Dads

Touchy subject for some, for me pretty clear cut. Dads are never invited to overnighters. It just opens up more issues to deal with. I have been married for 26 years but my husband does not ever attend any overnight girl scout events. I love my husband but he is not a girl scout.

I once went to a service unit camp another troop ran. There was a dad there, who happened to be an Eagle scout, so he took over. He was irritating the whole weekend and... wait for it...complained at council the next week that the leaders who attended did not 'take care of themselves and fix up' while they were there. My feeling about this was, duh...It's camp not a beauty contest.

I have heard of many having issues with dads at camps and I am not willing to have these issues. So I forbid dads to attend any camps or any other overnighters I run. I have yet to have an issue with a dad complaining. They know the rule from the start and if they do not like the rule they are free to choose another troop.

When a dad drives his daughter to camp to drop her off, I am very welcoming and show him around the bottom floor of our indoor camp. I make it very clear to him that men are never allowed upstairs so if he worried about other dads coming in, he will know they are not allowed upstairs where the girls bedrooms are. They usually only stay a few minutes because they are instantly comfortable with the security.

We have a special event to honor dads and give them bonding time with their daughter. In the past it was a father-daughter dance (He & me, Me & my guy) but this year we are trying something totally different, a campfire! Our dads do not want to come to a dance even though their daughters love it. I will let you know haw well that goes.