My Little Sister

I have signed up with the Big Sisters Big Brother Program, and today I am meeting my Little Sister. She is 6 years old and she lives with her grandparents.

I plan to take her to the park and have a mini- picnic and then we are going to fly a kite, and for a plan B in the event that the kite doesn't work. We are going to play with water balloons.. Not a fight mind you, my brother advised against that. We are going to simply toss them into the air.

Sounds like fun! I'm sure the two of you will have a great time!

Wonderful! Let us know how it goes.

I want to hear all about it! What a great thing to do.

Thats great!

Its great you can take the time to do that!!

That is so Awesome! I would love to hear how your day goes to.

Hope that you had fun!

I always wanted to sign up for that, but never knew how. I love making a differance in children's lives. But now, I am too busy, so I hope that one day I can help out like that.

How wonderful Can't wait to hear how it went!

The time you spend with your little sister will be some of the most memorable and influencing of her life. I'm so happy for both of you !

That's really great! I'm sure it'll be rewarding for both of you.

How very selfless of you to do that, and I hope it is very rewarding for both of you.

So we went out on Tuesday. Planned a mini picnic and then flying a kite in the park. They encourage you to do free or low cost activities ....

So we finish our little picnic and try to fly the kite, we get it up in the air on the third try and then she ran into some trees and we were never able to get it back off the ground.

So we went to plan B which were water balloons. I had 6 for each of us, and I had put them in the freezer. I told her we were going to toss them up and see what happens. Well two balloons into it, she said 'I am going to throw them at you.' Before I had a chance to react, boom she had hit me, but due to freezing them before hand, it did not pop right away. But at that point it was an all out balloon fight.

She then played on the swings and I took her home. At the end I gave her a Certificate for being enthusiastic.

Tomorrow I am planning a full day for us. We are going to go to an outdoor craft fair, I need to get my tires rotated, pick up a cake at the bakery and then there is an indoor fireworks laser show at this mega church in town.

Sounds like a great time!

I did have the opportunity to go out with my Little sister this past Saturday, she is a handful. She came to the car with a bag of skittles, and let me tell you she didn't sit still once while we were at the indoor fireworks thing. It was at this super huge church...It had stadium seating, and there was singing, dancing, and at the very end fireworks. But before that, she had to have cotton candy, popcorn and a drink, and I thought it was free, but it was a $1 each. Then we found seats, and from where we were seated it was obvious that when the balloons dropped, they would not drop on our seats.

She had to go to the bathroom THREE times while we were there, and I took her once before we sat down. So I assumed she was just joking. So I said, "well we might loose our seats, and then we will miss the fireworks" So she jumped up and told the man next to us "I gotta pee can you watch our seats." Then on the third trip to the bathroom, there was a line, well she made such a spectical of herself, that the lady said if she really has to go she can go on. Before I could say anything, she started this big dance and starting singing.. "I gotta pee.. I gotta pee pee pee." She is a little mess.

And when the balloons dropped she ran around like she was crazy. I had her by the hand but in her quest to get balloons she was bumping other little kids out the way. She ended up with 5 balloons, and they were not the helium kind either.

Then on the way to her house, I got pulled over by the police... She was in the backseat going "I aint never been with anybody pulled over by the police." Then when the officer came to my window asking if I knew why he pulled me over. I said No sir... She starting yelling from the backseat. "I'm in my booster seat... I'm in my booster seat." This is because the first day I told her it was the law that she ride in one. Turns out I had a burned our brake light.

She is funny... I think she had a good time at the fireworks celebration.

And maybe the time spent with you she'll learn to calm down a bit. Perhaps she was overly excited that someone though she was special enough to spend time with her. Once she gets used to the idea that you'll be there, bet you see a difference. Kids in Foster Care tend to think that that they're throw away kids and nobody cares. Obviously, you do. You'll both benefit from this relationship. Good for you.

I agree with Dee. Plus I'm sure there's a little testing going on too... I'm sure she'll figure out how everything is going to work and calm down once she realizes that you really do care.

Pink, some kids (mine included) are super sensitive to getting a lot of sugar. Because I don't get them a lot of sugary treats, mine act like they're high when someone gives them a bunch of candy, sodas, etc. If she doesn't settle down on the next few visits, you might want to bring apple slices or graham crackers and milk as a snack and see if it makes a difference.

I agree on the sugar thing... Sounds like she is a handful.. my 7 yr old has some friends like that but they have learned to settle down when they are at my house... Im sure your little sister will get there too... let her know what YOUR expectations are and hold her to them. You are doing a great thing! One of my dd's friends has been diagnosed with mild autism and OCD... you can TELL it when she is with her mom but the funny thing is.... at my house it's been over a year since I've seen a meltdown or any of those behaviors... she knows what I expect and handles it just fine.

Disclaimer.. Im not saying it's that way for ALL children with autism or OCD.... just in this case... there is more to the story..

She does sound like she needs some TLC. Maybe she's so overactive because she doesn't get enough attention and feels she needs to make herself stand out from the crowd. If so, it sounds like it's working well for her. LOL Good luck, try to keep the patience. You can destress here after your outings.

