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1st Trimester
Parent-related - school buses
Why is it that parents think their children cannot walk a block or two to wait for a school bus? My brothers and I walked to the bus stop and walked home - it was about 3 or 4 blocks. And we had a blast waiting for the bus with the other kids!
These days, there can be a street where every house has a school-aged child, right next to one another, but the bus will stop at EVERY SINGLE HOUSE.
A good thing, though. I guess in my neighbourhood, the parents got together and decided to wait at one of the houses together. So it's really cute to see the primary school kids playing in someone's driveway waiting for the bus, when I leave the house to go to work. I wish I saw that in other communities.
IMO, this business of saying "my child cannot walk a few blocks" is basically adding to the sense of entitlement that kids these days have!
:::steps off soapbox:::
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Parent-related - school buses
I can kinda understand that but I think its much more of a safety thing than anything. In the city we live near (we are in the 'burbs) there was a report not too long ago about a girl (I think she was 12/13) getting snatched and raped when she got off the bus and only had to walk 3 blocks to get home.
I rode the bus when I was little up until 8th grade. from the bus stop I had to walk about 1/2 mile. it wasn't a bigger back then. My mom started taking me to school in 8th because of what all was going on ON the bus. (sex, drugs)
When my children get to be school aged I won't let them ride the bus. but if I was to let them ride the bus I would be that mom who walked to the bus stop and waited until they were on the bus. - oh, in my neighborhood there are just a couple of stops and the kids have to walk to them but at the longest walk its .25 mile for any of the kids.
I am so with you on this. I lived in a subdivision and we all had went to this one stop sign in the subdivision,we walked to the bus stop and home...none of this curbside service at our house. If the weather was bad, our Mom or other Moms would take turns driving us to the bus stop and picking us up.
I get behind 4 different school buses if I am running late and it drives me crazy. They go 200 yards and stop at just about every house, no fracken wonder children are obsese.
I can't wait for the summer, I get to sleep in an extra 20 minutes because I don't have to leave early enought to beat the buses!
BFP 3/17/10 Missed M/C Confirmed 4/12/10
MIF+Unexplained DX Feb 2012: Femara+Trigger+IUI=BFP
I dont think its a matter of parents not letting their kids walk a few blocks its probably more related to safety issues. Plus i would assume the school board decides how the kids are picked up not the parents.
I drive my kid to school so I am not too sure how the busing works.
I think it's more of a safety issue than a sense of entitlement. People are crazy these days. A lot more crazy than they were when you and I were growing up.
I have a 6 year old DD. I almost have a panic attack when she wants to walk to the bus stop with the neighbor's kids.
hahahaha! LOL Yes, totally true. However, the area I'm complaining about? A town called Southbury, CT. Extremely suburban, highly affluent, their biggest worry is drunk driving and people littering. There is basically no crime rate there - so it's not for safety, and I take a lot of backroads that aren't that busy.
The best thing? The parents that sit in their cars at the top of the driveway with the kids until the school bus arrives, and then they DRIVE the kids down to the bus. In BEAUTIFUL weather.
Nope. In a lot of towns in CT, the parents do a lot of the deciding. SO remembers a few years ago, when of the parents in his class requested that he start phoning them everyday with their child's homework assignment - because the child wasn't doing his homework. SO took it the principal, who in turn said, keep them happy.
well maybe since you know the crime stats in your area and its affluent the parents dont want their kids to get hit with litter bugs and drunk drivers so they feel obligated to have their kids picked up at every house.
My kid goes to private I am not paying 1500 bucks a year to have door to door service I will just drive him to his affluent school across the county.
Well, CT is municipality-based. We don't have neighbourhood schools per say, we have schools per town/city. Most towns/cities have sidewalks if the speed limit is over 25 mph on each particular street.
But, on the other hand, I think about when I was in school in Colombia. My but stop was about 5 city blocks away from my building, and I walked, and I was fine! This is Bogota......!
honestly i am not surprised my kid is in 5th grade they have hand held the parents and kids since he was in pre-k. We are moving him out of private to a phennomenal public school in our area. My kid is around to many uppity rich and spoiled kids with high profile parents. So its gonna be interesting.
