Objective

• Foster companionship and understanding and 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 a mutual need of spending enjoyable, constructive, and quality time together.
• Enhance the quality of family time.
• Emphasize the vital role that parents play in the growth and development of their children.
• Offer an important and unique opportunity to develop and enjoy volunteer leadership skills.

Purpose

• To foster understanding and companionship between parent and child

Aims

• To be clean in body and pure in heart
• To be friends forever with my child/parent
• 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

Motto
Friends Forever

Program Pledge
We, Father and Daughter, through friendly service to each other, to our family, to this Circle, and to our community, seek a world pleasing to the eye of Our Creator.

Program Activities
Circle meetings and Expedition adventures constitute the core of the program.

• Circle meetings and gatherings (biweekly or monthly in a family home and/or once a month for Circle adventures). The host parent and child choose the activity, for their Circle.
• Expedition adventures (Circles coming together for Expedition adventures such as campouts, events, or parades)
• Circle-oriented activities (ceremonies, games, crafts, songs, stories, skits, and outdoor pursuits such as camping, hiking, and swimming)

Program Structure
Participants are grouped as follows:

• Guide and Explorer/Princess—parent and child pair
• Circle—group of Guides and Explorers/Princesses
• Expedition—group of Circles within a YMCA

Program Leadership
The program is run by YMCA staff and program volunteers. Volunteers are recruited or elected by Circle members to assume these roles. There are Circle Officers, and Expedition Officers, each of which includes the following positions:

• Navigator
• Naturalist
• Compass Bearer
• Scout
• Log Keeper
• Elder
• Treasure Keeper
• Outfitter

Program Rituals
The YMCA Adventure Guides program is heavily based on rituals and traditions that bring a sense of continuity, community, intrigue, and magic to the program. These rituals and traditions include those listed here as well as others.

• Circle names
• Rites of passage
• Circle and Expedition property
• Ceremonies
• Program attire (eg vests & patches)