ParkMan

The answer is simple. Because Johnny asked them to. The message to the Scouts isn't about gender identity. The message is about supporting their friend and fellow Scout. Respectfully - I think many are overthinking this. This is simply a question about how do we as Scouters support youth who are going through their own struggles about who they are as young adults. For this young person it was gender identity, but it could just as easily have been a number of others things.

Yes - calling the parents is a perfectly fine thing to do. A Scouter should never feel he is keeping a secret from a parent.

These kids have a very emotionally tough path they are on. Just like we would with any Scout on a tough personal trail, we support them. If a Scout comes to us and says he is neither girl nor boy and wants to be called by a new name, then I think as a Scouter, you'd don't miss a beat or hesitate and simply say "great, then we'll call you by that name."

From what I hear near me, there will be plenty of troops willing to start paper units for girls. If anything, I suspect there will be more interested troops than girls.

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate it. Let me bring this back to the topic of preparing for girls in Scouting. I know we're going to have troops that will look to do things their own way in regards to membership rules. My point continues to be that I'd rather see troops be upfront and organized about pushing the boundaries breaking the rules. For example, I'd rather see a troop be upfront and try to go co-ed than to simply skirt the rules by having a paper troop for girls. That's not to say that I think troops should be rude or openly hostile towards the council and national lead

Sure. I've decided that's perfectly fine for them to have thoguhtful, organized, dissent. I'd much rather have some people breaking BSA rules in a safe, organized way. What I'm suggesting is really not different from groups all over the country who organize protests and directly lobby people in positions of authority. Let's be realistic too. This troop publicly pushing the edge is way more likely to result in some sort of change than a strongly worded letter to you SE or national. It's great to say - "you should make your case through official channels." But remember, the squeaky

So, I'm reminded that no matter what the deadline, there will always be people who push it. If national said "you can finish you tenure as an adult". Someone will start their 6 months of tenure the day after their 18th birthday. There would then be an article about the great Scout who had to complete his tenure as an adult, but was denied the rank. If you keep saying "we'll make an exception", then it will never end. It stinks, but it's reality.

I went to an engeering school like RPI. I am an engineer today. There is a lot if truth to this.

Yes - this. Scouting is about adventure. It's not a arts and crafts club. Sure, some are needed to support the adventure, but they don't replace it. My son's bear den leader was the grandfather of one of the boys. He held the program to a really high standard. Not in terms of expectation from the boys, but in terms of really digging into the adventure. I always remember how he taught the boys about knife safety. It took us 3 meetings each about 90 minutes. He brought in every knife imaginable. He showed the boys about knives meant for cleaning deer, knives meant for breaking bone

Hi @Saltface & @walk in the woods, Thanks for the thoughts. I do get your points here. My personal feelings on the issue don't impact my perspective here. Truth be told, I really dislike it when Scout leaders freelance on the rules in Scouting. The Scoutmaster of my son's troop does that too much for my liking. In fact, I'm stepping down as CC because I'm just tired of fighting with Scouters who want to apply only the rules that suit their needs. Yet, I see a place for organized dissent. I get the point that Scouts should follow rules, and I really do agree. But, as

Thanks @qwazse! I appreciate the words and encouragement. In our Cub Scout pack we did something similar. As a result, one of the largest GSUSA troops in our area grew out of that. My daughter's first experience in Girl Scouting was in that troop. They really were a separate GSUSA troop and BSA pack. However, it reinforced for me that kids are kids. Thank you!

I'm going to gather you really don't think Laser Tag, squirt guns, and paintball is the issue, but over regulation of youth. Then yes, send a letter to your DE, SE, and national telling them that the rules in the G2SS are wrong and you are planning a Laser Tag, squirt gun, and paintball event. Feel free to invite other troops and units to attend. Tell your parents why you think the G2SS is wrong and that you are planning this event in open defiance of it. Explain to your CO about your cause and added liability they may assume and get their support for it. So yes, if you want to r

. Not sure how I get a downvote for that. As I said - seemed like the troop was making a thought out attempt to advocate for their cause. It's not a bunch of folks just winging it. Further, they did it in full visibility to the participants and council. You or I may not agree with their cause- but if someone is going to practice the Scout version of civil disobedience, this seems the way to do it. Just my .02

Thanks - sounds like a fantastic course. I enjoyed mine, but it does make me wish I could attend such a high caliber course!

I agree. Trying to force the COR isn't a winning strategy. If it's that bad, I'd do: - find adults to volunteer to take on committee roles - advancement chair, activities chair, membership chair, etc. Get them to officially take those roles. - once they have those roles, have them meet monthly with the CC. If the CC doesn't call a meeting, just have them do their job anyways. A committee meeting is really just a place for committee members to provide reports and status. If you don't have a meeting these folks can still do their jobs.

Must be 9,995 of the outside my district. Of course, that's 200 per state - so maybe that matches what I'm seeing.

I'm generally pretty opposed to troops freelancing on the rules. There are too many troops who decide to ignore key program rules because they are confident they know better. I.e. "patrols? Nah, we don't need those." This seems to be different to me. What I see here is a faithful (I hope) deployment of the program with a reasoned exception for the inclusion of girls - which is coming anyways. It is troops like this that will help push national in the direction of co-ed troops. Someone has to push the issue. Sounds like this is the kind of place to do it. They may succeed or the

Maybe. I think the troop needs to be talking with the institutional head of the church- the pastor. You might want the church to say - Scouting is good, please meet here all you want. But, that's a pretty big ask. The church pays for the facilities and the utilities. It is supported by the donations of its members and what it can augment. If encourage the troop to think about the value it brings to the church beyond free labor - such as providing programming to the churches members or bringing new members to the church. That's a conversation for the pastor - not the finance chai

There's no interest yet in our area. We've discussed it as an adult team and are supportive of a linked troop. We're just set an expectation that we need a few core adults as well as girls who are interested to materialize. But, when that happens we'll do it.

Just curious what you mean here. What are you doing to get ready for family scouting? Thanks!

Hi @Eagledad, Not quite. I'm a huge fan of boys being in charge. I think adults should generally stay out of the way. I think you misunderstand my motivation here. I'm not trying to blame anyone. I'm simply suggesting that there could very well be another way of looking at this situation. Some of the earlier comments in the thread led me to think that there's a perception among the troop adults that this is a binary issue. Cheers!

I agree that there has to be limits to compromise. I see a difference between acquiescing to the first challenge and learning from a pattern of behavior. A patrol getting frustrated was some scouts and telling them to go sleep with their dad is different than a new scout repeatedly sneaking out to sleep with his dad. It's our job as adult leaders to make those sort of calls. I'm not here to second guess the troop leaders. They know the details of the situation much better than I do. Sorry if it's taken the wrong way. Perhaps the leaders don't see it as forcing the scout, but at

Now you're getting silly. I'm not advocating family camping. I'm just saying sometimes you have to compromise.

I'm not looking to have a debate on the merits of camping and parental involvement. Of course camping with other Scouts is preferred. My point is simply that Scouting, like everything else with raising kids, is sometimes messy and doesn't fit our desired structure. We don't want to throw out our ideals at the first challenge, but sometimes you have to compromise for the longer term payoff. When I was a Scout, we attended a Camporee. There was a patrol competition involving splitting wood. I'd never used an axe in my life. The Scoutmaster insisted that I do it. Said it would be

Then have him setup the tent that he shares with his dad. Problem solved. Just seems to me that trying to force him to tent with other Scouts isn't working and is only making everyone frustrated.