Introducing child to public bus

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our child in Mont. Co. applied to a Application Program and got accepted. As part of the process we made her aware that she would need to take either the Ride On Bus or the Metro Bus to school. She told us this was fine. She has taken both of these buses with her friends to go downtown or whatever. However, when it actually comes to taking the bus to school she has no confidence and quite frankly no interest. She told my husband and I that we can continue to drive her to school and then we can buy her a car. We did drive her till middle school ended. How do I gently introduce her to the bus she gains confidence during the summer to take it. She won't take it to her summer job nor will she take it to the orientation that is today at 12. I went over the bus time tables with her last night and left her summer bus pass and her metro card on the table. I left for work and that pile is on the table. I told her if she did not take the bus she would miss orientation as I had to be at work period. Thanks for any help. I also arranged for a friend of hers to go with her. No she is not getting a car either, but that is a battle for a year from now.

Confidence and interest are two different things. Confidence is reviewing the route and timetables in advance, discussing what might go wrong and how she can handle it, and arranging for a friend to ride the bus with her the first few times.

Interest--irrelevant. She is capable of taking the bus, she's done it before, and you are not going to drive her to school, so she can get that idea out of her head right now.

[Anonymous]

She's just being a brat. Sorry, but it's true. She's taken the bus before, so clearly she can do it.

Kids who grow up in cities start taking public transit on their own much younger than your kid (ex: my mom was taking the NYC subway on her own by 10). A kid her age is more than capable of dealing with a suburban bus route.

[Anonymous]

Just do it with her the first time and tell her it's that or the home school. My 13 year old and 16 year old take the ride on when I can't drive them and they know how to do it because I did it with them first.

[Anonymous]

With my 8th grader, the first time he went, he travelled with older kids who knew the route. This did two things, kept us out of it and "normed" the experience since other kids clearly did it all the time. It also gave him a huge sense of freedom and responsibility, so he took to it right away. It also helped when he found the app to track the bus.

[Anonymous]

Hope it worked out, OP. FWIW, my DC is a total city kid and great with public transit, but always balks a bit in new situations. Nothing to do with taking a bus or train, but more to do with the activity, yet she has a hard time admitting that and so will get mad about something else. Maybe your daughter was more nervous to start a new school than she admitted, and focused those nerves on the bus route? Just a thought.

[Anonymous]

There’s an app for that.

[Anonymous]

What happened, OP? Did she get to orientation?

My 12 yo took bus & metro to school this year. I rode it with him a few times to practice and then DH rode on the AM route with him at the start of the year because it overlapped with his route to work. But DS was fine riding home alone that first week because we'd practiced it an he knew it was the only option.


Hold firm. Do not drive her to school!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: When my kids started taking the bus home we rode together a few times first.

This.

We’re city folk so DC were used to taking public transit as a family, but we rode the specific route and time together a few times before they did it alone.