Uniform Choices

Vest or Sash? If this seems like a totally silly thing to argue over, then you have never seen a group of 15 eight and nine year olds go at it over which makes more sense and which they would be less likely to be ashamed to be seen in. Okay, my girls didn't put it QUITE like that, but that was definitely the gist of the argument. The two sides seem to fall out like this: 

Vests:

People who like vests tend to be people with plans.  Like Troop Leaders.  If you plan on doing more than one or two activities with your troop per year, if you plan on fundraising with your troop, if you plan on earning more than a dozen patches, you like vests.  The other people who like vests? People with children likely to hit a growth spurt at any time.  You can buy a large vest for your daughter and not be concerned about whether she will be able to keep it on her shoulders when she walks.

Sashes:

People who like sashes tend to be younger people.  Like your Troop.  Vests seem so practical.  Sashes are cool.  They are easy to hide if you don't want to be identified as a Girl Scout.  And since they are okay for older girls who may not be doing anything because they are saving money to go to Europe, the younger girls (at least in my neighborhood) think that they're for OLDER girls.  And if there is anything a Junior Girl Scout wants more than anything else, it's to be seen as OLDER.

Now, these aren't hard and fast, this is just how it has seemed to me over the past few years.    I had quite a discussion about this last year, when we voted.  There were many girls who were convinced, when I held up my daughter's uniform, that we should indeed do vests again.  But the fashionistas prevailed.  There was much haggling and vote-wrangling involved, but the lure of "Sashes look so much cooler!" could not be denied. We did Daisy tunics, Brownie vests, and now Junior sashes.  I am hoping for Older Girl vests, because I don't see my girls wanting to slow down on the activities.