Transition and "Closure"

Your relationship with your Little may transition to less regular contact because of a change in where you or your Little lives, a change in life circumstances, a feeling that you have successfully taken your Little through a critical stage, a change in school the Little is attending, declining interest as the Little grows older or because of challenges in the match.

When one of these circumstances occurs, the Big and/or the Little may decide it is time for a change–for a "transition". BBBS will "close" the file of your match and will not continue providing regular support to the match. The Big and Little may transition into a pattern of continuing, though less frequent, contact. Most BBBS matches "close" when the Little graduates from elementary school, or if the match continues to the community program, when the Little reaches age 18 or graduates from high school.

• No matter the reason or the length of the match, you and your Little have given a lot to each other and going through this transition should be handled in a sensitive, thoughtful, and caring way.
• Recognize that you have made an impact at some level on your Little.
• The Little you now know is probably not the same Little with whom you were initially matched. Changes probably have occurred. Celebrate the experience as much as you can together - highlights and hurdles.
• Working closely with the child's parent/guardian make a plan for some form of continued contact that feels appropriate to your match circumstances. This may be as limited as exchanging greeting cards at holidays or as intense as continued regular contact with an 18 year old going off to college.
• If the transition of closing the match is not approached carefully, a child can be hurt by the experience. Our staff will work with you, the child and his/her parent to help you with this transition.

Children - Ages & Stages

If you haven't had recent experience with a child in the age group you'll be matched with, we have some information to help you work successfully with your Little.

We've created this information for each of the age categories listed below. This is designed to provide you with some general characteristics of children in each of the three different age categories:

• 5-7 year olds
• 8-10 year olds
• 11-13 year olds

We hope this may help you understand what your Little might be like depending on his/her age. Suggested activities are also included based on age ranges.

As you read this information:

• Keep in mind that they are generalizations.
• While they may provide a description of children in general, you may encounter something slightly different with your Little. This does not mean that there is something wrong with your Little. It may mean that they are not like the average child.
• Sometimes development may be delayed because of trauma, negative experiences or simply a slower development than others, so the stage they're in at present may not correlate to their age in years.

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