone

We've removed a few posts from the thread. If you'd like to debate the religious issues feel free to do it on the Discussion Time board but as we may include this in the weekly email if you could help us keep this thread to hints and tips for potential and current parents that would be great.

Thank you!

tiernsee

I just wondered if there was a national capacity issue with Rainbows/Brownies? I asked all the local Rainbows for my daughter and the waiting lists were so long that she'd have been Brownie age by the time she got in! I did, however, get her into the Beavers, which she has been going to for six months now and loves.

How does the experience she is getting from Beavers differ from that she would have got in Rainbows (apart, of course, from the fact that the group is mixed sex). Now she has settled in Beavers I will probably keep her going up the Cubs, Scout route but would be interested to hear about the differences. Thanks.

Raksha

The younger they are, the fewer differences there are IMHO. Infact, these days there are fewer and fewer differences between the two organisations apart from the obvious one that Guides don't allow boys to join. They follow a slightly different 'programme' but the end result will hopefully be very similar - an independant, confident young person who is a good citizen. It used to be that Guides were more 'girly' and didn't do so much physical stuff, (although 35 years ago when I left Guides, we used to laugh at the Scouts because they used camping gas cookers while we were still collecting wood and cooking on 'Alter fires'). Both organisations encourage canoing, caving, camping (ofcourse) as well as getting involved in public service activities like litter picking

dizsiebubba

tiernsee wrote: »

I just wondered if there was a national capacity issue with Rainbows/Brownies? I asked all the local Rainbows for my daughter and the waiting lists were so long that she'd have been Brownie age by the time she got in! I did, however, get her into the Beavers, which she has been going to for six months now and loves.

How does the experience she is getting from Beavers differ from that she would have got in Rainbows (apart, of course, from the fact that the group is mixed sex). Now she has settled in Beavers I will probably keep her going up the Cubs, Scout route but would be interested to hear about the differences. Thanks.

Hi there!

Yes there is a shortage on places in Girlguiding UK. This is because we just do not have enough adult volunteers and therefore we cannot increase the numbers of girls for their own safety. Some areas have larger lists than others for a variety of reasons and it is always best to contact the leaders of the relevant units in advance to put down your daughters name on a waiting list.

In reality, girlguiding and Scouting are very similar, however individual units or troops can vary dramatically. This is usually down to the leaders who run the groups. I do not like to 'camp' under canvas with Brownies. I think they are too young and personally i don't like camping, I also do not have a license to stay under canvas, only an indoor license. Other units may choose to camp outside with their groups if it is something that their leaders feel comfortable with. However, I spent my Saturday at Wembley with my Guides dancing away to Olly Murs, the Wanted, Pixie Lott and others which some traditional leaders would not do.

Usually i would chose where to send my child based on recommendations from other parents and then contact the leaders and find out a bit more about what they like to do and see if it would be suitable for my child.