I was going to say what Be Prepared said. Make it a "wilderness survival" Merit Badge weekend. Part of that MB is making a shelter and spending the night with just the clothes on your back.

If you're doing First Aid, make it part of the FA or Safety merit badges. All 3 of these, BTW, are on the Trail To Eagle, which should make most of the parents and scouts happy.

As for the parents holding you back... man, don't you sometimes just want to deck them? Ok, back to useful advice. Ask how they'd teach something. And if they actually reply, and not just with glazed eyes, ask them why they'd teach whatever they said. if it's a good idea, invite them to ASM with you. If it's not, politely remind them that they put their boys into Scouting to learn things that they don't learn at home, and how to learn skills for life, and given all the recent strife (name off Katrina, the tornado in KS 2 years ago, etc), you're preparing them for a situation that may occur while camping, but that dovetails nicely with real life.

If that doesn't work, there's still Option #1.

As for butter bars being lost... It's cuz the 1st Sgt takes the good compass and replaces it with the "slightly broken" one. I'm on to all of them!