I think if a parent or caregiver fails to meet their kindergartener at the bus stop, there should be a policy that in the future they are required to pick up their child at the school.

Anonymous wrote:What happens if no one picks up a child from school and it's 6 o'clock? Do they just set him free?

Probably call CPS

ps. This was before most of you were born.

Gee. I remember walking home with my friend in first grade. Her mom was not home yet and the front door was broken. She walked home with me and my dad called the police and her dad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm astonished by some of the vitriol here. I've never been late to the bus stop to pick up my kid, but I've seen it happen, and the parents it happens to are good parents. Shit happens. I didn't think elementary buses were supposed to release kids without a caregiver present. It doesn't seem like a good idea to me. What if the parent had had a heart attack, and the kid lived across a busy intersection?

I don't know where you guys that have four neighbors you could depend on in an emergency live, but that is not OUR situation.

You really think elementary school kids should be given from bus driver directly to parent? How much hand-holding does your kid require? By the time my kid was in 4th grade I had her taking mass transit to and home from school. I got her a cell phone so she could call me in the morning when she got to school. Kids are capable of a lot more than they're being allowed to do.

I would be quite annoyed if our school's policy was that a parent had to be present at the bus stop. I'm a big fan of giving kids a high amount of age-appropriate independence, and I see walking a block or two home from school as perfectly fine. In your "emergency happened at home" scenario, my children would know to call specific family members/friends or to go to a trusted neighbor for help.

I also started my child taking the bus and metro on her own occasionally from 5th grade, so both she and I would resent a policy that treated her as incapable of going without direct adult supervision for a few minutes. That policy seems ridiculous to me.

I agree that the bus driver was out of line. Almost as out of line for OP to allow herself to be late.

I think OP usually sits in her car. If she was regularly standing there waiting for her kid every day, saying hello to the driver, and etc., the bus driver would have noticed that she was not there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious, OP, are you always standing out at the bus stop when your daughter comes home? Or do you sit in a car or wait in the house or wherever?

The bus stop is not at our house. It's at the next street over. You can't even see it from our house. 99% of the time I walk out there and just stand. I'm the only one there, no one else gets off at this stop.

Curious about that 1%. Do you drive?

Anonymous wrote:Just curious, OP, are you always standing out at the bus stop when your daughter comes home? Or do you sit in a car or wait in the house or wherever?

The bus stop is not at our house. It's at the next street over. You can't even see it from our house. 99% of the time I walk out there and just stand. I'm the only one there, no one else gets off at this stop.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
So you were running late so just assumed you'd pick her up at school? As if this is a legitimate alternate pick up location that the school set up in case the regular bus stop didn't work for you that day?

Are you joking?

No, I'm not. I assume it's a legitimate alternate pick up location because my child is not the only one there. The school is not closed, they have after school kids there, even DD's teacher stays at school till the end of the day. It's not a huge inconvenience, if it happens like once a year.

Hey moron, your child is NOT in aftercare! And now because the teacher is finishing up classroom work it's OK to think your child should be brought back to school and handed around to staff until you show up?? Unbelievable.

In our district, the child is returned to school and placed in the after school program. Parents have to pay for that service when they pick up their child.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious, OP, are you always standing out at the bus stop when your daughter comes home? Or do you sit in a car or wait in the house or wherever?

I hope that OP does not drive to the bus stop a block away.

But what if it's cold or raining? So inconvenient!!!!! Much better for OP to drive and idle this winter.

Anonymous wrote:I can totally see why most of my friends will not let their K students ride on the bus.

That is helicoptering, in my opinion.

Anonymous wrote:Just curious, OP, are you always standing out at the bus stop when your daughter comes home? Or do you sit in a car or wait in the house or wherever?

I hope that OP does not drive to the bus stop a block away.

Just curious, OP, are you always standing out at the bus stop when your daughter comes home? Or do you sit in a car or wait in the house or wherever?

I can totally see why most of my friends will not let their K students ride on the bus.