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As with any bully, the solution is simple. Ignore her. Do not respond to any of her emails on this subject. If she confronts you in person, simply tell her kindly and calmly "the issue is already decided." Do not offer up any other explanation, do not attempt to satisfy her demands, do not engage with her on this matter at all. She has absolutely no right nor authority nor legitimate reason to make any of these demands on you nor your son, so just let her scream and holler till her voice is hoarse and she collapses in frustration. These people always tend to dig their own graves, so

I do find it interesting that a 14 year old cannot hold a full time job, cannot typically open a banking account without parental permission, is not able to enter contracts, cannot legally operate a motor vehicle in the US, is not able to consent for sexual activities, serve in the military, vote in elections, cannot purchase a gun, cannot buy liquor or beer, does not have a choice and is required to attend school, cannot fly unaccompanied without a parent or guardian authorizing, and other myriad of items they are not able to do because as a society we have deemed them not mature enough to ha

Hammocks. Hammocks is the answer. No no, don't mention toilets and showers. To be honest, just about anything can be figured out with a bit of compassion and decency.

I don't see the relevance of that article to my understanding of BSA policy related to transgender youth. BSA only goes as far as accepting the gender written on the application. BSA makes no suggestions on what types of therapy to use, nor any timeline for transition , nor if any particular approach is good, bad, or indifferent. From reading the article I can understand your emotion regarding the topic, and the way the AAP guidance is phrased. And maybe it is just me, but I don't see the strong connection to BSA. You of course are free to see it differently than I do. If BSA mad

This happens a lot with SM changes. I have helped and observed a lot of troops where the new SM wanted to change the program and I have learned that change pretty much comes from the new and younger Scouts. I now advise SMs in your situation to pacify the older Scouts with the program they want and build your new program with the new Scouts. Older Scouts (in this case 13 and older) simply don’t like change. Building new with younger Scouts is a lot less stress on everybody. It seems like two groups in one program will be a hassle, but you will find the older Scouts will pretty much take

That's not a logical conclusion to make, and it doesn't 'protect' anybody from the truth. Living a life is all about behavior. The choices we make - our behavior - define the life we life. Choosing to adopt a transgendered lifestyle is a set of behavioral choices, as with any lifestyle. True, one might feel compelled at some deep level to adopt such a mode of being, but the decision to follow through with those feelings still constitutes one's behavior. That's in no way a judgement call, an insult, nor a derogatory statement - behavior is simply the correct term to describe the cumulative summ

The discussion isn't about the youth, it's about adults contributing to the harm of the youth by accepting their transgender as normal. The youth may not understand what they are feeling, but putting them in situations they may later regret could cause more harm. Let's use your example, who put the youth in the tent where they had sexual activity? Families don't need scouting to get through this situation. It's politically correct to accept the youth at their word these days. But it's courageous to say, we don't want to be part of the complicated situation the youth is struggling through

More and more men do not want to go to college, they see it as a waste of time and not worth the cost. Women keep going because it is drilled into them they MUST GO TO COLLEGE!!! More and more businesses see most degrees as mostly worthless and now looking for people with ability and not a piece of paper that says they are smart. I found out in 1987 that college was a waste of time, when my UCSC Computer Engineering program was de-accredited at the beginning of my 3rd year and the most complex thing they ever "taught" me was Ohm's law, something I mastered in 3rd grade. An

I love to hear about active well-rounded kids. I'm still a little confused about the rush. I'm assuming he advanced to 1st class at summer camp, so he's been active for about two months? So, he tells his SPL and SM that he has to suspend activity until December (excepting a couple of campouts), and has a scout in mind to fill in for Chaplin's Aide while he's out. He leads his team to the golden net championship. Then he returns just in time to plan out the troop Christmas party and prep everyone for Klindike derby. He knocks out a few MBs while being active through January, and quali

https://www.scouting.org/health-and-safety/gss/gss01/ is the most up to date location moving forward for the Barriers to Abuse. A one source of truth if you will. The "72 hours rule" is All adults accompanying a Scouting unit who are present at the activity for 72 total hours or more must be registered as leaders. The 72 hours need not be consecutive." The intent of this policy is to protect participants - both youth and adults - and maintain a Safe Scouting environment. It is event centric. Examples of where this applies today in Scouting are resident camps, treks, long te

