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When I started riding the bus in high school, which was all four years. Since I had to be at the bus stop at 5:37AM (Magnet school located two hours away) I often had to cross-country it to the bus stop. I never missed the bus! I actually preffered to ride the school bus because gas was (and still is) extremely expensive for a commute of that length.
When I was 13 yrs old I began taking city busses (three of them each way) downtown to high school in a huge city. First bus came at 6:25 AM - in the dead of night. Going to high school was my responsibility and ya know, I learned early on, how to deal with the world. Kiddie time was over with. Among my classmates, we all did it, and with few exceptions, we all became very very successful. Oddly enough, among my classmates, the flops were the kids that started out down there in the 11th grade and beyond.
You make a good point. The more independence a child is given, the more likely he/she can handle life and be successful. I started walking to the bus stop alone when I was six years old. I feel sorry for the kids today.
I didnt have my son start riding the bus until he was 12 (7th grade). The stop is at the end of the street, so its really no big dea now. If I wouldnt have been able to take/pick him up at the schools for the previous years, then he probably would have started going to the bus stop, alone at around 10.
I think it really depends on each individual child and the location of the stop (busy street, neighborhood, sexual predators around, etc).
By the time we lived in an area with school buses, my youngest two were in 1st and 2nd grade. Eldest caught a different bus, about 1/2 mile down the road, at age 14. Most of the time he walked it.
I never once had any concerns about sending the two younger ones out to catch their bus. It was at the end of our property, but not visible from anywhere in the house. They both knew what to do if a bear approached, and that was a more realistic scenario than a stranger showing up.
I voted 12 or 13. I let them walk home from the stop alone now but we walk them to the stop. There are only a handful of kids catching our bus at our stop each morning and multiple buses come by the corner in a short period of time (our city schools are not good and the kids in our neighborhood go to at least 7 different grade schools). I just don't trust the kids' judgement in how long to wait, when to come home and how to handle it if the driver is not their usual driver.
When I was 13 yrs old I began taking city busses (three of them each way) downtown to high school in a huge city. First bus came at 6:25 AM - in the dead of night. Going to high school was my responsibility and ya know, I learned early on, how to deal with the world. Kiddie time was over with. Among my classmates, we all did it, and with few exceptions, we all became very very successful. Oddly enough, among my classmates, the flops were the kids that started out down there in the 11th grade and beyond.
I did too! Only it was in a section of town that wasn't great. I even sat with hookers and got to know their names. I didn't realize who they were though till I mentioned to my dad all the friendly ladies on the corner at dinnertime. Couldn't figure out why my Dad was choking on his dinner too. Then it was explained to me that I shouldn't speak with them.
Nowadays I just can't imagine my kid doing that. Plus it's a very different time here too.
I would say 15-16 sounds about right, but I live in Houston and the bus stop is on a busy street. If we still lived in the burbs I would say 7th-8th grade.
I have witnessed bullying/fighting incidents at bus stops around town, so I would worry about that more than child snatching. I have seen children push other children into the street, 2 or 3 kids harassing another student, and parents harassing other people's children.
I remember waiting for the bus alone (it picked up across from my driveway) when I was in 5th grade and my sister was in 3rd. Mom had already gone to work.
My kids are in a walk zone until they go to 5th grade (but there are no sidewalks and the school is 3/4 of a mile away down some busy streets, so all the parents bring the kids to school).
When she gets to 5th grade, my daughter will wait for the bus without me. There are lots of kids in the neighborhood, and all age groups (5th-12th grade) wait at the same stop, so she won't be alone and there should be older kids around until the last 5 minutes of her wait.
The bus stop is currently located across the street from my house. On days I work from home, I monitor the stop from my office upstairs and have intervened when the kids do something stupid (like play in the street). I've met the younger kids (10-11) who wait and they know they can come get me if they miss the bus and their parents aren't home.
No buses here as its a pretty small town but I'll have my daughter walk to school by herself from the first grade (I'll walk her for preschool which will mostly likely be in the same place so she'll know the way, otherwise I'll walk her the first few times in 1st grade so that she knows the way)
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I never missed the bus! I actually preffered to ride the school bus because gas was (and still is) extremely expensive for a commute of that length.
I didn't realize who they were though till I mentioned to my dad all the friendly ladies on the corner at dinnertime. Couldn't figure out why my Dad was choking on his dinner too. Then it was explained to me that I shouldn't speak with them.
