Whenever a long-established youth organisation changes its uniform, somebody inevitably declares it the end of civilisation. This week it is Girlguiding, which has announced the first significant redesign of its uniform in more than three decades, alongside a simpler expectation of what members need to wear in order to be considered “in uniform”. According to one newspaper columnist, this sends children the dangerous message that rules no longer matter.

I’m afraid that gets the matter almost entirely the wrong way round.

What makes a Guide a Guide is her Promise. What makes a Scout a Scout is their Promise. It is not, and never has been, the clothes they wear.

The Promise is the point at which a young person says that they are choosing to belong. It is a commitment to values, to other people and to trying to live by something larger than themselves. Uniform may help express that commitment, but it does not create it. A perfectly dressed young person who pays no attention to the values of the movement is not somehow more of a Guide or Scout than one wearing a regulation top with their own trousers.

I have spent much of my life in uniform and have seen first-hand the power it can have. Put on a neckerchief, a shirt or a badge and something changes. Young people can feel part of something bigger than themselves. Differences of wealth, background and status may become less visible. Uniform can create pride, shared identity and a welcome sense that “you are one of us”.

All of that matters. But it matters because of what the uniform represents, not because every item of clothing is identical.

For generations, youth organisations have adapted their uniforms. Fabrics have changed, colours have changed, hats have appeared and disappeared, skirts have become shorts and formal shoes have given way to trainers. There was no golden age in which the uniform was fixed for all time. Every version was once new, and almost every change will have caused someone to lament the abandonment of standards.

The suggestion that a more relaxed dress code teaches young people that rules do not matter also confuses rules with values. Good youth work has always helped young people understand the difference between the two.

Some rules are fundamental because they protect people and make community possible. Safety matters. Respect matters. Keeping your word matters. Taking responsibility matters. Looking after one another matters. Those expectations are not weakened because a Guide wears her own trousers or a Scout turns up in something more comfortable and affordable.

Indeed, one of the most valuable things a youth organisation can teach is that mature judgement involves knowing which rules protect the purpose and which have simply accumulated around it. Insisting on every detail of a dress code is not the same thing as teaching discipline. Discipline grows through keeping commitments, turning up for others, accepting responsibility, persevering when something is difficult and learning to place the needs of the group alongside your own.

Nor does belonging require the surrender of individuality. The strongest communities are not those in which everyone looks exactly alike, but those in which people with different backgrounds, personalities and needs are united by a common commitment. A movement should be confident enough in its values not to feel threatened by variations in clothing.

There is also a practical point. A full uniform can be expensive. Some young people are uncomfortable in particular cuts or fabrics. Others may have sensory, religious or cultural needs that make rigid requirements harder to navigate. If simplifying the uniform removes one more barrier to participation, that is not a retreat from belonging. It is an attempt to make belonging real.

The columnist argues that membership of a group requires sacrifice and compromise. That is true. But the meaningful sacrifices in youth organisations are not sartorial. They are giving up time to help someone else, taking your turn with an unpopular task, listening when you would rather speak, and accepting responsibilities you cannot abandon when they become inconvenient.

Those are the habits that form character. Wearing the prescribed trousers does not.

Uniform will continue to have an important place in Girlguiding and Scouting. It creates visibility, continuity and shared identity. It connects today’s members with generations who came before them. But it should never be mistaken for the essence of the movement, still less used as a test of whether a young person truly belongs.

The essence is the Promise: a voluntary commitment to live by shared values and to do your best.

That is what makes a Guide a Guide and a Scout a Scout. The rest is clothing.