Y-Guides and Princesses

The Y-Guide program is for fathers and sons between the ages of five and nine. The program has a long history of providing children and their parents with opportunities for good times, learning, and mutual understanding. In this program you and your child will meet with other parent-child teams in a small group, called a tribe, to hold tribal meetings or participate in fun and educational outside activities.

Purpose

The purpose of the Y-Guide Program is to foster understanding and companionship between father and son.

Slogans - "Pals Forever...Friends Always"

The slogan for Y-Guides is “Pals Forever.” The slogan for Y-Princesses is "Friends Always." The slogan reminds us that fathers and sons, and fathers and daughters should strive to build close, enduring relationships in which there is communication, understanding, and companionship. The Y-Guides and Princesses Programs encourage such relationships by providing a means for fathers and sons, and fathers and daughters to share enjoyable experiences, to observe and learn about one another, and to develop mutual respect.

Aims

1. To be clean in body and pure in heart.
2. To be pals forever with my father/son.
3. To love the sacred circle of my family.
4. To listen while others speak.
5. To love my neighbor as myself.
6. To seek and preserve the beauty of the Great Spirit’s work in forest, field and stream.

Pledges

“We, father and son, through friendly service to each other, to our family, to this tribe, to our community, seek a world pleasing to the eye of the Great Spirit.”

"We, father and daughter, through friendly service to each other, to our family, to this tribe, to our community, seek a world pleasing to the eye of the Great Spirit."

Headband - Guides

The central theme of the headband is the eye of the Great Spirit surrounded by the four winds of heaven. The feathered arrow designs that extend right and left from the central symbol represent the useful services of father and son. Among Native Americans, whenever someone achieved an outstanding feat, its significance was recognized by the tribe, often in the form of feathers. The fact that the father-and-son achievements are united in the center of the design is interpreted to mean that fathers and sons together, under the eye of the Great Spirit, are seeking to help each other in the services they render.

On the right side of the headband are the symbols of the mother and the home. A line connects the mother symbol to home, which is symbolized by the fire in the tepee. On the left are symbols of father and son. Their relationship is represented by the line that joins the two symbols. These symbols add to the richness of the central there, for it is in service to mother and home that many of the more significant achievements of father and son will take place.

Far to the right are symbols of day and forest. Far to the left are symbols of mountain, lake, field, and stream, with the moon for night. These symbols enrich the central theme, giving broader scope to services by centering the efforts of father and son on village and community life, and, as the aim states, “in forest, field, and stream.”

Headband - Princesses

The central theme of the headband is the eye of the Great Spirit with the crossed arrows of friendship on the left side and the circled heart of love on the right side. The symbols for father and daughter are next to the grouped tepees, which indicate happy work in the community, and the single tepee, which denotes happy work in the home. The trees, water, and grass exhort the wearer to see and preserve the Great Spirit's beauty in forest, field, and stream.