In his 2005 book “Last Child in the Woods” author Richard Louv coined the term “nature deficit disorder”, claiming that kids who don’t get enough time in nature suffer a host of problems with behavior. Whether that is true or not, what is true is that most families don’t have enough time to spend together out in the natural world.
The Y’s Adventure Guides program aims to change that. In Adventure Guides, a small group of 7-10 parent-child pairs gathers biweekly or monthly to participate in an activity together. Sometimes a larger group of circles will gather for a bigger activity, called an Expedition, like a campout, parade or party.
Adventure Guides is aimed at children ages 5-9 and their parent or other significant adult in their life. The idea is to create a stronger bond between the parent and child through fun, adventurous activities. Parent-child pairs earn patches for each activitity.
Tom Montgomery was in the program through the Plymouth YMCA with both his children, but spent the most time in it with his daughter Jessica, now a senior in high school headed to the University of Michigan in the fall.
“There’s so much that kids do that’s about developing the child — all your sports teams and school activities,” Tom says. “Guides is about the bond between the parent and child, which is so important.”
He and his daughter did everything from singing carols at nursing homes to bowling to annual campouts. They filled vests with the patches they earned, and will still take them out and remember all the fun things they did together over their time in the Guides.
One of the nice things about the Guides program is that it provides an opportunity for dads to bond with their kids in a way few other opportunities do.
Tom got to know a number of fathers whose daughters were in the program with their mothers when they were little, and then mom insisted that the dad take over as way to have some dedicated time with their child. “These were guys that were incredibly busy, some were auto execs and the like,” Tom says. “Once they got into it, they realized they just had to make that time, and they’d end up being leaders and volunteering even more time.”
For Tom and Jessica, as with other families in Adventure Guides, the program allowed them a chance to do all those things they always wanted to try doing with their children, but busy schedules — and life — just gets in the way.
“What was great was that we did all sorts of things we might have done anyway, or could have done anyway, like going to museums and going bowling, but without the structure of the guides time passes, and kids grow up — before you know it’s all passed,” he says.
Taking a pause in a busy life and spending time with the people who mean the most is something we all want to do — and the Y lets families do that in all sorts of ways.