What was it like, especially your first meeting? What sort of activities did you do with the kid? Did you meet their parents? Are you still in their lives?
Glances down
Unfortunately, I don’t qualify as a ‘big’ anything…
I was a Big Brother back in Graduate School. That was like ancient history though–my little brother would be, lets see, carry the one…er…28 now? Hmm…wonder how JJ turned out? JJ you out there on the Dope? 
I enjoyed the experience. It was a nice change of pace from the rigor of graduate school. I didn’t have kids at the time, and all my family was far away, so it was nice to get a kids perspective and do kid stuff.
His mom was a very nice lady. Yes I met her, I believe it is a requirement, but can’t really recall to tell you the truth. I usually picked him up at her house.
What did we do–well just about anything you would do with an 8 year old. Parks, movies, amusement parks, etc. Sometimes we just talked or went to the mall. That sort of thing. Nothing big really. Well we did take a great field trip with the BB program where a bunch of us went camping and on a river rafting trip. That was pretty awesome!
All in all I think it was a great experience in my life (and I hope his) and I felt it was worth the time and effort. That is my take on it anyways.
Although I wasn’t a Big Sister (I think I will in the future, after Hallboy goes off to college), both Hallgirls were Little Sisters.
Hallgirl1 was matched at about age 11 with a Big Sister who was a college student. They were together for about two and half years until we moved out of state. They frequently went to BS’s dorm and “hung out” with each other and sometimes BS’s friends–listening to music, watching movies, sometimes going out to eat. Hallgirl1 remembers BS fondly.
Hallgirl2 was matched at about age 9 with a Big Sister who was a college professor. Wonderful match. BS did much the same thing as Hallgirl1’s BS–however, for Hallgirl2’s birthday one year, BS threw Hallgirl2 a birthday party with her friends. They were also together for about two and half years until we moved out of state, and if there is anything I regret leaving behind in Oklahoma, it was Hallgirl2’s relationship with her Big Sister.
Both Big Sisters played a very important part in the lives of the Hallgirls. They were there as friends and mentors, and each had a favorable impact on both Hallgirls.
Hallboy…well, he’s been on the waiting list for the past 8 years. :mad: He was matched (against my initial hesitation) for about 9 months with an older couple whose grandchildren lived out of state. They really didn’t understand a seven year old boy who had a lot of energy and a creative imagination, so they eventually bowed out of the situation.
I was a big brother for the last year I lived in Vancouver. It was a heck of a lot of fun just going for bicycle rides and hanging out at parks. The two best times where when I took him to the firetruck in Stanley Park – that just floored him, getting to play on an actual firetruck – and when I got preview tix to an amusement park, so I took his mom along with my wife and the four of us went out on rides with very little lineups. Great fun.
I saw him about a year after I left Vancouver, when I went back to visit for a wedding, but sadly I’m not in touch with him any more. For some reason he and his mother just stopped answering letters or emails…
I was a Big Sister for a little over a year. Sorry to say that our situation was not good. My little sis was the oldest of four kids each with a different father. She was 10 or 11 and the youngest was 3 months. At one point I ended up alerting BB/BS and they called child services because she was left home alone to babysit all of her siblings, plus a few other kids too. She was also very manipulative and after my financial circumstances changed it became apparent that she had only been interested in what I could buy for her. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when we had planned on going to the BB/BS picnic together and she called me the day of to say basically that she had gotten a better offer involving freebies from someone else. Yes, I know that she was young and immature, but I just didn’t feel that the relationship could continue.