Here's another article of why I think a youth organization that supports transgenders is dangerous to the child. https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/09/pediatrician-groups-transgender-orthodoxy/ “If I had only found one alternative, authoritative source that told me the truth, I would never have taken her to a gender clinic. I would never have supported her social transition. I would have questioned this more. I am angry at myself for trusting groups like the AAP. I am angrier at these doctors for publishing this false and dangerous advice.” Barry

This is complicated. On the one hand, if I look at one schools National Honor Society members, there are a whole lot of girls and not many boys. On the other hand, when I look at CEOs of tech companies, or employees in a finance-related business I work with, there are a whole lot of men in the prime roles and not many women. I think it's great that some women are participating at the highest levels. Not all women want to get there, but it's still a harder road for women to get there than men. Randi Zuckerberg (Mark Zuckerberg's sister and the person who came up with the idea for

I think this is where advancement as a method is perfect. Advancement is the scout's, having activities and adventures to allow one the opportunity to fulfill requirements means the scouts need to take responsibilty to ensure it happens, and of course the higher ranks require a position of responsibility in addition. Advancement becomes a motivator to take the lead in planning, organizing, and executing. So what does this look like in practice? At the most basic level it could be this scenario... Johnny comes to you and says I want to get signed off on requirement x. You ask,

Thanks to all ... I'm really getting a lot out of this thread. I'm encouraged by my younger patrols - they're exhibiting high enthusiasm for what I'll call "vanilla scouting": Patrol method in the outdoors. They're engaged and reasonably attentive at PLC's, they have fun with one another, and the more advanced of my younger scouts exhibit care and concern for the youngest - taking them under their wings and helping them with skills, advancement, etc. Perfect! My struggle is with my oldest scouts. I hate to "write them off", but I'm just there with them. I've concluded that my pr

The whole tone of your posts in this thread is based on your opinion of whether or not these lifestyles are a choice. We can agree or disagree about choice, but that is not the theme of this thread. Accept for your comment about my opinion of scouters contributing to abuse in this matter, every poster has been respectful. Barry

It only has a negative connotation that you give to it. Religious practice is absolutely made up of behaviors. Religion or lack their of is a choice. It is a behavior. It is based of our feelings and ideas about life and our purpose for living. To suggest otherwise is to suggest we do not have free will in life. That our lives are the outcome of genetically determined sequences that we have no control over and that's all we'll ever be. One's sexual preferences are not a choice in my opinion. But what behaviors I engage in because of those preferences are a choice.

I am amused, tinkled pink actually, at all the young , talented makers and entrepreneurs who are saying no to Apple, Google, Amazon, Wall Street, ... job offers and starting their own companies. Quite different from back in the day, when we were trained to be employees of GM, IBM, GE, Wall Street... My $0.02

Being so I checked and transgender person seems to be preferred https://www.glaad.org/reference/transgender

She may simply be trying to sidestep the phenomenon in which women (in some areas/fields) are not assumed to be competent until they have demonstrated that they are. Do I guess correctly that she works in a male-majority field? (If she were in a heavily female profession, such as elementary school teaching, people would not assume that "Chris" was a man.)

There are many reasons for this situation to occur, but I once watched a very good boy run troop brought down to it's knees when the SPL and ASPL aged out of the troop. These two young men were fantastic scouts. They were my sons high school friends and even joined in on one of our Troop's Philmont treks, so I also knew them. They were also good leaders in OA. Where they failed the troop was passing the SPL/ASPL back and forth to each other for two years. It wasn't ego or anything like that, they were just good scouts who ran the troop program well and all the other scouts wanted to keep it th

@WisconsinMomma, you have been lied to. College (2 and 4 year program) acceptance rates are up to 70%. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cpa.asp Actual undergraduate enrollment in degree-granting programs https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cha.asp In other words, that male:female ratio has been pretty static for some time, with about a 5 point gap when percentage of population is considered. As @cocomax expressed, young men are seeing less return on investment in college and will not enroll straight out of high school, causing this gap to widen. https://

Nursing and HR as well. I've always worked on Female majority HR departments since I graduated from College. Most of my supervisors have been female. Not necessarily good or bad, just is what it is.

