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We are one of the few elem schools that still has buses, and I pay $.50/ride. I think it is because we have a busy 4-lane street between our neighborhood and the school. That $.50 is worth it to me to not have to deal with the traffic at the school.
As others have said, I think that it depends on the bus stop. If the stop was on a super busy street with lots of traffic, I would certainly wait with my kid. In our neighborhood, the bus stops either on the corner or in the front of our houses (depending if we have a sub bus driver). We are in a safe, quiet neighborhood so I'm comfortable having my 2nd and 5th grader get on the bus with minimal supervision from me. In fact, they are usually out in the front yard kicking a soccer ball around 30 minutes before the bus arrives anyway. I'm usually in the kitchen sipping my coffee and reading my newspaper. My supervision usually is making sure they are not getting soaking wet feet running through the grass and bushes before school....not bus safety. My kids also can get forgetful and get on the bus without their backpacks in the heat of the moment. Those incidents are few and far between though.
I do get a kick out of the parents that wait with the kids (in the car) when the bus stop is only THREE houses away from them. One dad even picks his kid up in the car and drives the kid home. This kid is in 5th grade and will probably be driven until he is a senior in HS I would imagine.
^ I wonder, if you watch closely enough, if the parent is really driving to the stop then driving back home. I have driven 6 houses down (narrow lots here) so we can leave directly from the stop to get to an after school activity. I have also driven to the stop waited with my son in the car, then headed to where ever I needed to be 10 minutes later. It was worth it to save walking back up the street with my younger one and getting him into the car. It probably saves at least 5 minutes.
I miss the days when kids could ride their bikes freely, run and play in the neighborhood, walk and ride bikes to school and to the bus stop. I'm pretty sure there were accidents and tragedies that occurred then, but maybe they were so rare that nobody was too paranoid about it. Then, I believe, more and more bad things happened, and people became more and more afraid. And here we are now, with parents afraid to let their kid walk a few yards alone to the bus stop.
I think you should be able to protect your child without going overboard, though. If I lived in a reasonably safe subdivision, I still wouldn't want my child walking alone or waiting for a bus alone. If she walked and waited with other kids, I would feel better about that, and if there was at least one adult I trusted nearby, another parent or neighbor, that would be even better. I wouldn't drive her a short distance and wait with her in the car, but I wouldn't send her off alone either.
^ I wonder, if you watch closely enough, if the parent is really driving to the stop then driving back home. I have driven 6 houses down (narrow lots here) so we can leave directly from the stop to get to an after school activity. I have also driven to the stop waited with my son in the car, then headed to where ever I needed to be 10 minutes later. It was worth it to save walking back up the street with my younger one and getting him into the car. It probably saves at least 5 minutes.
Yeah, I've watched him. He makes a U turn in the street and then drives back home--just a few houses away. It is a shame because when the kids were in kindergarden, they would actually play for 10 minutes or so waiting for the bus. Now all I see are kids sitting the the cars with the parents. Even more of a shame is when it is beautiful out and all the kids are inside cars. I guess that we are just outdoor folks that love being outside.
If I have something to go to (like the gym) of if it is raining/freezing out, I will be nice and let the kids sit in the car with me. This year, we have the luxury of having the bus stop right in front of our house so if it is miserable, the kids can all wait on our porch. But the majority of the days, I just get them run around, socialize while waiting for the bus.
btw.... I am a stay at home mom and I would never use the excuse that I "don't have to go anywhere" so why bother walking them.... I think that would be very easy to do & also very LAZY.
It depends on the situation. My wife is a SAHM and we take turns getting my son to the bus stop depending on my work schedule. We also have a 19 month old and an almost 3 year old at home. On mornings where I need to leave early and my wife is juggling three kids (or maybe one of the younger ones decided to sleep in) she is more apt to get my son ready and have him walk the block to the bus stop himself while she stands in the garage where she can watch him. On mornings where everything is going smooth and everyone's dressed, the whole crew takes the walk.
btw.... I am a stay at home mom and I would never use the excuse that I "don't have to go anywhere" so why bother walking them.... I think that would be very easy to do & also very LAZY.
Sorry, but this is offensive. So every child who walks to the bus stop or to school has lazy parents? I would assume some parents are encouraging independence.
This is a really important point, even if you walk your kids to and from the bus stop, they must understand basic road safety. We had a terrible tragedy occur earlier this year one neighborhood over, a kindergartener jumped off the bus, and assuming the drivers were concentrating ran in the street. One driver was not concentrating, overtook the bus when she shouldn't have, and the child was killed.
That is so sad.
I don't know how the traffic laws vary by state, but here, when a bus puts out the flashing "STOP" arm, all traffic must stop going both ways up to a four-lane road. (Two lanes going one way, two lanes coming the other, all must stop. Cars on wider roads than that don't have to stop on the non-bus side, but streets that wide are uncommon here.) I mentioned earlier that I've seen parents waiting with kids at a bus stop on a pretty busy street, and just the other day I happened to get stuck right when the bus stopped. It can be tedious to wait, but better safe than sorry. If a cop catches you passing a bus with its lights on, you get a big fat ticket. GOOD.
Sorry, but this is offensive. So every child who walks to the bus stop or to school has lazy parents? I would assume some parents are encouraging independence.
Good point. Outside of the convenience factor for my wife in not dragging the entire clan to the bus stop, it also helps foster a little independence in my son. If we can't trust him to walk a block from the house to get on the school bus, how are we ever going to let him go out and ride his bike with his friends.
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