As a babysitter by nature (I’ve been sitting since the age of 8 and have clocked more than 2500 babysitting jobs in my life!) I have found that whenever I am working with kids, I naturally want to mentor them and help them to their highest potential. After I started Sittercity, I found that it left me with very little time to babysit, which is what I loved. That’s where Big Brothers Big Sisters stepped in and helped me to continue mentoring, even if I had no time to babysit! If you don’t know about Big Brothers Big Sisters, you should.
When I joined the BBBS program in Chicago last year, in January of 2007, I was immediately matched with Erin, my little. Let me tell you a little bit about her. She’s a really smart (and funny) 11-year-old who wants to be a doctor and lives in inner-city Chicago. She has an older sister named Ebony, a great grandmother, a huge appetite for reading, and is a quick learner. We immediately hit it off and have had outings every month ever since, to places all over Chicago. The BBBS program is also great—they provide support, activity ideas and constant emails to check in and see how it’s going. Around the middle of the year, Dan (my husband) and Erin’s sister Ebony started coming along, and we’ve been having a blast the whole time.
Here’s some of the highlights of the past year during my BBBS outings with Erin, my little sister.
Ice skating with Santa in Grant Park in Chicago
Visiting Cloudscape and the sculptures in Grant Park
Boating with Erin on Lake Michigan
At the Field Museum!
To the Aquarium
The Mexican Cultural Center (with Erin and Ebony, her sister)
On an authentic food tour
Singing at the Opera House!
And this is just the beginning—we’ve been also to the movies, to shows, to volunteer events and on educational tours…it’s been a blast. I highly recommend the Big Brothers Big Sisters program to anyone that missed babysitting and loves to be a mentor to younger kids. You can find more information about the program at: bbbs.org.
If you can’t babysit, it’s just as fun and rewarding! Cheers and enjoy.
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