My Little sister and I have an outing tonight, I have passes to the new Eddie Murphy movie, I hope it is ok, they said it was a movie for the whole family. But of course sometimes Eddie Murphy can be a little raunchy. After we visit five guys for the 2nd time this week (third time for me) we are going to venture over to whole foods, I heard that they have a bunch of samples.

Last night she and I went back to that mega church that we visited before – Cornerstone.. They were having a Wet and Wild Kids day. On paper it sounded fun, but let me tell you, just sitting on the sidelines, it was AWESOME…. She had the best time!!! At first the kids watched a little movie about being a good Christian, then they recited the pledge, and then the Christian Pledge. Then they did a little song and dance about being Soldiers for Christ. It was all cute and informational. So they asked for visitors to come on stage, and since I was in the back of the room, I was wondering if she would go up. But sure enough, she marched on stage and got a candy bar!!! She was so happy about it, she was waving it at me from the stage!!

Then they told the kids that it was time to participate in the Wet and Wild Activities. So she lined up all neat and orderly and was very well behaved as she lined up with the 1st graders, only thing, she is in 2nd grade and she was biggest kid of the bunch!!! So outside the little kids went, and there was a dunking booth, a water gun area, a water obstacle and water balloons, and the adults that were supervising would spray the kids with those super soaker water guns…

My little sister waited patiently in line to do the dunking booth, while I watched on the sidelines. After it was time to move to the next activity, she ran up and pushed the button and made the lady go in the water. We discussed that later on. But the church had the event so organized, that after each child had gone, they announced on the bullhorn that it was time to move on. She eagerly played with the water balloons, as she was experienced with how that worked. She was tossing them at those kids with a lot of enthusiasm!! I did learn that there is a difference in water balloons and regular balloons, she too noticed this and told me to stop freezing my water balloons. OF course the water balloons are made of a different material, so me putting them in the freezer does not effect the long time it takes for them to pop. So now the hunt will be on for actual water balloons.

They moved onto the water gun station, and each child amazingly had a water gun!!! They squirted at one another for a while, and then it was time to move to the water obstacle whereas they had to run a short course with a wet towel around their necks. At this point I ran over to Jamesha and told her that she would get her hair wet during that stunt, and in the car she had expressed worry about getting her hair wet. So I talked to her and she said she was ok with getting her hair wet, and boy did it get wet!!! She really needed her little towel that she brought with her.

Lastly they went into the bouncy slide thing that was indoors, she really enjoyed herself and I had a ball just watching. Of course her hair got super wet and she was worried about that in the car, and some little girl kept asking her and me where ‘our mommy’ was. But we had a good time!!!

The things you are doing with that little girl will echo thru eternity.
What a blessing, huh?

IT sounds like she is learning to be more well behaved. And to keep her that way you might can appeal to her 'I wana impress my big sister' side. When she does something rude or crude, just point out that that embarressed you, or such.
Not harsh, just kinda girl talk type stuff.

And maybe in a few months you can ask her guardian to quit giving her candy when you take her out. I know if my kids get tanked up on sugar cause of my mother or mother in law I make sure to keep them there until it wears off.

The one time that my mother in law gave them koolaide after i told her not to( they really were NOT used to sugar) I called her at midnight, woke her up. so she could hear the kids in th background playing liek they were trains. She learned her lesson for a few months.

Now, if I find out she gave them a coke, or lots of candy, I tell her, "you just bought the cow" and I leave. She is getting a little better. But some folks just accept it as part of life that kids are hyper. and its cause of what thy feed them. I know right now you cant do or say much, but maybe eventually you can ask.

I am not sure how well behaved she is learning to be. She is very direct!!! While we in the bathroom at the movies, we returned and found someone had taken our seats. We had to scramble to find new seats, and they were not together. I told her that if she got scared (due to the loud noises) to run over to me. Instead of doing that, she went over to the people that took our seats and asked for them back. She just ran over and did this without consulting with me first. So of course I didn't scold her, after all she did get our seats back.

Also when we were at five guys burgers and fries, somebody opened the door to the bathroom while we were in there washing our hands. She said "I could have been on the toilet." really loudly. I had to remind her to always lock the bathroom door and to always knock. But that confused her and she was knocking on all bathroom doors now, and not just the single stall ones.


Also while at Taco Bell, they were hesitant to give us our free sample of the Fruitista drink. The guy was very rude and said we needed a coupon. I stood my ground and politely told him that it was on the website to just ask for your free sample. Well he was still rude and decided to discuss it with the drive thru workers and everything instead of giving us our sample. When he finally decided to give us our sample after 10 minutes, she said "That's right you told him."

I try to enrich her life, and if nothing else she is keeping busy this summer. Instead of just sitting at home doing nothing. ALSO she is helping to keep my mind off my mother, she was just put on Hospice care on Monday, after being released from the hospital she went back to the nursing home.

I'm sorry about your mom

Pink, I'm so sorry about your mom. I had no idea.

But as far as it goes with your little sister, I think what you are doing is wonderful. And it will just take time.