Okay; not sure we have solid thinking here, though it appears maybe on World Level there may be some success?

[skeptic]

 

Chipmunks???  Another expense for registrations?  

 

https://onscouting.org/2026/05/11/parents-and-scouters-get-ready-for-chipmunks/

[qwazse]

Good luck keeping beckets on four year olds!

[Tron]

As a stand alone program I dont see this taking off. Cant wait to hear my DE talk about the new great opportunity to start new units.

[qwazse]

15 hours ago, qwazse said:

Good luck keeping beckets* on four year olds!

*neckers

durn autocorrect

[Jameson76]

On 5/11/2026 at 6:15 PM, skeptic said:

 

Chipmunks???  Another expense for registrations?  

 

https://onscouting.org/2026/05/11/parents-and-scouters-get-ready-for-chipmunks/

Insert a "jump the shark" meme, this has the organization certainly heading in a new direction

Originally we only had Scouts, then Cubs came 20 years later, which was for 8-10 years olds.  In the 60's when I was in Cubs we did basic things but longed to be Scouts to able to do all the cool stuff.  Now it is veering heavily to a Family Program, the original idea to help youth develop and grow into independent individuals equipped to take on the real world and make decisions on their own seems have (or is) being cast aside.

SA (sorry I know we're not supposed to abbreviate the name of the organization that lives on abbreviations) is definitely moving heavily to family, moving away from the Scout led program and conceding that the program will be basically (now) 4 year olds to maybe 7th graders

[BetterWithCheddar]

I'm a dad / den leader just completing our 4th year of Cubs. We've still got Webelos (4th Grade) and AOL (5th Grade) to go. It's too much.

[Tron]

15 hours ago, BetterWithCheddar said:

I'm a dad / den leader just completing our 4th year of Cubs. We've still got Webelos (4th Grade) and AOL (5th Grade) to go. It's too much.

What is your pack like? What are your pack costs?

[BetterWithCheddar]

8 hours ago, Tron said:

What is your pack like? What are your pack costs?

I think our Pack is pretty typical, and possibly one of the better Packs in our area:

• ~40 kids
• 1 Pack Meeting, 1 Den Meeting, 1 Special Activity per month (September - May)
• Dues are ~$100 (inclusive of national and council fees)
• Popcorn is our only fundraiser and funds most of our program
• Additional cost to families is minimal (<$100/year), excluding summer camp
• 3 dads (including me) do 90% of the work.

The cost isn't a factor and I enjoy helping out, even though it can be taxing. My biggest concern as a den leader of soon-to-be 4th graders is that we have some kids heading into their 5th year of the program and it no longer excites them. Cub Scouts just seems to drag on ~ that's what I mean by "too much."

[Eagle94-A1]

9 hours ago, BetterWithCheddar said:

My biggest concern as a den leader of soon-to-be 4th graders is that we have some kids heading into their 5th year of the program and it no longer excites them. Cub Scouts just seems to drag on ~ that's what I mean by "too much."

One of the reasons why they dropped Webelos from 5th grade to 4th & 5th grade circa 1989. Webelos was meant to be a transition, doing things more ont he order of Boy Scouts, and prepping them. When Webelos DLs no longer got separate training with an emphasis on transitioning from Cubs to Scouts, a lot was lost. Folks were not doing the 18-24 month Webelos properly, and it became a continuation of Cubs. And now that is the norm  

[yknot]

On 5/25/2026 at 6:24 AM, BetterWithCheddar said:

The cost isn't a factor and I enjoy helping out, even though it can be taxing. My biggest concern as a den leader of soon-to-be 4th graders is that we have some kids heading into their 5th year of the program and it no longer excites them. Cub Scouts just seems to drag on ~ that's what I mean by "too much."

That is a critical issue that affects retention. There is too much spiraling and repetition in program elements, and the revamp to make it easier for adult volunteers to run multi rank meetings only made it worse. The program also repeats some of the K-5 school curriculum. 

[Eagle94-A1]

55 minutes ago, yknot said:

That is a critical issue that affects retention. There is too much spiraling and repetition in program elements, and the revamp to make it easier for adult volunteers to run multi rank meetings only made it worse. The program also repeats some of the K-5 school curriculum. 

This is what happens when you have educators, not Scouters, creating program.

[Eagle94-A1]

1 hour ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

This is what happens when you have educators, not Scouters, creating program.

And training.

 

[Tron]

38 minutes ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

And training.

 

Lol, training. Training is SO easy and SO many volunteers can't seem to get it done. National needs to make trained status mandatory just like youth protection.

[Eagle94-A1]

23 hours ago, Tron said:

Lol, training. Training is SO easy and SO many volunteers can't seem to get it done. National needs to make trained status mandatory just like youth protection.

I have been told mandatory training for position is a liability, especially since National keep changing what it courses need to be taken to be considered "trained." I was recently considered "untrained" because I had the old SM Fundamentals Course. For whatever reason, my SM Specific classes that I added myself to the rooster, for the reasons below, were not showing up. But the ITOLS class was. 

But the #1 problem is BSA's IT systems are unreliable. Not only have I encountered numerous errors on the scout side over the years, I have seen numerous errors on the adult side. Twice in a 5 year period, everyone in my district had their training records vanish. EVERY.SINGLE. PERSON. From the new Cub leader, to the veteran PTC Faculty member, their training records vanished. Even recently several MBs that I have been a MBC for decades were removed from my profile.

And let's admit it, online sessions are horrible. It is very easy to stop paying attention. Plus there is no question and answer.

[Tron]

27 minutes ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

I have been told mandatory training for position is a liability, especially since National keep changing what it courses need to be taken to be considered "trained." I was recently considered "untrained" because I had the old SM Fundamentals Course. For whatever reason, my SM Specific classes that I added myself to the rooster, for the reasons below, were not showing up. But the ITOLS class was. 

But the #1 problem is BSA's IT systems are unreliable. Not only have I encountered numerous errors on the scout side over the years, I have seen numerous errors on the adult side. Twice in a 5 year period, everyone in my district had their training records vanish. EVERY.SINGLE. PERSON. From the new Cub leader, to the veteran PTC Faculty member, their training records vanished. Even recently several MBs that I have been a MBC for decades were removed from my profile.

And let's admit it, online sessions are horrible. It is very easy to stop paying attention. Plus there is no question and answer.

That is all stored in the same data layer as everyone else. Nationals system wasnt unreliable, it didnt fail, someone in your council borked your records.