Am I the only one who doesn't put her child on the bus???

[Kallison]

My kids have had the same driver for 7 years - he is the best! They are on the bus for less than 10 minutes, I trust him completely. I was training to be a bus driver but decided the hours weren't going to work, driving 6 to 7 hours per day is a bit much for me. Yes it is hard to concentrate on a 16 ton vehicle and discipline the kids sitting behind you. That is why it is important to review bus safety with your kids occasionally. I teach my kids to have the utmost respect for their driver. Most parents do not, they only complain when their little angel is told they can no longer use school district transportation.

Mermaid02 - In our school district there is a rule, no parents are allowed on the bus unless it is to chaperone a school trip. I would not find it surprising that the driver does not know all the streets -- is it the beginning of the school year? There will be days when the driver is out and needs a sub, that driver will not know every street either. It's not unusual to ask the kids to help you out with the stops, my son often does it for a sub driver.

 

[Mermaid02]

Kalliso.... this was a week of "practice" school for kindergarten students only..... and I'll tell ya something- I would wonder what was going on that they were afraid of a parent seeing if they refused to let a parent ride with a crying kindergarten student. Would I expect a driver to know every single stop the first ride of the year?? Of course not- but she asked me where 3 VERY well known streets were and where one street "ended up" as well as saying, "Isn't the school on 4th street??" (it is NOT) I don't blame the driver- I blame her supervisor. He/she had no business sending her out to drive a bus full of babies when she had no idea where she was going. BTW that first day of school we were 20 minutes late......

End of rant

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

My kids won't ever ride a bus to and from school. I have enough problem with them going on field trips and to/from athletic events.

As a coach, we were nearly broadsided by a semi (senior boys were running for the front of the bus and we could see the headlights shining in... that's how close it was) on the way to a game. Those kids were VERY shook up. The adults involved all sent letters to the school board and this driver 'retired'.

I am very picky about what parents my sons ride with too... when going out of town. For parties and such I will volunteer to help 'haul the herd' so I know the kids are safe. Some people are just a little more careful than others.... I don't like taking chances.

 

[Kallison]

Sorry but I agree with the no parent rule. It's not a case of being afraid of seeing anything. How many days should all the parents be riding with their crying K student? The 1st day, 2nd day, 2nd week, month, etc. How about the child crying in class, should the parents be comforting them until they stop? The 1st day of school should all the K parents be sitting next to their child so they don't get scared, upset, etc. That is very disruptive to the routine.

 

[Jennyfyar]

Today was my DD's first day of public school. (1st grade.)
She will not be riding the bus anytime soon. I am too worried about the driver, the other cars on the road, the other children on the bus. There are a lot of things in life you cannot control, but this is one that I can!

 

[WilmaBud]

NO way would I let my kids ride the bus. We live in a walking district, so it's a non-issue anyway. But even in a bussing district, I'd drive. A friend of mine lost his 14 year old son in a bus accident 3 years ago. I never liked buses before that, but that tragedy sealed it for me.

 

[Mermaid02]

That is good that you agree with that rule since it's in your community.... I'm afraid it would take my son a long time to adjust so we aren't going to do the bus thing..... Anytime I am REFUSED access to a day care or a school or a bus ride though- I will assume they are doing something they think they shouldn't be... call me cynical.... the world is a scarey place nowadays.

 

[CamColt]

This is an interesting topic to me since DS will start Kindergarten in a few weeks.
I took the school bus up until High School. I was lucky enough that the stop was out in front of my house. We had a lot of kids in the neighborhood so taking the bus was fun. Now, DS's bus stop will be at the end of our street(not very far) and across the road. We can easily walk it in 1 minute. I will definitely drive him the first day, but I do want to get him in the habit of taking the bus. School is less than 1 mile away but parking stinks. We are fortuante that DS's best friend will also be going with him and an older kid from our neighborhood takes the bus too. Hopefully he can show the young ones the ropes.

 

[Nancy]

The school district my kids are in is pretty good as far as their bus situation goes. Some days my 9 yr old is on the bus, sometimes I drive her. We are the last pickup so she's not on the bus that long. I know of situations where if a child was acting up the bus returned the school and the parents were called to pick that child up. the other kids were late getting home, but we did get calls from the transportation department. My 12 yr old is on open enrollment and does not get a bus, but if she was able to, I would have no problems putting her on the bus. And my 14 yr old starts high school this year and we live too close to the school for her to be bussed. In bad weather I'll probably drive her, but she'll have to walk home every day.

