Big Brothers Big Sister (BBBS) is a volunteer organization that helps change children’s perspectives and gives them the opportunity to reach their full potential. For more than 100 years, BBBS has worked under the belief that every child has the ability to thrive in life. As the nation’s largest donor and volunteer supported mentoring network, Big Brothers Big Sisters makes meaningful, monitored matches between adult volunteers (“Bigs”) and children (“Littles”), ages 6 through 18, in communities across the country. To this day, the organization operates in all 50 states and in 12 countries around the world. The mission of this program is to provide children facing adversity with strong, professionally supported one-to-one relationships that …show more content…
Each week, my friend and I would set aside time to plan games and activities for the kids to participate in. We typically spent an hour doing this and another hour shopping for the materials we needed. The games we chose incorporated teamwork to strengthen one on one relationship between “Bigs” and “Littles.” An example of a game the kids enjoyed is the Hula Hoop game, where everyone holds hands and passes the hula-hoop to each person around the circle as fast as they can. Other games and activities include Chicken in the Hen House, scavenger hunts, arts and crafts, etc. In addition to that, we also organized different healthy snacks to bring each week to promote healthy eating habits and to introduce the children to alternative snacks that are delicious and good for you at the same time. During one week, we brought raspberries and a bag of chocolate chips, in which they were able to take a chocolate chip and put them inside the raspberry to create a snack that was sweet and savory. Another week, we brought carrots and ranch. We also brought fresh fruits and milk and taught some of the “Littles” how to make smoothies! All of these snacks were a hit, and I believe by educating them on the importance of healthy eating, it encourages them to make better decisions when it comes to …show more content…
I also loved how much fun they had participating in the games I planned for them. Some of the least enjoyable parts of this experience include how disrespectful some of the “Littles” were. Sometimes, they don’t listen and have attitudes when they don’t get their way. Other times, I feel like they don’t appreciate how much work I put in for them. However, I learned many things about myself from this experience. I am a very patient person, an imperative quality nurses must possess, and I am very organized especially when it comes to arranging activities and snacks. In the end, the only thing I wish I could’ve done differently to gain more from this experience is to spend more hours per week with the organization. Time flies by when you’re having fun, and sometimes, one hour isn’t enough time to play games, eat snacks, and get to know one