I don't know who else to talk to. I feel so terrible. I feel like I added to any belief she had that she was unworthy. I cared so much about her. Her life was so challenging.
I left my match due to family/ health obligations. It had nothing to do with her. I am so sorry I never reached back out and now she is gone. I don't know what to do.
I recently applied to be a Big Brother in a local BBBS organization. I have submitted the application, did the background check which I paid for, and submitted my references. The interview is the next step in the process and BBBS wants to do it via video call, which I thought was a little odd, if I were evaluating a potential mentor for a child I would definitely do it in person, but I figure, okay that's not up to me.
First I am texted by the director that a person will be texting me within a day or two to schedule an interview with their team. A week goes by, there's nothing. I text the director and tell her, and she says there was a miscommunication and that I would be contacted very soon by a person we'll call 'X'. Three days later X finally texts me to schedule, and we schedule the interview for a date 4 weeks into the future. That's a lot later than I had thought it would be, but okay. I arrange my schedule to have the interview at the agreed upon date and time. Three days before the interview I get a reminder text from X about the interview that lists the same date but a different time. I text X back and ask about this, and she says she made an error because she is so busy but the correct time is the original time. About an hour before the interview time I get a text from X saying that she has to cancel 'because I got pulled into something' and wants to reschedule for a date 2 weeks later.
As someone who spent most of my life working in non-profit organizations, this has the hallmarks of an organization that is disorganized and wastes people's time. Years ago I made the mistake of volunteering way to long with a mentoring organization in a different city that disrespected volunteer mentors' time. I don't want to make the same mistake again but it's already panning out that way. I'm considering requesting to move my application to a BBBS group in an adjacent city, but I have no idea if they would be any better. I can't find any reviews online. Any advice would be appreciated.
I’m desperately trying to come up with more ideas for things I (35F) can do together with my Little (16F) that are free or very inexpensive.
She comes from a low-income family, so I want to be mindful of cost and not suggest things that would feel inaccessible. She also has a lot of anxiety and doesn’t leave the house much outside of school and our outings, so I’m trying to find activities that feel fun but not too overwhelming.
Some of her interests include reading, movies, baking, and hiking. So far, we've done:
- Thrift shopping
- Hiking & ice cream
- Kite festival at the beach
- Red Bulls soccer game (tickets provided by BBBS)
- Lunch and trip to the mall
- Valentine's Day bazaar/local market
- Barnes & Noble cafe & walking around looking at/talking about books
For those of you who are matched with teens — especially older teens — what kinds of local (free or cheap) activities would you suggest? I’d love any recommendations, especially ideas that help build confidence/get her out of the house without putting too much pressure on her.
Thanks in advance!
I just got accepted and matched and am meeting with my little in the office in two weeks. I am super nervous and just want to make a good impression. How does the first meeting usually go? Should I come prepared to do most of the talking? Then at the first meeting do you set up your second outing. I have never done this before and don't know anyone who has so I just want to make sure.
Just plugging geocaching as an activity! My Little actually introduced me to it. Its a great way to explore your community. I always thought of it as a super active thing in like the deep woods, but there's so many in urban areas and parks and I never would have thought of it on my own.
There are many basic free caches, but also 30$ a year to unlock more (some have puzzles etc) if you end up enjoying it like we do.
www.geocaching.com (you do need to make an account). And you can put in your area to see if there are caches around you before you even make an account.
Hi, I’m 16 years old. I have a horrible relationship with my mother and we have been mostly no contact (off and on. for the better.) for the past 4 years. It’s complicated. I do see her, but now only when it’s mandatory. She still has 50% custody of me. I’m not sure what the requirements are for this program. My father is not a great support system either, but I live with him due to flaw in the child protective services system(they don’t believe me and he knows how to curve around getting caught because of my moms cps case). And in short, I have a bad relationship with both parents, but live with one full time and I am mostly no contact with the other. I’ve missed out on a mother figure all my life, and never really saw my dad as a father figure, despite them both being in my life. I’m not sure if I qualify for this program with the fact that I am 16 years old, and that both of my parents are available. I’m not quite sure what this program does either, but someone told me it was for kids and teens who didn’t really have 1 or more parental figures. I also have severe trauma and because of that suffer from multiple mental illnesses, and I don’t want be a burden to more people, so I’m not sure if this is the right fit for me. I’m also disabled.
All I know is that I desperately need a parental figure/mentor/whatever it is of some sort and I can’t find one in the people who were supposed to give it to me.
I’m also queer and gender queer, which I’m not sure if this program is friendly with.
I'm a 39 year old trans man who is interested in the program, but I haven't yet gotten involved. The impression I got from my local chapter was that they match male littles with big brothers and female littles with big sisters (though this may not always be true, they do seem to give that impression -for example, by saying that they have a lot of boy littles who need a match, so therefore they need more big brothers to enroll.)
However, since then I have heard online about, for example, big sisters having little brothers - so I'm confused.
Personally I would be fine with either gender little - I'm much more concerned with us having a good match for interests and activity level. I'm not sporty at all, and I am physically disabled, so I wouldn't want them to match me to an active sporty kid just because he's a boy!
I also am not sure how things go with being a trans big in general. Including with meeting the family - I would love to hear from other trans bigs!
Thanks!