I have a feeling I’ve started or participated in a thread about this before, but I couldn’t find it searching, and it probably would have been pre-polling, anyway.
Some of the threads I’ve read recently that touch on divorcing with kids involved and raising kids as a single parent have made me think again about my experiences with the Catholic Big Brother program as a teenager. It was a mostly positive experience, but I don’t hear much about the programs any longer. I don’t know if that’s because they aren’t as prominent as they once were, or if it’s just me not paying attention since it isn’t relevant to me any longer.
I’d like people to share their impressions of the programs, and I mean all of the iterations (Big Brothers, Big Sisters and the Catholic and Jewish versions of the same, as well as similar programs, if they’re out there). What are your impressions of these services and the people who participate in them? If you have personal experience with such a program from any perspective (as a child, a parent, a volunteer big brother/sister, or someone who just worked for one of the organizations), what was your experience like?
Please be patient; I’m going to attempt to set up a multiple-choice poll, but it might take me a while, so come back and vote if you missed it the first time around. Please check every response that applies to you.
I need a judge’s ruling on the “and the like” parts of the poll. There was no Big Brother/Big Sister program where I lived as a teen, but a lot of us spent our Friday afternoons at the Elementary school, where we did stuff with a little buddy; some of the kids were disadvantaged and others just didn’t have an older sibling of the same gender. It was a school district program (called “Amigos”) and all the activities were supervised by high school and elementary school teachers, including our fieldtrips. Close enough to be “and the like,” or were you hoping people would talk about one-on-one time with kids in an unrestricted enviroment as adult volunteers?
My brother-in-law was a “Big Brother” before he had his own kids. BIL never could understand why his “Little Brother” needed help, because he was such a great kid. I’m sure my BIL was being modest, and also sure my BIL was very helpful to the kid, and definitely gave the kid’s single mom much needed breaks.
A boy I know from my son’s therapy group has a “Big Brother”, and the youngster’s mom thinks it’s fantastic. It gives her son a positive male role model, involvement in some new activities (or ones she doesn’t care for), and gives her some time to herself. I think it’s nice for the mom when the Big Brother says, “It’s no trouble, I love hanging out with <name of special needs kid redacted> - he’s great!” Also, there are no fees for the program.
While I have no direct experience as a “Big” or Little", my indirect experience with the “Big Brother/Sister” program is wholly positive.
ETA: I didn’t know there were religious affiliations for the “Big/Little” program. Learn something new every day …
I was a Big Brother when I was in graduate school–it was a nice change of pace from the pressure of graduate school. For me and for my kid I think it was a positive experience overall. JJ was a great kid, damn he has to be about 25 or 30 now! But he was fun and I like to think I was a positive experience in his life but after I moved I really don’t know. I was involved in his life for about 2 years.
However when I moved to the Seattle area I tried to get involved and it was overall a very negative experience. But not because of the kids–it was a bad interview and I just didn’t get along at all with the interviewer. Even now looking back at the experience it still pisses me off! And it is constrasted so much with the positive experience I had when I was involved earlier.
So for me the experience was both positive and negative.
I think these programs are very important. I am planning to get involved as a Big once I have a schedule where I can be sure I will be available for the kid.