Rain Boo

Here's Katie (who we've called Katie-boo since she was very little) after her first Rainbows evening. (Full size picture on Flickr). She absolutely loved it. Some years ago, a Cubs mother said to me how glad she was she had boys when she'd seen the "twee stuff" the Rainbows do. And I agreed, I really did. But now that Katie spends hours and hours colouring and drawing and cutting out and glueing and Hama Beads and she even started borrowing my watercolours recently... Well, my attitude has completely changed. I'm delighted that she's enjoying this and there's a girl from her summer Art Camp there too, so there was a familiar face. She had an absolutely fabulous time.

The sex equality side of me says: why aren't boys allowed to join? Girls are in Beavers, Cubs, Scouts. There are no boys-only clubs that I know of. The argument seems to be an Enid Blyton-style, "boys don't want to do this stuff," to which I wonder why the Art Camp was about half and half boys and girls. Hmm? And The Guiding Manual says, "Research shows that young members appreciate the opportunity afforded by Girlguiding to ‘be themselves’ without the pressures of belonging to mixed groups." Eh? Well then I think boys should have a boys only space and men should have golf clubs and... What a load of old, old, old bollocks. You can't have your cake and eat it. Well, for now apparently you can.

Anyway, Katie is happy!