YMCA Adventure Guides
YMCA Adventure Guides is designed for a parent and his or her 5- to
9-year-old child. In YMCA Adventure Guides, the focus is on the parent’s
role as a guide in a child’s life. Parents lead, direct, supervise,
influence, and teach while presenting opportunities for children to
explore the world around them. They lead by example as they set their
children on a path through life. In the early years, the program
experience begins as a side-by-side journey for a parent and child, until
the children are launched into more advanced, independent activities.
In the YMCA Adventure Guides program,
the journey happens within the context of a small Circle community. The
Circle is the program’s basic group unit, providing a structure, a sense
of community, and support for all group activities. Adventure Guides
(parents) and Explorers (children) meet in Circles twice a month and
participate in Expedition adventures (e.g., overnight camping) throughout
the year. The goals, purpose, and aims are listed here.
Program Goals
- Foster companionship and understanding; set a
foundation for positive, lifelong relationships between parent and
child.
- Build a sense of self-esteem and personal worth.
- Expand awareness of spirit, mind, and body.
- Provide a framework to meet the mutual needs of
parents and children for spending enjoyable, constructive, and quality
time together.
- Enhance the quality of family time.
- Emphasize the vital role that a parent plays in the
growth and development of a child.
- Offer an important and unique opportunity to develop
and enjoy volunteer leadership skills.
Program Purpose
To foster understanding and companionship between parent
and child.
Program Aims
- To be clean in body and pure in heart
- To be friends forever with my dad/mom/son/daughter
- To love the sacred circle of my family
- To listen while others speak
- To love my neighbor as myself
- To respect the traditions and beliefs of all people
- To seek and preserve the beauty of Our Creator’s work
in forest, field, and stream
Program Theme
At the forefront of the program are
the compass points. The compass points lend an inspiration for activities
but also provide a framework from which to build an adventure theme. The
compass-points approach retains the program’s focus on strengthening
parent-child relationships through small Circle communities while
participating in activities that help meet the program’s objectives. The
four main directional points on the compass are the essential components
of the program:
- The Family is True North—the focal point of
the program.
- Nature and the camping experience are integral
parts of the program.
- The spirit of the program is experienced through
belonging to a small community called a Circle.
- Fun is the magic of the program.
The YMCA core values of caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility make up the other directional points. Along the journey, adults should model, teach, and demonstrate these values. They also should give children many opportunities to practice and celebrate these values and to discuss behavior that is inconsistent with the values. Initially, these values will provide guidance in helping children select activities, make decisions, and decide on an appropriate course of action, both within the program and in all aspects of their lives. Ideally, as children grow, these values will become their own internal compasses.