qwazse

Regarding parents (or any of us, for that matter) who want to make this into grey area: Ours is not an organization that allows youth to skinny dip or otherwise expose themselves in mixed company. There are groups out there that offer such opportunities. (A friend, who happens to be a lesbian, said such was one of her more formative events.) Anyone interested in letting their kid to be "enlighted" while "eating tainted brownies," can find another youth movement. Most of our chartered organizations would expect us to tow the line. And that means removing pornographic images (be they of friends or strangers) from the possesion of our youth. That said, it is impossible to shelter our kids from the overwhelming influence of modern media. (Just try stopping in Miami on the way to Seabase.) So, in addition to having the cop/lawer come in and talk about the 11th point of the scout law; I would suggest you ask your charter organization or the youth's religious leaders if they have something to offer in terms of instruction/guidance. The important thing here is not to throw down a bunch of by-laws, but to introduce youth to various resources that they can go to as they tackle this stuff for the rest of their lives.

I would like to know how this turned out for acco40. It's worked okay for us. Three of about six of our Eagles who applied through the troop this year had their POR with our crew. That fraction is going to drop now that youth who were never in the troop (i.e., the young women) are crew officers. We did have a bump when turning in the last application to council HQ. They were certain the boy had to have his POR through the unit he was filing his application. They said they never approved that sort of thing (even though they did twice already). I waited patiently while they called National to hear what I was told by my district advancement chair three years ago. Bottom line: Folks may try to do you the favor of making rules for you. Repectfully decline. Stand by your boys. They'll do you good.