Registration for the New Canaan YMCA’s 2012-2013 Y-Guide and Y-Princess program is currently in process for returning and new participants and will be available through August 20. This popular program is a father/son and father/daughter experience where participants bond through monthly outings and activities. Program is open to children in kindergarten through fourth grade and their fathers.
The Y-Guide/Y-Princess program runs for the duration of
the school year beginning in September and culminating on Memorial Day weekend, with each tribe’s participation in New Canaan’s Memorial Day parade. Tribes consist of approximately 20 families who attend monthly outings coordinated by the tribe “chief.” Monthly outings include community service projects as well as fun field trips in which fathers and their children participate together. Past monthly outings have included hiking, volunteering at Waveny Care Center, ice skating,and attending local sporting events.
In addition to the monthly outings, the Y also offers two
larger outings, each with a separate weekend for fathers/daughters and for fathers/sons. A tented camping outing is held each fall at Camp Mohawk in Litchfield, CT, and a winter outing is held at Camp Jewell in Colbrook, CT. Additionally in the spring, a large final outing including all father/daughter and father/son tribes on the same weekend is held at Frost Valley in the Catskill Mountain region of New York.
“The goal of the Y-Guide and Y-Princess program is to
instill closer family relationships between parents and children,” commented the Y’s Youth and Family Director, Davie Cedela. “The program promotes togetherness and provides fathers and children with the opportunity to step away from their busy lives and spend time bonding through volunteering, field trips, and weekend outings. It’s so great to watch the dads with the kids. It makes me wish I had done something like this with my dad when I was younger.”
Jack Linnartz, a third grader at and
four-year member of Y-Guides said, “I loved being in Y-Guides because I spent time with my father, my tribe, and my friends. From camping out, bunk beds, newt catching, tubing, Sasquatch hunting, archery, BB guns, crafts, and marching in the Memorial Day parade. When my Dad was Chief he even let me wear the headdress at times while on a tribe outing. My last four years have been and I will miss it."
New members interested in joining Y-Guides or Y-Princesses are encouraged to attend a new member orientation on Sunday, May 20 at 3:30 PM at the New Canaan YMCA. Registration for returning and new participants is available through August 20. Participants will be notified of tribe assignments by September 1. For additional information, contact Davie Cedela at 203-966-4528, ext. 141, or by email at dcedela@newcanaanymca.org.
