Healthy Kids Day: One Step Along a Lifelong YMCA Journey

One of the most powerful experiences Y staff get to enjoy throughout their career is the opportunity to witness and influence the full spectrum of our members’ Y journey – from infancy to adulthood. Many times, these journeys begin with the babies we care for in our Kids Corner, which enables parents to participate in Y programs while trained staff watch over their little ones. This is the first real opportunity staff begin what could very well turn into a relationship with a “YMCA member for life.”

From our Kids Corner, these same babies can continue their Y journey into our child care programs, enrichment events, swimming lessons, camp, youth sports, teen leadership activities and much more. Within the blink of an eye, these babies have grown from kids to teens to young adults to parents and, last but not least, avid active older adults. Thus, continuing their personal journey as a “YMCA member for life.”

This is how my four kids, Andres, Micaela, Camila and Andrea, began our Y journeys. As an immigrant and single mother, I needed the Y and all of the resources it offered to help me and my family connect with our new community. I don’t know what I would have done without the Y’s preschool program, swimming lessons or Miss Roxanne’s help in caring for my kids while I was taking group exercise classes at my local Y. She was one of those amazing Y staffers that witnessed and influenced our Y journeys and begin building a relationship with us as new “YMCA members for life.”

Healthy Kids Day—the Y’s national event to promote kids’ health and well-being—is the opportunity to honor this lifelong YMCA journey. Babies, kids, teens, young adults, parents, older adults and families are given the chance to gather, have fun and learn about all the resources their local Y has to offer.  

Healthy Kids Day is also a day of diversity and inclusion. It gives us the opportunity to connect with our neighbors to discover our common interests and embrace our differences and identities. It provides a sense of belonging that is truly contagious – where everyone is welcome, respected and represented. Everyone walks away with a deeper connection to the Y.

I’m proud to say that as part of my personal Y journey, I now serve as the senior wellness director at the Summit Area YMCA in Summit, New Jersey. During Healthy Kids Day at my Y, we intentionally foster a sense of belonging by: 

• Hosting activities that represent a variety of nationalities, ethnicities, ages, genders, etc.  
• Ensuring that we communicate in an inclusive way. For example, we develop materials in the different languages that are predominantly spoken in our community. Last year, we included a name tag that said "Hablo Espanol" for Spanish-speaking participants. We are also careful to use gender inclusive language throughout the event. 
• Making the event physically accessible for those with reduced mobility.  
• Offering food and refreshments to meet a variety of dietary preferences and restrictions. 
• And, most importantly, celebrating diversity at all ages and stages! 

I am forever grateful for the opportunity I have been given to witness and influence our members’ Y journeys, just as Miss Roxanne did for me and my kids. And a great step along that journey is to celebrate Healthy Kids Day at your local Y! Visit www.ymca.org/hkd to find a Healthy Kids Day event near you.