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 par

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.

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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

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

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.