Ukulele lessons, sailing, painting and so much more. Here's what I've learned as a Big Sister through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program

I think I first thought of becoming a Big Sister through the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization about the time my friend first thought about adopting.

She’s wanted to be a mother forever, and through a series of events and choices, she and her husband decided to adopt a girl with physical challenges from Armenia. I attended a few events with her about adoption and adopting through foster care, and gave it some thought.

I am single and childless, but I also love hanging out with kids — and kids seem to enjoy hanging out with me. But adoption or even becoming a foster parent seemed like a big commitment, especially with no partner for support.

Becoming a Big Sister seemed perfect for me and my life circumstances.

I get my "kid time" a few times a month. More importantly, I get to make a difference in a kid’s life.

I filled out a form at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Brown County in early 2019. They did background checks and interviewed me.

They asked me about my interest, my willingness to commit.

A coordinator did a home visit, and then brought three Little Sister applications for me to choose from.

I chose my Little because I could see we enjoy many of the same activities — reading, hiking, doing crafts, writing. She was 11 at the time — still a younger kid, but old enough to hold meaningful conversations with.

After she accepted me as her Big, we went off on an introductory dinner at Perkins, while the BBBS coordinator stayed back with my Little’s mom at their home.

So, we sat in our booth, looking at a menu.

My Little decided to go for breakfast foods and proceeded to order eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and a giant strawberry waffle.

First rule on dining out with a kid: Don’t let them order anything and everything that sounds good in the moment. Take-home boxes, anyone?

But we hit it off, and our adventures began.

One of our first activities was a ukulele class at the De Pere branch of the Brown County Library — ukuleles provided.

Considering this class was open to the public, I assumed it would be beginner level. Not so.

The instructor was a music teacher spouting off so many musical words we were lost. The lady sitting next to us said she usually plays her alto ukulele (who knew there’s more than one?) and a girl in front of us had a tuner she’d brought with her own ukulele.

We just decided to play the same chord very softly until we could sneak out. Then, we went to the playground.

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I think we have just as much fun — or more fun — doing activities that go wrong rather than right. The two-ingredient bread that baked super flat and super tasteless; the sailing lesson where we had trouble adjusting the sails and may have (gently) hit another pair of BBBSers at the event; turning my bathtub purple while rinsing tie-dyed T-shirts (it did scrub out); and a lot of craft projects that did NOT look like the ones on the box when completed.

But I also saw how excited she was to enter Color Guard as a freshman in high school and do a bang-up job at her performances.

I saw here scale the ropes course at the NEW Zoo faster than anyone else at a BBBS event and was one of two kiddos to jump from the highest pole at the end of the course.

We’ve done corn mazes, rode many rides at Bay Beach Amusement Park, and painted fun stuff at Board and Brush.

We’ve ice skated a few times and kayaked.

I splurged last year and bought us tickets to “Hamilton” at the Performing Art Center in Appleton.

My knitting group loves to have her join us for a Tuesday knit night.

She won a writing contest at school.

We have similar senses of humor, and we almost always have several belly laugh experiences when we get together. We’ve also had many serious discussions.

She experienced some traumatic events in her life, and I feel honored that’s she’ll talk to me about her struggles and challenges.

At times, I marvel that she wants to hang out with this “old lady,” but when I ask our BBBS mentor if my Little is getting too grownup to want to do stuff with me, I’m told my Little would be sad if it ended.

I’m confident I have been a good influence in my Little’s life and that we will always be friends. I’ve seen her change so much from the ages of 11 to 16. I can’t wait to see the adult she becomes.

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Sometimes I wish I could convince more people to do this or something like it. If enough of us make a difference at a micro level, it adds up to big changes for our world. Or at least does more than arguing about politics on social media.

Eventually, I may become a Big to another Little when this one goes off to college or moves away. But for now, I’m going to savor the time we spend together — it’s good for her … and for me.

For information about Big Brothers Big Sisters in Manitowoc, contact Big Brothers Big Sisters WI Shoreline at 920-458-0111 or online at bbbswishoreline.org.

Contact reporter Patti Zarling at [email protected] or call 920-606-2575. Follow her on X @PGPattiZarling and on Instagram @PGPatti.

This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Reporter Patti Zarling and her adventures as a Big Sister to a Little