ORGANIZATIONS : The Next Generation of Girl Scout Troops

Say “Girl Scouts,” and people tend to think merit badges, camping, cookies.

But consider the agenda for scouting in the ‘90s: prenatal care, morning sickness, stress management.

Life for today’s Girl Scout is more hard-edged, forcing troops to change with the times, said officials with the group’s Mt. Wilson Vista Council in Arcadia. This fall, the council will create a troop for pregnant teen-agers and teen-age mothers, one of the few such non-traditional troops in the country, scouting officials said.

Nationwide, other non-traditional troops include those for girls in homeless shelters and migrant worker camps.

“We’re very progressive that way,” said Marianne Ilaw, a spokeswoman for the national Girl Scouts headquarters in New York. “It’s a very important part of Girl Scouting to address the needs of today’s girls, and those needs are always changing.”

Scouting officials dismissed questions of whether pregnant teens in traditional Girl Scout uniforms would create an image problem.

“It’s not a question of image,” Ilaw said. “It is, ‘What are we doing to meet the needs of girls in various communities . . . to instill in them very solid values?’ ”

“The program we’re taking is geared toward lifestyles rather than how to set up a camp,” said Sylvia Rosenberger, a spokeswoman for the Mt. Wilson Vista Council. “For instance, how do you cope with stress when you’re a 15- or 16-year-old with a baby? That’s stress.”