School bus issues

Senior Member Joined: Feb 18 2008 Posts: 199

Please bear with me as I grew up in another country and never rode a school bus myself, and this is my first kid.
My dd will be I''H 5 in December. She is very independent, outgoing for her age. Tomorrow she is supposed to go on the school bus for the first time. Unfortunately, our stop is first in the morning/last in the afternoon, so she will have to be on the bus for a whole hour. She will have to get on at 7:15 am. If I drive her, it takes me 15 minutes max - so for bus she will have to wake up 45 minutes earlier.
My question to you is - is this bus ride too long? Should I just continue to drive her to school (sometimes it is inconvenient for me but we managed somehow last year). She will have some of her classmates on the bus, but spending 2 hours a day on it - is that too much for a 4-year old?
Oh, I'm also due in couple of weeks, so the bus will be a major relief once the new baby comes - but my heart breaks imagining my poor little girl on this bus for such a long time Sad

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Posted: Tue, Sep 08 2009, 9:12 pm Post subject:

Some of my kids have been on the bus for that long also at that age. They never seemed to mind. She has her friends to talk to so she will be happy. My kids also have fallen asleep on the bus when they were tired.
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Posted: Tue, Sep 08 2009, 9:51 pm Post subject:

it's a social experiment that might work! I remember having our own "miami girls choir" on the bus... it was so intense, there was no time for homework! I have fond memories of doing solos on the highway.
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Gold Member Joined: Mar 12 2006 Posts: 1312

Posted: Wed, Sep 09 2009, 12:14 am Post subject: re: school bus issues

Definitely find out who is in charge of making the routes and speak to them- if she is first picked up, she should be first dropped off, that way everyone has even amount of time on the bus.
I also have some great memories of riding the bus to school- we had a lot of different made up games, sang songs from Hand in Hand and I'm a Chossid, and just generally had a good time. But two hours seems like a lot.

Posted: Wed, Sep 09 2009, 9:50 am Post subject:

This morning I had an appointment which I had to leave the same time as my kids. As soon as my girls got on to the bus, I got in to the car... ended up following them for about 5 minutes. It was interesting to see their little 'social life away from home"... the older one first made sure the younger ones were in seats... lots of rearranging, negotiating... popping in and out of the seat, next kid comes on to the bus, rearranging. Interesting stuff. I don't know too many kids who are purely miserable the entire 1 hour ride. It's a social setting that is healthy because they learn to interact with one another outside the classroom, with mixed ages.

Posted: Wed, Sep 09 2009, 9:56 am Post subject:

my kids were also always first one on last one off ... it can be a pain ... or a social grace ... you get friendly with the bus driver that way and they never leave you behind ...

give her some activity that is special for the long bus ride ...
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