Is your pack top heavy?

[Terasec]

our pack has been top heavy for a couple years, plenty of W1-W2's very few Tigers/bears/wolves

we figured it was limited to our own pack, yet at summer camp noticed entire camp was top heavy with very little of the lower dens,

is this a trend? common problem elsewhere?

[Pale Horse]

I've found that having engaging Den Leaders that communicate well with parents and put on a fun program is the best way to recruit and retain Scouts. Since my best leaders right now are Bears and W1, we're heavy in those ranks.

Cub Summer camp will always be heavier toward the older ranks. Less parents of Tigers/Lions are able to take off work to meet the 1:1 requirement. Still as Wolves and Bears, even though they're allowed to attend w/o parents, few parents trust their child to attend an overnight campout without them.

Webelos are starting to make the transition to Scouts, so you should (hopefully) be seeing more of them camping and breaking away from mom & dad.

 

[Terasec]

9 minutes ago, Pale Horse said:

I've found that having engaging Den Leaders that communicate well with parents and put on a fun program is the best way to recruit and retain Scouts. Since my best leaders right now are Bears and W1, we're heavy in those ranks.

Cub Summer camp will always be heavier toward the older ranks. Less parents of Tigers/Lions are able to take off work to meet the 1:1 requirement. Still as Wolves and Bears, even though they're allowed to attend w/o parents, few parents trust their child to attend an overnight campout without them.

Webelos are starting to make the transition to Scouts, so you should (hopefully) be seeing more of them camping and breaking away from mom & dad.

 

This was my third year at summer camp.

previous 2 years was pretty well balanced, this year was a dramatic drop without doing a headcount was probably +100 upper ranks. maybe 5-10 of lower ranks

drop goes beyond just age and leadership as would have seen the difference from the start

 

 

[Pale Horse]

Not necessarily. Without Den Leaders driving their families to attend, you'd be surprised how quickly attendance drops off.  The biggest marker for us having good attendance, at any event, was if the Den Leader was going, and if they were pushing it to their families.

[yknot]

Our cub scouts attend day camp only, so no need for parents to attend unless they want to volunteer and get a discount. 

Our traditional history is that attendance is low among Lion/Tigers because many parents think the long bus ride/full day is too much for them. Picks up for wolf and bear. By Webelos and AOL rank, starts to drop off because the older kids are starting to be ready for more adventure. 

[Eagledad]

We will see, but there were some predictions that membership would be affected by the membership policy changes of recent years.

Large membership changes usually show at about five years because Pack membership is too dynamic to follow. At least from outside National membership data. Overall BSA Membership trends are easier to see five years after a policy change because the scouts who start out as Tigers reached the troop age. Troop membership trends is more stable because  scouts who stay in the troop after the first year tend to stay at least three years, which makes trend changes easier to see .

If what your seeing is indicative of a trend, the Troops are going to see fewer crossovers and the unit membership rolls will show a measurable drop. National is hoping the new girl policy will balance the trend. 

Barry 

Edited July 22, 2019 by Eagledad

[MikeS72]

36 minutes ago, yknot said:

Our cub scouts attend day camp only, so no need for parents to attend unless they want to volunteer and get a discount. 

 

Unless they are brand new Tigers (just finished Lion).

They still require an adult with them at all activities, so if they do not have a parent/guardian/adult sibling willing and able to take off a week of work, they do not attend.  This is why some years we have 4 - 5 dens of Webelos, and only one of Tigers.

[Jameson76]

I try to evenly distribute the weight in my pack to some degree, makes the trail miles much easier.  Though you likely want slightly more weight in the top.  Keep water low and not too much stuff randomly strapped on bouncing about.

I may have missed the intent of this discussion.....

[Pale Horse]

2 minutes ago, Jameson76 said:

I try to evenly distribute the weight in my pack to some degree, makes the trail miles much easier.  Though you likely want slightly more weight in the top.  Keep water low and not too much stuff randomly strapped on bouncing about.

I may have missed the intent of this discussion.....

Generally, something along these guidelines.