Every parent who sends their child to public school will have to face this question: will I drive or send my kid on the bus? (Unless you're close enough to walk.)
I rode the bus as a kid. And I remember it being a place where unsupervised kids would speak and act inappropriately. One time, a kid even said to me, "Have you ever masturbated? Nah, you probably don't even know what that is." The theme of the bus, and also the space of time when we arrived in school and waited in the cafeteria for school to start, was sex, sex, sex. Luckily I had parents who were willing to talk to me about my questions, but unfortunately many of the questions sprang up after the periods of time on the bus and in the cafeteria holding place.
When Caleb was in Kindergarten, the bus didn't come to our neighborhood because we lived too close to the school. But it was at least a mile to walk, so I drove him.
The bus started coming to our neighborhood last year, but I still drove him because of my aforementioned reasons.
I have two other arguments against the bus. One is that I like the control of seeing my child enter the school, and exit again. I like to be able to see her safely into the hands of the next caregiver. The last argument is about the amount of time my child would waste being on the bus.
This year, in our new town, Kindergartners go to a separate school called the Kinder Center. Neither school is super far from our house, but the traffic to get to the Kinder Center is not awesome. I was driving to two schools two times a day each. Savanna attends afternoon Kindergarten, so it was a struggle to keep Isaac awake until we could get home for a nap. But I kept driving. Then I talked to a few moms about the Kindergarten bus, skeptical that it would be for us. But they explained that the Kindergartners aren't allowed to sit together, that they have to sit one to a seat. Not that I think Kindergartners are going to speak inappropriately, but my mind was eased that mischief would be difficult to manage in this seating arrangement. So I put her on the bus. My other two arguments were appeased because the bus is a direct conduit to the school. I felt safe placing her in the care of the bus driver, who follows strict rules to ensure she enters the school when she gets there. Savanna's a good kids, so I'm not worried she's going to try to wander off. And lastly, the amount of time I was wasting more than makes up for the time she is wasting. And if you count everyone's hours separately, the boys time wasted, plus mine, it was so much more than the time she wasted.
And when I told her she could ride the bus, she was ecstatic. She doesn't mind the wasted time. Obviously.
I still drop off and pick up Caleb from school. And next year, when Savanna is in first grade, I will only have to travel to one school. I'm still wary of the bus for the elementary school; and as it's not very far away, I think I will always drive them.
I'm curious about your thoughts: what do you think about the bus?
3 comments:
It's interesting because Dallon is very much against riding the school bus due to his experiences as well. We don't have to make a hard decision about this because our Charter School doesn't have a bus to ride, we have to drive our children. It's definitely not always convenient. Sometimes I wish we had a bus for them to ride.
I did hear a story from a friend of mine about the extra time her kindergarten had at the other school in our district. Her little girl was getting breakfast from the cafeteria without her even knowing. Who knows what else she is doing with all that spare time. That caused me to support driving my girls a little more. I don't like the extra time they have to just "hang out" before school starts, especially kindergartners. A little time is okay to socialize but when there is too much time, kids can get into trouble.
Dallon drives the girls to school every morning and he is surprised at how many parents of the kindergartens just drop their kids off 10-15 min. before school starts with no supervision. They stand against the wall until it's time for the teacher to come out and collect them. He is the only parent that stands with his child from the whole class of 30. There have been many, many occasions where children are going in and out the doors, throwing backpacks, wandering the hallways, and getting into trouble. We are definitely in support of parent supervision in this situation if they can, especially for kindergartners.
Well that's a long response to your question. Other might totally disagree with the way we do things in our family but we feel good about it and I guess that's what's most important.
I bet Savanna loves the bus. It sounds like it's pretty safe considering it's only for kindergartners.
I am too worried about my kids safety to put them on the bus. I want to see them safely where they need to be. I think I will drive if I can. Plus it can be a lot of wasted time---I remember the middle schoolers and high schoolers riding the same bus which took more time and even worse environment
I always rode the bus too, but I never had any experiences like you mentioned. It was a fairly positive experience for me, so I haven't been too wary of the bus. But...I know it isn't that way much anymore.
Actually, I was just thinking of all the reasons why I let Ali ride the bus and it is pretty much all selfish. Since we don't have a garage I would have to get all the kids bundled up, and it would be a disaster for Elyssa's nap. I'm lame, I know.
It has been good so far, but I think I will be driving her after this year.
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