Christmas post

In Scouts as in Girl Guiding there is a tradion of district posting to help people get their christmas card to their reciepents that goes back a long time and here Hawick Girl Guides in the Scottish Borders are running such a service.

Miles cheaper for local cards compared with Royal Mail!
 

Girlguiding and the Transgirl

 

Yesterday Girlguiding UK made an important announcement regarding what has become a thorny issue as it effects children and young people in many contexts from school to things such as scouts and girlguides, that of gender idenity as it applies to single sex settings which for reasons of decency may be needed as much as much of society is more mixed.

I try to aviod much of the often heated discourse around that on here although the unilateral action of the Scouting Association to make Scouts co-ed agains B-P's teachings and with no consideration to its impact on GirlGuiding is one that still burns to this day.

The position in Scouting on the outset was one of Scouts for Boys, Girlguides for Girls which generally worked well for 99% of children and often there was co-operation at the local level when it came sharing resources or planning joint events.

Anyway while I do believe that and am personally sympathetic to anyone not least children who may feel their sex and their gender do not align and experience issues with that, the issues we have are not really around that so much as the person while they are said to be transitioning.

Few children in the UK undertake what is described as "gender affirming surgery" mainly because the issues involved long term require a level of informed consent they, themselves at 16 or under cannot give (at least in Law).

Thus in our world of Scouting a child who is Transgender comes with all the physical build of the sex that was recorded on their birth certificate and this does have implications for changing facilities, toilets and showers at camp as a Transgirl would look and resemble a boy when changing and so on.

In Girlguiding specifically there is a clear emphasis on it being a movement of and for just girls so given nearly all Transgirls would not of physically transitioned and the Cass Review caselaw they would be seen as Boys having them could mean legal challenges by Girls parents one of which was due before the decision.

The only way under the Law presently to avoid it would be to ditch that whole "For and By Girls" ethos - and some of us think having single sex spaces has value even if for many schools isn't like that.

Personally I feel some accomodation of long term social transformation would be possible with due care and planning where it was clear a sense of gender dysphoria existed AND this part of long term plan for that child as "she" transitions fully.

It is unfortunate in some respects and this change brought about through legal advice will not be applied retrospectively which is as fair as it gets. One hopes and more "give and take approach to accomodating the minority of children within the context of being in a Girls space.

Brownie Uniform over time

 Uniform changes over time, sometimes it reflects wider changes in fashion, sometimes more an attempt to match what various focus groups say youngsters feel more comfortable about being seen in, some times strait from the adults!

Brownie uniforms show this from the Edwardian sailor suit look though various dresses with necker changes throuhgh the controversial Jeff Banks active redesign to today where strangely enough girls felt what had been altered just a decade and bit before looked too boyish!

Will things go full circle in time?

Inclusion at all levels

 

One good thing about Scouts and GirlGuiding is it is actually inclusive - if only we could get that put over more - but what makes it inclusive?

For me a good start point is the involvement at all levels in delivering scouting people of all backgrounds and disabilities so the organization gains the shared experiences of its own people in what helps us all fit in.

It is about knowing what you as that person can do, things you may ned some help and perhaps some adjustments within the role to enable you and where the hard "not possibles" are.

That requires open, candid communication in a trusting environment so you and all involved locally feel able to talk about what can be done from a start point of looking at what that person has to offer first.

If you have that going on it is better when it comes to ensuring withing your group of children and young people you have a good level of inclusion because those people are so used to it, they will talk to that young person, their parents and any relevant experts at what we need to to ensure so that they can thrive in scouts and guides.

Good communication and sharing knowledge really helps.

That may mean equipment, it is likely to include some alterations of activities or help within undertaking them so the individual does it with support and there is advice around it available in both scouts and guides at national level.

There does, I feel need to more said in the offer of scouts and guides directly to children and parents about this so no one is excluded cos they never knew.

Something for the girls

 

Although emblems do change and so does the World Map  thanks to geo-politics, this nice set does go to show the extent that girls around the world have thie own opportunities though dedicated organizations in Scouting be it GirlGuiding or as in the United States of America, Girl Scouts.

Although the relationship with Scouts in some parts of the world remains tetchy with the latter departing from the views of Baden Powell who favoured having seperate bodies for boys and girls with collaberation it is good to know GirlGuiding for Girls remains popular.

Why shouldn't girls have thier on spaces and programs?

Guides outdoors

By tradition on this blog we mainly look at the units that boys in scouting would join although the Scout Association today being co-ed is open for girls too and this blog isn't just a nostalgia based one.

Somehow and somewhere boys of a certain age tend to get the idea girls have it easier even in Scouting and yes elements of the programs can differ but those in Girlguiding have never had it easy.

Then as now camping was more or less the same for guides as scouts, these guides from 1948 have had to pitch their tent, ensure their uniform was put away properly and look smart on parade.

When I sometimes see cubs and scouts today I sometimes feel those in charge could usefuly get them 'smartened up' not least in public settings.

Joint activities

Here's a great idea, a combined Brownies and Cubs Christmas pantomine show with everybody not in costume looking really smart and some scout groups do Christmas performances.
 

Marking the Platinum Jubilee

As touched upon on Friday these few days are different for being the Queen's Platinum Jubilee marking her seventy years on the throne which are being reflected across of all society here and Scouting is no exception.

The Queen was a GirlGuide herself, gaining her awards entirely on merit, just like anyone else and is the Patron of  Scouts, showing in her approach to life those values she learned and we all hold dear not least her sense of committment.

In Scouts there is specific Platinum challenge open to all to work towards not least that Platinum Jubilee badge and in the last few days no doubt a good number have been doing things towards that.

Beacons are really quite an old established way to communicate things such as danger of risk of invasion so for centuries lighting a beacon at a point it can be seen for miles around.

Today it is kept for ceremonial purposes and a massive chain of beacons was established for such events and scouts and girls guides amongst others lit over 1,200 beacons such as those at Betley and Dudley to mark this anniversary.

How a beacon is lit was something the longstanding children's magazine program, Blue Peter showed in it's Jubilee special edition on Friday which did include a feature on Girl Guiding.

Two young scouts lit theirs in this photograph.

Three cheers for our Queen and Patron!

The Brownie Annual

It's rare for me to post much about "the other half" of the Scouting Movement for a host of reasons such as having very little to do with in any capacity but as you would expect their are parallels.

Rather like Wolf Cubs/Cubs, until more recent times there were annuals published that any Brownie would expect to get with the bindings being made easier to printed over time.

The start point of any annual is having an eye catching illustration for the front as this isn't an instruction manual and typically a Brownie annual would show brownies in uniform undertaking some task.

The back of this one features the faces of some, a number of which contributed to the contents.

This one is the 1962 edition and as was usual at the time has a formal introduction from the World Chief Guide addressed to the individual Brownie welcoming them to the publication which is official.

Here we have a contents page which is well indexed by makes, things of interest, about Brownie life such as pack holidays and the like.

Because rather like Cubs, you might of joined but not done everything yet, you'd have things about what you may get to do such as a pack holiday complete with pictures which are printed on glossy paper.

Very much with the whole Pixies and Elfs and so on, concept running in Brownies, there's a section with rhymes about them a brownie would no doubt love.

Something I don't think the Girl Guides Association then would of been unaware of is a copy about perhaps belonging to a friend or sister of another girl would act as a shop window to them to join up too, sharing the fun.

Annuals in general seem an endangered species, always out of date at the time of printing, lacking the interactivity some crave today and yet I know the Comic annual is still a popular thing as are tv and movie tie ins.

As children still love physical gifts they can treasure perhaps annuals connected with scouting can comeback.