How do your kids get to school?

[Anonymous]

Just curious. But how do your kids get to school? Are they public or private and how old are they? What did you do when they were younger?

We're considering allowing our daughter to ride the public bus next year. She'll be thirteen, and I think she'll be old enough to handle it. But as for this year, I drive.

[Anonymous]

My kids aren't that old yet, but I'd be all for public transportation if my child were mature/responsible enough to handle it. That includes possible break downs, seriously delayed buses, unwanted attention on the bus, etc....

[Anonymous]

What do you do now?

Do you drive your children? Carpool?

[Anonymous]

I drive because my kids go to a private school in a different county, and then I hit the metro for work. If we lived closer to other kids who attended the school, I'd search out carpools.

[Anonymous]

My son's six, goes to public school, and rides the school bus. When I was fifteen and growing up in Chicago, I took the L and a city busses to school.

You know your child best. If you think she can handle it, she probably can. Could you do it with her once and then have her do a couple of test runs?

[Anonymous]

Unless you have some very specific reason to consider the bus unsafe (it has a record of breaking down weekly, there have been numerous crimes at bus stops, whatever), then by all means let her ride the bus. As PP suggests, go with her a couple of times; talk about safety in public spaces (look like you know what you're doing, be polite but don't engage if approached by strangers, etc. Actually here would be my single biggest safety suggestion-- something that does not come naturally these days to most adolescents: Do NOT keep those earphones in your ears! You need to be attuned to what's going on around you, not in your own world, oblivious.) But basically, why not the bus?

[Anonymous]

I started taking the public bus by myself in NYC at age 8! But it's a lot more common there for kids to take public transportation to school even at a young age.

[Anonymous]

Well I'm glad that it doesn't sound completely horrid for a 13-year-old to take the bus to school. I'd rather her take the metro, because ti seems more reliable, but we don't live near a metro stop, and the one that we do live near is near her school... so that defeats the purpose.

But I'm confident that she's mature enough.

We'll have to practice well before school starts first, because of my job, but I'm sure she'll be fine.

I'm still curious for others with younger (or older) children. What do you do?

[Anonymous]

Taking the public bus at 13 is totally fine. It's actually better than Metro in some regards because the drivers can help her get the hang of it. I've gotten good help from drivers when I was on a new route (for me) and didn't know where to change buses. I'd rather trust a 13-year-old with a bus pass than a 16-year-old with a car.

Right now I metro and walk with my pre-k DC; when she starts K next year, we'll just walk to our DCPS. The question for me will be when I let her walk alone. It's only a couple of blocks but there is a big intersection. I'm thinking age 8 or 9.

[Anonymous]

We drive our kids to their private schools, because they are on our way to work (more or less), and to use public transit they would have to leave the house even earlier than they do now.

Both kids have been using a combination of bus/metro/walking to get home since they were 11 (sixth grade). They do fine, it boosts their confidence to successfully be independent, and for one it is as fast as if we picked up. A few parents have been horrified that we let 11-year-olds out alone, but I'm totally comfortable with it. (For one child, he did the first couple of rides with an older friend, for the other we rehearsed before the start of school).

[Anonymous]

My kids are 7 and 9 and they walk to our local public school. They will take the bus to middle school when the time comes.