YMCA Adventure Guides: The Developmental Assets

The immediate gains of the parent-child program are obvious—you’ll enjoy spending time with and getting to know your son or daughter at a deeper level—but the long-term gains are significant. You will build a solid foundation for a relationship that will likely result in your being friends forever with your child. You will also help to build and develop a set of assets and patterns that your children (and other Circle members) will carry with them into adolescence and adulthood.

Developmental assets, a term coined and researched by the Search Institute of Minneapolis, Minnesota, are the 40 essential building blocks that children and teenagers need as a foundation for growing up to be healthy and productive. YMCAs across the country have adopted these assets, and they provide a focus for YMCA programs, including YMCA Adventure Guides. A complete list of the assets is included in the chart at the end of this section.

Research shows that acquiring more developmental assets helps children and teenagers

	•	cope and adapt when difficult things happen
	•	choose not to get involved in many different high-risk behaviors, such as alcohol and other drug use, violence, and premature sexual activity
	•	develop the attitudes, skills, and abilities they need to be good friends, family members, citizens, workers, leaders, and contributors to society

A focus on building assets helps families with children and teenagers

When adults of all ages get involved in asset building, they

	•	develop new and lasting friendships with young people
	•	do something positive to address their interests and concerns about their community
	•	leave a positive mark on the lives of kids and in their community

In Friends Forever, you’ll find many examples of how the YMCA Adventure Guides program structure and activities help you build the developmental assets your child needs. You’ll recognize them by their shaded boxes. For more information, check out this Web site: www.abundantassets.org.