“Having had the experience yourself, you can give him much practical advice.” (Page 96, Big Book)
Sponsorship is instruction on the programme plus practical advice. In addition, one gets to hear some inventory and tidy up what people have written to make it clearer.
As a sponsor, I’m not the confessor-in-chief, a favourite uncle, an older brother, a parent, a therapist, an elf on the shelf, Big Brother, the eye of Sauron, an alcoholic-whisperer, a purveyor of special psychoanalytical, psychotherapeutic, or spiritual skills, the puller of ethereal strings, a clairvoyant, a drill sergeant, or an auditor.
I’m not responsible for sponsees, and they’re not accountable to me.
What a relief!