My kids won't ride the bus (I'll drive them) but if they did, I certainly would not let them walk to the bus stop by themselves! The fact is, it IS dangerous. There was an attempted kidnapping in my area just a few months ago and I live in a very good area!
Brady Phoenix, 8.29.09
Claire Zoe, 10.26.10
I agree with you on that, Robyn about the hand-holding.
I totally can't type today. I'm eating words and mispelling. I wrote but stop instead of bus stop. LOL
I mean, yes, if I lived in a more populated area, yes, I would definitely either drive my kids to school or sit in the car with them. But where we are now? Not really.
I might agree with you, but I would also never want to risk my kid being kidnapped/hit by a car/insert other awful thing here. I think it is a much riskier world right now, and I will gladly walk my kid to the bus stop just for peace of mind, and I live in what I would call a very safe neighborhood.
And I think your statement that this "adds to the entitlement of children" is more than a little extreme. I think most kids would prefer to walk themselves to the bus stop, and the entitlement of kids has way more to do with parents than with whether or not the bus picks them up at their house
Yeah its ridiculous its not teaching these kids an ounce of responsibility. Its like hes on safety patrol but if he doesnt get there on time theres no reprocussion for not making it. Its ok they think. For sports no kid is turned away EVER. Now with the new school for him to do certain activities hes going to have maintain a certain GPA. So i am happy with that.
you said but stop LOL. In my neighborhood i beleive the elementary school there is one busstop and the parents walk/drive and wait for it with the kids.
I totally don't blame you. That's gotta be a really scary thing to hear about!
Actually, I don't really care for the way school bus drivers drive. One of my clients is a school bus driver right now - he is on A LOT of narcotic pain management for an injury that happened a few years ago. Think about it.
Seriously hell no. Thats why i drive my son that shiiiit scares me.
Just to add...
in many places kids have to pay to ride the bus (i.e. $350 per kid per year), and if I had to pay, I would expect them to come to my driveway. I'm sure it lessens the liability for schools as well, to not require kids to walk along the road to get to the bus stop.
Awesome. Yes. You know, when I was in school, if my mum heard through a teacher that i wasn't doing my work? My arse would have been kicked from here to Timbuktu. If I didn't bring home certain grades, I had A LOT explaining to do...not mention I would be banned from extracurriculars until I brought my grades back up.
Funny part? A girlfriend of mine took her 10 DD out of the public school in an AWESOME district here in CT, put her in the local Montessori. You know why? Because the public school teachers were MAKING her DD do homework. Her philosophy was her DD shouldn't have to do homework because she does well in classes otherwise, and she has SO MANY activities after school. When I heard this, I was like "WOW".
Interesting theory from your friend which is a crazy theory. Now in 4th grade hes was doing 1 1 1/2 hrs of HW a nite I thought that was a little overboard considering they have an involved day. 5th ummm not so much hes got 30 min a day if we are lucky. I am honestly going to miss the education we have been able to provide for him up till now. But I have a just turned 2 DS and another one on the way. It literally no exaggeration would cost us 60 grand a year for 3 kids to go this school its crazy.
It is a different world now. If you are positive about the "crime rate" in your area, and can promise it will never happen to you, send your child on his merry way.
There was a little girl in FL not too long ago who was walking home from school with her sister and brother when she was kidnapped, raped and killed. No one thinks it will happen to them, but the truth is that there are sickos in every nook of the world. I can not promise it will not happen around here, and therefore my elementary aged child will not walk to school (three blocks away) without me, or another parent .
You are right - it's definitely a different world and society now.
And you do have a good point - I myself, if possible, will walk the kids to school myself - make sure there is a responsible adult with them - if the distance is walkable. And yes, the idea that something could happen, is extremely scary and unfathomable (does this even exist?).
people are no more crazy then they were when I was a kid. There is no reason to stop at every other house. the school should designate a house and say this is the bus stop. walk to the closest one.
In CA, in elementary school, I walked a mile to school. All through neighborhoods to get there. it was the norm. no issues. even the K and 1 graders walked.
I think this is part of the reason why kids are overweight. they should be walking more. to school, to the bus stop etc..