I started going to highschool six years ago, simultaneously I became a member of the Austrian Scouting Association - or to put it short: a girl scout.
We all know the clichés around scouts: they wear badges, run around in shorts and skirts no matter the weather, always have to wear their uniform, sell cookies in their neighbourhood and only eat ants (no joke, I have heard that one!)
I want to let you know a little bit about my experience being a girl scout.
Wearing badges: That's actually true to some extend. Kids can complete certain exercises (making fire, challenging their own limits, learning about new topics) and can "earn" badges for those different exercises. But we do not have to wear them all the time by any means. They are usually sewn to the uniform (a dark-red shirt/blouse).
the uniform: As mentioned above the austrian uniform is a shirt/blouse, which we only wear for special occacions. We can also choose on our own whether we want to wear pants, skirts, dresses all long or short.
the cookie selling: As far as I'm concerned that is an american thing. Although we do collect money to help people in need by bringing the "light of bethlehem" to the neighbourhood on Christmas Eve.
the ant thing: Sorry to disappoint you but unfortunately that's not true. Although I would say during a normal summer camp one might eat a significant amount of dirt. Due to eating and cooking everything outside and over the fire.
I hope you found this (at least somewhat) interesting. Are you a scout yourself or know somebody? How is it in your group/country? Let me know in the comments below!
Disclaimer I speak from my perspective. This is not how scouting is everywhere, there may be more or less significant differences between groups,countrys or organisations!