Big/Little Brother program

MR808 · #1 01-18-2008, 09:59 PM

I have just been elected the new member educator of my chapter and am completely changing everything that has been done in the past. We have had a lot of trouble with new members being bored with the process and unenthusiastic about being initiated.

One of the problems we have had is our big/little brother program. It seems that the guys don't really understand what their obligations as a big brother are for some reason. I am trying to put together something to lay out all of the expectations of a big brother.

What are things that you require of big brothers in your chapter? Are there any activities or rituals that you guys have that everyone seems to like?

knight_shadow · #2 01-18-2008, 10:10 PM

The only "requirements" of big brothers in my org is that they show up with their littles during certain rituals. Other than that, our policies give recommended activities, but nothing is set in stone.

The big should normally be a guide for the little, and I think making too many demands may do more harm than good. In my org, bigs/littles are chosen based on each having some kind of common ground, so communication between the two should happen naturally.

You may try initiating a study buddy system, pairing the big and little together. That's a start, I guess. ::shrug::

yangstar · #3 01-19-2008, 11:02 PM

Bigs should take their lils out to lunch or dinner, or both while we're at it. Make it seem like "family time" and naturally people will more likely be enthusiastic about it. Everything works over food.

modorney · #4 01-20-2008, 01:36 PM

1. A strong brotherhood has both pledge classs unity as well as strong big/little relationships. Try to keep one from dominating another. Especially if you just had an unusually big pledge class.

2. Keep track of big/little relationships. If a big hasn't done anything for a month, find out why; maybe you need to make some changes?

3. Many bigs have a steady (pinned, engaged,...) girlfriend. Encourage the bigs to double date with the littles. (You, or the bigs may need to find them dates?)

4. Do you have a mentor program? (Balanced Man, etc.) Involve the big/little relationship with that.

bellwisdom · #5 02-03-2008, 08:29 PM

First and most importantly, make sure that the big and little have something in common and are not complete opposites

Some chapters require every active to have a lil. I think that is not good because unfortunatly you will have some active who don't want to be a big, if they don't want to be a big the they won't be putting there heart into it. Which will only cause problems for the pledge.

If you have an Active Member Scholarship chair I would team up with him and ask his advise as well. Make the bigs be study buddies as well.

Let your bigs know how vital they are in this pledges journey and they need to make that pledge feel like he can look up to him or ask him anything

Like someone said before, its supposed to feel like family.

One thing I know one of our chapters do is recognize the "Big/Lil Team" of the quarter award. It's very competitive there and both actives and pledges vote on the criteria.

And I agree with everything the last two posts' said.

frednhb · #6 02-07-2008, 07:52 PM

We usually require the big brother to buy the little brother lunch, buy the materials and help him make his paddle, and just be there the whole time along the way. One of the things we stress the big brother to do is to keep them interested. Talk about everything thats happening, bring them out to events, and just keep the pledges going.

pkt1906 · #7 02-19-2008, 12:56 PM

Does anyone have a good system of pairing up big and little brothers? We usually have the associates pick their top 3 choices, and break it down from that. It not a flawless system, and parts could be considered unfair to both brothers and associates.

I was thinking something where the brothers can have choices, and the associates equally...but not sure what to do...

any suggestions? - this would be a great help

Thanks

33girl · #8 02-19-2008, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pkt1906

Does anyone have a good system of pairing up big and little brothers? We usually have the associates pick their top 3 choices, and break it down from that. It not a flawless system, and parts could be considered unfair to both brothers and associates.

I was thinking something where the brothers can have choices, and the associates equally...but not sure what to do...

any suggestions? - this would be a great help

Thanks

For our bigs/littles, the pledges picked their top 3 and the sisters picked their top 3. The membership director matched them and if more than one pledge put the same sister first, the sister got to pick who she wanted.

If the littles are the only ones picking, they might pick someone who is a fun guy to hang out with, but not necessarily will be the best big brother or mentor as far as the fraternity is concerned.

Hope this helps!!

Day13 · #9 02-23-2008, 05:38 AM

Go with what 33girl said. Its a very "sorority-esque" way of assigning the bigs but it does work. Also, a tack on that you might like (or maybe not) is if 1 person is overwhelmingly picked to be a big brother you might not let them have any littles. This person is obviously very popular and could be more useful to the entire class as opposed to just one pledge.

Another good requirement is to have them meet up with each other at least once a week for anything. Study, lunch, video games, tv, just something. A ropes course where you have to have each other belay each other, builds trust.

XYZ_E_class · #10 03-15-2008, 04:58 PM

Historically my fraternity has had it assigned randomly, but this year as President, I met with every new member and paired them up with a big brother based on personality and what the big or lil needed.

It took a little while to figure out, but in the end its been the best pair up we've ever had and now big bros are really close to their little bros.