Ride bus or bite the bullet and carpool saga

[Anonymous]

We live in Indiana - moved from DC- bus shortage or something here so bus comes at 6:15 in morning for 7:30 school start- and school is 3 miles away- ridiculous--- so not one kid rides bus in morming- they all carpool. All neighborhood of stay home moms.
My husband and I work and it's not ideal to drive in morning so I put 8 year old daughter on bus. She is the only one on bus unitil they get to next neighborhood.. It's pitch black on bus and she's on with stranger ( male bus driver). I'm sure he's fine guy, but it's really odd to have 8 year old on bus alone in dark for 15-20 minutes.
Do you think I should bite the bullet and drive her every day or would you be ok with the bus scenario. I cannot believe not one person rides in our neighborhood but it is true!
I was part of carpool but there is some drama in that- although nothing I have to be a part of- just trying to de idea what to do

[Anonymous]

I would find some way for my kid not to ride the bus alone with a strange adult male.

[Anonymous]

The bus sounds fine unless:

1. She misses her friends from carpool.
2. She needs more sleep and the carpool would have her wake up later.
3. She's waiting in the cold for a long period of time for that bus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would find some way for my kid not to ride the bus alone with a strange adult male.

+1 This is not a great way to start the day.

[Anonymous]

I'm stuck on a 6:15 bus pick-up and a 7:30 start time! Wow those are early. I can totally see why no one else is riding the bus.

I'd find an alternative only because I wouldn't want to have to get my kid up for the bus (5:45 would be torture, for both of us).

[Anonymous]

You should look into the laws in Indiana about this - at least in suburban NY there used to be a law that a child wasn't allowed to be on a school bus longer than x number of minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm stuck on a 6:15 bus pick-up and a 7:30 start time! Wow those are early. I can totally see why no one else is riding the bus.

I'd find an alternative only because I wouldn't want to have to get my kid up for the bus (5:45 would be torture, for both of us).

Me too

[Anonymous]

For a 7:30 start time and 3 miles, one parent needs to drive her. Simple.

[Anonymous]

I would be fine with the bus driver, but not okay leaving an hour earlier than necessary. You really can't adjust your schedule to spend 5 minutes driving at 7? How early do you need to get to work?

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't let my 8 year old....

[Anonymous]

Nope, I would not let her ride the bus. I drove my 7 yo last year for a similar reason and we had the best time bonding. We sang songs, talked about the day and gave her an extra boost of confidence before starting a day at school. We both still talk about how much fun we had.

Also, that is way to early. Just drive her.

[Anonymous]

I would arrange for her to be driven just because I dont want my kid sitting on a bus for an hour before school.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry you have carpool drama. If I lived near you and was going that way I would be more than happy to take your daughter. Were they upset you didn't reciprocate? In this situation, they are going that way ANYWAY. In any case, just drive her.

[Anonymous]

If I could, I would drive her in this situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Nope, I would not let her ride the bus. I drove my 7 yo last year for a similar reason and we had the best time bonding. We sang songs, talked about the day and gave her an extra boost of confidence before starting a day at school. We both still talk about how much fun we had.

Also, that is way to early. Just drive her.

+1

Do drive her. No carpool. Unless you or spouse have a long commute or must leave very early, try to make time to drive her. This is too long on a bus especially at her age.

Drive time can become terrific talking time built into each day. PP is right that the extra time with you, even those few minutes, can give your DD a much better start to the day than an hour mostly alone on a dark bus.

Re: the bus, is the school aware how underused this bus route really is? In our school system, a route that underutilized would be revised. Happened on one route earlier this year where two routes got combined because one was just not used. It's a real waste of resources to run a bus virtually empty.