What would you do if you attended a girl scout camp and the moms in charge (about 8 moms stayed over night) spent the evening outside drinking? Is this common? acceptable? What if they were rowdy (but not in view of the children)? What if you weren' t really aware of who or how much drinking went on because you were inside watching the kids.

I would contact your local GS council to find out their specific policy regarding alcohol at events. Being a leader, I looked it up in "Safety Wise" (the book detailing basic rules for everyone). It says "Alcohol is the most abused drug among youth in the United States...Alcohol is not appropriate at girl activities." It goes on to say that GS councils may have their own policies that further outline behavior guidelines.

GS events are not an appropriate place to drink. You never know what the girls see or hear and it could set a bad example for them. Although I'm always with my girls at events, I wouldn't want them to be with adults who have been drinking, regardless of how much they consumed.

Bottom line for me is the adults were CHAPERONING. To me this entails being a responsible,sober grown up --other parents have entrusted their childrens care and well being to the chaperones. Imbibin in moderation is irresponsible in a situation like this. It's a children's camp, not mommy happy hour! I'd be on the phone to the local council associated with the camp out and report it. Completely unacceptable! I'm all for hanging out and having drinks (trust me on this one!), but only when safe and appropriate..and this situation was not the appropriate place to be indulging.

Did they drink to excess? Did they behave inappropriately? If the answer to both those questions is no, then there's less to worry about. The concern is always that someone won't behave, will drink to excess, will behave badly and alarm the children, or be incapable of responding appropriately to a situation.

It should be obvious that, if you're in a situation where a child would have to be driven anywhere (to get medical care, say), that EVERYONE should limit themselves to whatever the limits of the jurisdiction. Here, for example, the safe driving blood alcohol level is .08%, which, for me, translates into two glasses of wine. Being cautious with these things, I never drive if I've had more than one, so in that situation, I'd keep it to one glass.

Thing is, can you know that everyone will limit themselves accordingly? The answer to that is likely "no", so it's probably wiser to err on the side of caution and say 'no alcohol'.

I'd be surprised if the Scouting movement doesn't have guidelines on this -- and my bet would be they're not supposed to drink while in a supervisory capacity. That could be your gracious way out: check the standards and then inform the group.

yes the moms were in the yard just outside the lodge. Im more concerned about an emergency situation or if it turned bad enough for kids to be observent of this. I chose to limit myself to less than a 1/2 a glass of wine throughout the evening after the children were in the lodge.

But what if none of the moms had been responsible? I think if my daughter was in their care without me being there, I'd be out of control angry at anything beyond a glass or two of wine from the grown ups in charge.