My kindergartener loves riding the bus! The kindergarteners have to board first and sit in the front with the other kindergarteners. He made so many neighborhood friends with kids who are not in his kindergarten class. Agree with other posters that if you act anxious or concerned for your child, then your child will pick up on it. Ride is only 5 minutes in our case.

Anonymous wrote:Too young. Sorry, OP, and others. Five is way too young to ride a bus.

You, too, are insane.

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Anonymous wrote:My son did it for public PreK! Do it, especially if the times make sense. He LOVES it. Your child may get a bus badge to wear. My son thinks it's thr coolest thing ever.

That's encouraging! I'm second guessing because we had kindergarten screenings last week and he burst into tears. A group of 10 other rising kindergarteners happily ran into the screening room to "play some games", my kid was the only one sobbing. Argh.

I would definitely hold off on the bus then, OP. Driven for the first couple weeks and see where he’s at.

I think he will cry either way. I was thinking if I drive him to school, then he will get used to that. If he takes the bus from the beginning, maybe he will adjust faster?

Yea, this is right. Don’t make the bus something that he has to be eased into. Make it part of school.

What is Kindergarten screening? What fee? Is this a private school?

My pk kid rode a bus - he has a communication disorder and it was a dedicated bus for kids with special needs, so lots of support.

He missed K due to virtual. But would have been fine.

He was absolutely ready to ride the bus in first. There are several K kids at our stop.

It's a 5 minute ride and he loves it.

My older stepkids say they hated the bus and loved getting driven - but they were in Houston on a 30 minute bus ride with lots of kids, so maybe more lord of the flies.

The reason we have so many anxious kids now is the parenting that thinks five year olds can't ride a bus because they will cry. Your kid will only be as capable as you let him/her be. Teach them that they ARE able to do something, instead of that they should be too scared to do anything.

Pay the fee? So this is a private school?

All the kids in our neighborhood start the bus in K. (Public.) It is a rite of passage.

But I say start out as you intend to carry on. So unless you want to drive all year, use the bus the first day.

DD started the year doing drop off, because she was very anxious. Around March Break , she started talking about how her friends take the bus, so we asked her if she’d like to try. She did, and it made her feel very independent and “grown up”.

It’s been great. She loves it (not always, but that’s life), and it has freed up all kinds of time in our day to not have to do drop off and pickup.

Yes, my five-year-old rides the bus to school. The kindergarteners have assigned seats right behind the bus driver, and he gets to sit next to his kindergarten buddies from the neighborhood. And he is safer riding the bus than riding in a car. The only parents I know who drop their kids off use the before-school childcare.

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Anonymous wrote:Too young. Sorry, OP, and others. Five is way too young to ride a bus.

Too young for a school bus? What age would you recommend?
My DD is in Kindergarten this year and has ridden the school bus daily the entire time. We live very close to school, so she’s on the bus for about 5 minutes. Just at our bus stop alone, there are 3 other Kindergarteners and 2 first graders.

Why don’t you just walk or drive to get your five year old if school is so close.

I also think five is too little to be on a bus with older kids. You do you but I wouldn’t put a five year old on a bus.

Because she was excited to ride the bus with a few of her friends, and the car drop-off line at our school is ridiculously long. The timing of the bus works better for us.
Half the kids on her bus are K-2, and bus is elementary only.

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Anonymous wrote:Too young. Sorry, OP, and others. Five is way too young to ride a bus.

Too young for a school bus? What age would you recommend?
My DD is in Kindergarten this year and has ridden the school bus daily the entire time. We live very close to school, so she’s on the bus for about 5 minutes. Just at our bus stop alone, there are 3 other Kindergarteners and 2 first graders.

Why don’t you just walk or drive to get your five year old if school is so close.

I also think five is too little to be on a bus with older kids. You do you but I wouldn’t put a five year old on a bus.

Anonymous wrote:Too young. Sorry, OP, and others. Five is way too young to ride a bus.

Too young for a school bus? What age would you recommend?
My DD is in Kindergarten this year and has ridden the school bus daily the entire time. We live very close to school, so she’s on the bus for about 5 minutes. Just at our bus stop alone, there are 3 other Kindergarteners and 2 first graders.

Our school doesn’t have a bus but I’m curious - is the bus just for kindergartners or is it for the whole lower school?

Too young. Sorry, OP, and others. Five is way too young to ride a bus.

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Anonymous wrote:My son did it for public PreK! Do it, especially if the times make sense. He LOVES it. Your child may get a bus badge to wear. My son thinks it's thr coolest thing ever.

That's encouraging! I'm second guessing because we had kindergarten screenings last week and he burst into tears. A group of 10 other rising kindergarteners happily ran into the screening room to "play some games", my kid was the only one sobbing. Argh.

I would definitely hold off on the bus then, OP. Driven for the first couple weeks and see where he’s at.

Terrible idea to make your kid that new weird kid that mommy wouldn’t let ride the bus until they were ready . School bus hierarchy will already be established by then and the kid is more likely to be teased

Jesus! You make riding the school bus sound like Lord of the Flies!

And to OP, drive your child to school and see how it goes. It would kill me to see my five-year-old crying through the bus window with no one to comfort him.

The thing about riding the bus from the first is all of the coddling and guidance from the school.

If you wait 3-4 weeks, your kid won’t get that.