 

[Boots]

My children are all grown now. They rode the bus to school but I picked them up in the afternoons. They were the last ones on in the morning, but would have been the last ones off in the afternoon. I thought they were tired and just didn't want them on it that long.

 

[catsrule]

I always walked to school......even in the 10 inches of snow, rain, below zero temperatures, 4 miles both ways. The kids have it easy today compared to us old timers.....

 

[Cindy B]

Well, I do send my kids.

But our district does have very strict bus policies and bus monitors with the bus drivers.

I would drive, but the school doesn't open until 845 and the bus is there at 830. They will not open the school doors until 845.

 

[snoopy]

My brothers and sister and I never rode a school bus. We always went to Catholic school that was in the neighborhood, throughout 12th grade. I always sort of wanted to ride the bus, but we always walked.

My kids don't ride one either. The school in our neighborhood is 2 blocks away.

 

[tnkrbell]

I drop my dd off every morning (and walk her to her classroom) and pick her up every afternoon!! I have my job schedule 9-1:30 so it doesnt interfer with picking her up or driving her!! I will not let her ride the bus@!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

<font color=navy>The rascals go to a Catholic school, so I take them every morning - however, I start at 7:15 (used to be 6am), and I leave them off early in the morning.

This year, my ds starts high school, and the school is in the opposite direction of where dd goes, so he's going to have to take the city bus (and transfer) to go to school and come home.

I kind of tossed the idea around to let dd take the bus home (again a city bus), but she's only 13, and with this rapist on the loose... well, I just won't take any chances -- I keep envisioning someone watching her walk home by herself from the bus .... nope - she'll have to stay in daycare until I get out of work, and then I'll pick her up.

 

[janette]

I grew up riding a bus but we were in a rural area and driving wasn't practical. There weren't any more problems on the bus than in school.

The elementary school my girls attend buses everyone. It's on a major street with very few houses kids could walk from without crossing the street. Traffic is also a big issue, I could drop off but it would take at least an hour each day waiting in the car line.

This is the second year here, and I've found I like the schedule. I get the girls up and out before I get dressed for work. They have some down time before classes and are never tardy. The bus stop is across the street so I can watch them wait / board from the window. That combined with a great bus driver ( who I was very happy to see this morning ) make it a pretty easy decision.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

I moved when I was a sophomore in high school and had to start taking a bus...I hated it. As soon as I got my driver's license, my dad let me take the car (I dropped him off at work first).

But my kids have taken the bus from day 1, and have always enjoyed it. I adore the bus driver and the monitor (for elementary school)...they've become my friends. When my oldest DD was sick last year, the bus driver got permission to pick up my youngest with the middle schoolers (and kept an eye on him on the bus) when we needed to be at the hospital early in the morning, and also assured me to never worry about being late getting back from the hospital because if necessary she'd just take him home with her. She's been a lifesaver.

This year, my kids will be in 3 different schools, starting and ending at different times. To take them all to school would involved getting them all out of the house at 6:45 AM to go to the high school, then going home for a few minutes or killing time until 7:30 for the middle school dropoff at 7:30, then going home or killing time until the 8:15 dropoff for the elementary school...and then the same type of situation for pickup in the afternoon. Luckily, I don't have to do that. They do get picked up and dropped off at the end of the driveway, so that's nice.

 

[disykat]

I think there should ALWAYS be a parent or other adult on the kindergarten bus the first day. When I used to teach our school had a staff member (like teacher, aide, or principal) ride on each bus that had kindergarten students on it. I did it myself as a teacher - the kids don't always know where their stop is and the bus driver needs to concentrate on the route.

I also rode the bus home the 1st day my son was in kindergarten as a volunteer. We live 5 minutes from school and my child was on the bus for over an hour. The noon bus was dropping off kids from am and picking up pm at the same time. Some of the bus stops were used by two schools. I was glad to be there to reassure the kids while the bus driver dealt with her job. It would have been very hard to do with kids crying or falling asleep etc.

 

[MerryPoppins]

I drive both of mine. This year we'll be going to the High School and the Middle School. Both are in different directions, so I'll be busy. We always pick up our bus passes, just in case they ever need to ride, but I feel better if they ride with me.

 

[abaldacci]

The bus is fine for me. i took my dd the first two years, but after that she rode the bus. Shes fine with it.