Helping to put the men in mentoring
The number of millennials signing up for mentorship roles for boys with absent father figures is on the rise.
Big Buddy has been finding men in the community for boys without dads to spend time with for more than 21 years.
Wellington region mentoring manager Dave Burcher said he had seen more young men applying in his four years with Big Buddy. ‘‘I think its great because they bring a different perspective and they understand what the boys are into.
‘‘The world changes so quickly these days but they grew up with Play Stations and all that. They know the feeling of sitting in their room alone, and the importance of getting out.’’
The youngest applicant in Wellington was in his early 20s. Burcher said there was ‘‘more of a social conscience among these younger men coming through’’.
A Deloitte survey on millennial sentiment released in May showed
39 per cent of millennials surveyed said they wanted to have children, in contrast to 46 per cent who wanted to help their community.
The younger generation were often more connected to, and able to talk about, their emotions, he said.
Ryan Nicholson, 30, is a service designer at Victoria University. He is IT-savvy, and celebrates the points of difference his generation can offer their ‘‘little buddies’’.
‘‘I know a lot of older men got into mentoring traditionally, and that they have really valuable skills and wisdom to share.
‘‘But I feel kids of today have a whole lot of pressures that come out of a social environment that is changing at an exponential rate.’’
It was important for Nicholson to teach his buddy, Ollie Wyeth, 10, about internet safety. ‘‘We want to let kids know the carefully curated lives on Instagram are not what they seem.
Communications coordinator Sally Webster said Big Buddy estimated there were more than 8000 boys in New Zealand with no father present.
Big Buddy operates in Auckland and Wellington, covering more than half of these estimated needs.
The average age for a ‘‘big buddy’’ was 45. The oldest to sign up was 80, and the youngest was 21.
Big Buddy works on the simple philosophy that boys truly benefit from having at least one positive male role model in their lives, and feedback from mothers was ‘‘overwhelmingly positive.’’