I had a peek into the counselors' bedrooms while we were checking out the bunkhouse. The room featured a string of Christmas lights with butterflies on them strung around the ceiling, lots of stuffed animals, and hair care products. I guess that's a good thing.
Erin had begun to exhibit signs of anxiety at being separated from us for that long so we began to talk it up. Here is a short list of what to say to any children you may have in the same situation:
| Girl Scout campouts: | Boy Scout campouts: |
| Counselors use funky nicknames - often Disner characters like "Thumper" | Counselors use their names |
| They swim in a pool and upon getting out, have to have drops put in their ears to clear out the water in the event that something horrible might be wrong with the aforementioned ears before they got in the water | They swim by jumping in the lake |
| Boys are pretty independent - they will start games spontaneously among themselves but there is not too much "bonding" | Girls are interdependent and will hug and do all sorts of "bonding" things |
| Girl scout camp buildings are made of conventional materials | Boy Scout camp buildings are made of logs |
| Girl scouts sing | Boy scouts rarely sing |
| Girl scout songs are about friends and animals | Boy scout songs are about slapstick embarrassing things and animals getting run over by cars |
| Girls scouts have archery that you can only participate in after you're old enough and througly trained | Boy scouts have archery, rifles, and shotguns. The age of participation is younger. They are thorougly trained and if rules are broken, the punishment is banishment from the activity. There are rarely problems. |
| Girl scout bunkhouse have curtains with little handprints on them made by the girls themselves | Boy scout bunkhouses have no curtains. They may have aluminum foil taped up if the boys want to sleep in |
| Girl scouts never go fishing | Boy scouts go fishing |
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