Riding the school bus

Susanna started riding the school bus home on the second day of school. I honestly wasn't thrilled about it, but there are two girls right next door who also take the bus, so I felt better, knowing she had a couple of friends at the start.

(Plus picking her up at school on the first day was a bit of a hassle - waiting in the car line and all.)

So riding the bus home has been going well enough. She isn't quite ready to ride in the morning yet, and I'm not pushing her. We'd have to leave about 20 minutes earlier to get the bus than we do if we drive. 20 minutes is a lot of extra sleep.

I hadn't heard much about what kinds of things happen on the bus until this weekend. Susanna tells me very little. But the neighbor had a story to share.

Apparently some kids were causing trouble. Switching seats, crawling under the seats, things like that. So all the kids on the bus were called to a little meeting with the principal. First they watched a video from the bus, so they could see for themselves how awful their behavior is. Then the principal gave some sort of stern lecture.

I'm sure you're all thinking, it wasn't Susanna causing the trouble. Of course not! But I did get a phone call from her teacher yesterday. She told me about the trouble on the bus, etc., etc., etc., and eventually got around to saying that she did see Susanna on the video, and that Susanna was actually not sitting perfectly still in her seat. Apparently she was leaning the aisle some, talking to other children.

So I was nicely asked to remind her of the rules, sitting on your bottom, hands to yourself, feet to the front...

Now here's the thing. Many years ago, when I rode a bus to elementary school, we had Safety Patrols. I don't remember the bus driver ever making much of an impression, but if a kid got out of line, a power-hungry sixth-grader wearing an orange belt would let them know about it. And let adults at school know about it. And at some point during my bus-riding years (only elementary school), seat belts were introduced on the buses and we had to sit and wear them.

School buses here don't have either of these things - safety patrols or seat belts. You'd think those might be national requirements (especially seat belts), but no. (I wonder if video cameras are thought to be a good substitute?)

So I will continue to encourage my child to behave nicely on the school bus. And hope that she can resist temptation to do naughty things even when others are doing them. But until they get some seat belts and safety patrols on the buses, I certainly won't expect her to be perfect.