I'm saying that by putting volunteers in a position to accept transgender scouts possibly sets them up as abusers simply by accepting them. Barry

Gender is not really any of the BSA's business. Sure, a child will need to pick a boy or girl troop. OK, that's all. It ends there. As for all of this medical intervention in teens, basic common sense would suggest that young people need to reach adulthood before making these kinds of medical moves. Yes, puberty is awkward, but it is important. Why would any doctor commit to life altering elective surgery on a healthy minor? It's irresponsible.

That's in theory how the program is supposed to run. Boy Scouting age 11-14, Venturing 14-age out. As other's have said, if you're going to run your unit(s) that way, you need to go all in. Venturing is about leadership, and the youth really drive that program, even more so than boy scouts. A crew really is a separate unit from the Scout troop. What you're really looking for is engaging your older Scouts. @Eagledad talks about better in his posts than I ever can. I wrote out multiple paragraphs, and they were basically saying the same thing Eagledad was, just longer and less concise. Thi

I'd tell him to show up at the first troop meeting following Ordeal wearing his sash with a huge grin...

She was an ASM at that point but part of the process. She is upset because he has been much more active in the Ship than the troop. Can't fault a kid for being active in scouting IMHO.

If she was the SM at the time of the election, then she had to approve his nomination. That is part of the process. If she did not approve it, but someone from the unit did so in her stead, then it is still an approval at this point. Any contesting should have occurred at the time of the election. Now as noted, if she approved him for being a candidate for election and since something might have occurred to be of concern, she should have gone to the OA leadership. I am simply curious as to what we are not hearing in this situation.

@fred johnson, but the Scouts are ignorant of the rules, and generally, so are the parents. That's how these types of leaders get away with "75 percent of the meetings and 50 percent of the campouts" over XXX months policies. They just repeat that over and over until it becomes troop doctrine about what "active" means, and Scouts and parents typically don't know the GSS even exists or that BSA actually has policies on these matters. But I agree with you, btw.

Each troop can define active, but each troop needs to follow BSA Guide To Advancement about using "alternate requirements" (BSA Guide To Advancement) when the scout falls short of the troop's active definition. I get very scared when scout leaders begin talking to scouts about priorities based on something extra the troop adds that explicitly has additional options in the Guide To Advancement. It's like leaders are praying scouts are ignorant of the rules.

Responsibility is responsibility, no matter how it is titled. I'm guessing the responsibility is too daunting. One suggestion is scale back the program until the scouts want to participate. That would where the maturity of the scouts organization skills are matched with the troop bureaucracy. Then, gradually apply more responsibility to build back program maturity. Maybe the SM takes the part of the SPL for six months to get some momentum. Simplify bureaucracy. Brian and the SM should probably have the hard discussion of how the troop got to this point. Barry

As a member of GSUSA and BSA, I think girls will do fine in a BSA program, it is a fine program for boys and girls. What I do see going haywire are the adults, I see adults destroying programs in GSUSA and BSA because of selfish reasons, power trips, and sheer stupidity. What I see going wrong is not the fault of the program or the youth. The biggest problem is adults coming in with their own ideas on how to run things that go against the methods and aims of scouting and create a boring adult run program that drives the kids away in droves.

Ummm, because not that long ago girls were taught separately so they could learn to be homemakers, home economics, textiles, sewing, oooh, let's be radical and teach them to type so they could join the typing pool! Sport? Something nice and gentle. Engineering? Oh no, that's a boy subject, not for girls. No need to study hard, your job is to snag yourself a man make babies. All those schemes are just trying to balance things up, so my Explorers won't have to battle against those that say "no, that's just for men that", can become professional kick-boxers, engineers for Rolls-Royce, ski instruc

Two great celebration on one great day: National Hunting and Fishing + Fish Amnesty Day To the ones we catch and the ones that get away!

If we aren’t supposed to eat animals, then why are they made out of meat?

I have 1, I have worn it for 8 years. It has some great scars and blemishes and each tell a story. The sleeves have begun to fray and so its time to get a new one. My ASM and I count the amount of scouting we do each week by the number of times we had to wear the shirt - as in this was a 4 shirt week.

You have the right idea, it's about inertia. But isn't that the older scouts running the program. I don't understand why you don't see taking on more of the troop responsibility isn't boosting the flywheel that will keep them engaged. This is where I see adults fail, they don't know how to build it up. Everything, I MEAN EVERYTHING, should be reviewed to improve for the next time. Especially the adult part of the program. They should also be reviewing how the "Planning, communication, feedback, dealing with negative scouts". I've said before that to most common questions ask by