Gone

@Faith 1) On advancing the no-show boys, I would have told my CM they can do it. Unless the parents has recorded what the Scout has done, passing them to the next rank cheapens what the other boys in your den accomplished. What message does that send them let alone the kids who don't show and still get awards? Cub Scouts is not about the "trophies for everyone" mentality. I would put an end to that right now. 2) If they are not paying dues they should not benefit from your hard work and prep. I think sometimes people that that motto "for the boys" too far. If they want to attend parties or outings and they have not paid, simply deny them access. While that first encounter may be awkward, it will reinforce the many email and phone messages by saying you are serious and cannot be taken advantage of. That money you are spending is being robbed from YOUR own kids. Unless you are made of money, set your generosity aside and stay firm. Your kids will thank you and no one can question your dedication. 3) To avoid the confrontation the CM and the CC should be the ones to send the note and stand behind you. If they don't you have your answer. If that happens I would get with the parents in your Den that do support you and just let them know you cannot continue to fund no-shows who don't pay. They will support you and at the next event just tell the non-paying parents "sorry, but I just don't have the money to pay for your Scout AND mine." Let them complain, stomp and leave. It's YOUR hard-earned money they are stealing!!!

I forgot to mention that Shutterfly has a website function that allows you to create a secure website and then load photos, video or albums over to the site. The website is based on templates like Blogger but can be customized. You can link in Blogger and Shutterfly with each other too. Pretty cool. They have apps that allow you to upload photos on mobile devices to your site or albums. I had tried a number of other services before we settled on this. Has served us well.

We play counselor all the time. That's in the role description. It's when we uncover a serious issue we escalate it and talk to the parents and encourage them to get their kid help. When I read the last several posts I had to shake my head. Why can't we just keep scouting about scouting and leave all the armchair psychoanalysis to the pros. I don't know, or do I care, when I knew I was hetero. Nor do I care if a kid is gay. I just want to camp, canoe, hike and cook. The rest of this is moot to me.

........... [/url=http://gifs.gifbin.com/3204840swsw.gif]

Totally agree. But most crews I see head out are all about what is easy. Jetboils have killed trail cooking.

My problem with ILST is that the document, while a fine outline, has nothing solid behind it. It leaves it up to the SM to build the presentation. Whereas in the past the old JLT and TLT had ppt and videos and DVDs you could get that helped you put on the training. Unless I am wrong (and I would be happy to be wrong) all BSA gives you with ILST is the doc below and leaves the rest to you to put together, no? I read though this a few years ago when looking to put together a JLT course for our troop. The amount of prep needed using this course guide was astronomical. When I compare to some of the ready-made material BSA has offered in the past -- which could be used almost out-of-the-box -- it is no wonder few troops do ILST. Who has that much time? http://www.scouting.org/filestore/training/pdf/ILST%20FINALS%202011%20-%20Item%20Number%20511-016.pdf

Like BW we do it twice a year. I use the old JLT documents and curricula. Thanks to the Internet one can find the JLT info pretty easy. I also use the old Leadership Corp material too. Our District level training is pretty bad so,we built this out of necessity. Guys who are 13 and have been through our TLT we recommend for NYLT.

@MattR: I believe Islam also is very much against homosexual acts. Most mainstream religions do.

I know...I am old school and was using "tap out" and "call out" for the same ceremony. Sadly, some over zelous people doing tapping killed a great ceremony. Whether tapped or called, it is the ceremony that is important.

@VV: Sorry if I am missing your definitions here but I assume by "age-based" patrols were are talking about both NSPs and "younger Scout patrols" (11-13 yr olds)? My troop uses younger boy patrols (5) and two older boy patrols (14-17). When we crossed over three years ago one of those older boy patrols basically never has camped out. Their gear is basically new and unused. It has been like that since 2006 when our troop instituted the current patrol construct. The other older boy patrol is a bit more active but dwindling. We have a very active younger boy group. My current problem is that our age demographic is shifting, so that the 13 year old category is significantly larger than the other age groups and moving those scouts into the older boy patrols will 1) weaken the younger boy patrols, and 2) will make the older boy patrols very large. Like others, our troop suffers from inactivity in that older boy age group. Obviously we are trying to keep the boys active, keep the younger boy patrols viable, and make sure leadership at all levels is active and effective. To be honest I am thinking of going to an integrated patrol structure. My scouts from 11-16 are very active. My older scouts work well with my younger scouts. I fear moving them up will kill that synergy. We are playing with an HA patrol where you earn your way in to it through leadership, service hours, being active and being 14. For us our history has shown that the older boy patrol construct leads to apathy and inactivity. We have not changed this structure since 2006 and everything we try to change that has not worked. Rather than go to a new boy patrol -- because as a unit we don't believe in that system - the solution above is the current idea we are toying with to address our issues and some of the issues noted in this thread.

Wow...yeah, that was pretty uncalled for.

You are missing my point. If I follow what the lodge is saying my guys get no tap out and only the ordeal. If I do things my way, my guys get a tap out AND an ordeal. I am trying to give my guys the same experience you had at your tap out, whereas the lodge seems not to give two shakes.