Good Lord! I much rather deal with the kid rather than take along most of the parents unless there is a known problem with the kid such as severe ADA or autism (sp?) or something like that. Its like trying to teach a scared kid to swim with the concerned parent sitting next to the pool. The two just fed off each other's anxiety. Usually, the kid stops hollaring and gets on with learning how to swim once the parent leaves. Besides, there are things we let slide that horrifies some parents like insist the scouts brush their teeth in the morning and change their underware. One mom was very mad because her Scout came back from Scout camp with one dirty pair of underware and 4 clean pairs. She haranged the Scout leaders for not CHECKING inside her kid's pants! (Try checking with two deep leadership.) I only want a parent along if the parant is an experianced camper or demostrates the ability and attitude to develop into a good camper.