My daughter Sarah is in 1st grade and attends a local public school. She has been in school three years now (pre-k is held at the elementary school). From day one, I was iffy about letting her ride the bus. Do your kids ride the bus to school?
Our school district is very small. It is where I graduated from in 2000. I remember my high school years fondly. Yes, I am sure there were drugs around. Yes, some kids in high school participated in underage drinking. Yes, there were cliques. Bullying wasn’t an issue.
At the time, our thinking was “so what if you don’t like someone; just don’t talk to them” and that was that. I remember one (yes just one from what I recall) fight in high school. Two boys in 11th grade at the time got into a fist fight about a girl.
Times have changed. From what I gather, our school district doesn’t seem to have an issue with bullying. There have been a few instances when my daughter came home crying last year because someone was really mean to her (I don’t like you; you must be gross because you have a nasty rash on your skin – she has eczema). These instances were few and far in between and they all centered around young kids (6 years old).
From chatting with friends who have older kids, I got a bit nervous about the bus. I always rode the bus in the same school district until I turned 16 and drove myself. Once again, I don’t really remember too much picking on. It was all – you sat with your friends or by yourself.
I have heard some horror stories about young kids being picked on my older kids, kids coming home learning new, not-cool words, and so forth.
So I made the decision that I would take my daughter to school. It just seemed like the best option to me. I work from home and I can. We also always lived less than ½ a mile away from the school. When the weather is nice, we walk home from school. I enjoy our walks. Even when I drive, I enjoy being there to greet her when she walks down the school hallway.
I may have a different view if we didn’t have a car or if I worked outside of the home. Then, Sarah would likely ride the bus home or to a babysitter. Since I am in a good place, it doesn’t seem right to me to sit a home with a working car in the driveway and wait for my daughter to get off the bus.
For the first time, this year my daughter had to ride the bus for a week. Our van broke down and Dan needed to car to get to and from work. It was in the middle of winter, so walking was out.
Sarah was SO excited to finally get a chance to ride the bus. At our new house, a little girl across the street is in the same grade as her and they because bus-buddies. Since we lived so close to the school, she was the 3rd to last on the bus and the 3rd stop off. Although not much time was spent on the bus, she did have a few comments:
- The bus in the morning is cool because it is all elementary school kids and the bus driver is really nice.
- The afternoon bus is okay, but there is a mixture of high school and elementary school kids. According to Sarah, they like to swear a lot and not listen to the bus driver.
After I got my car back, I resumed picking Sarah up from school. She has the option to ride the bus in the morning since it is just elementary school kids. Sometimes she rides it, sometimes she doesn’t.
In the eyes of my 7 year old, the bus has gone from the “coolest thing ever” to “sort of being okay.”
Next year, our school likely intends to eliminate a bus run in the morning. This is due to budget cuts. If it happens, both high school and elementary kids will be on the bus. I haven’t decided yet if she’ll ride. It all depends on which kids get dropped off first. My daughter could go from being one of the last ones on, which could mean the difference between 10 minutes on the bus and 1 hour.
