Days before kindergarten started, I was having major second thoughts about sending Lily on the school bus. Last spring it seemed like a fantastic idea, but the closer the day came, the larger my list of cons grew: Does any good really come from riding the bus? Was it just lazy of me to depend on it rather than drive her myself? Fifth graders ride that bus– I shuddered to think of the things she could pick up riding along side those hoodlums. She just seemed so small to ride something so big. But, she begged and pleaded and I gave in. And from the very first day,* I have been head over heels in love.
Seriously, that yellow school bus is like, the best thing ever. It arrives ten paces from our door to transports her back to the same spot six hours later. It comes at a generous 8:50, allowing my night owl daughter to sleep in until almost eight. She loves meeting her classmates at the corner and it’s even allowed my usual hermit self to meet some new neighbors. Not to mention that waiting for her is the highlight of her brother’s days. And the fact that this time and energy saving mode of transportation is free?! It’s nothing short of a miracle. A miracle with a cigarette smelling driver and squeaking wheels. But a miracle, no less.
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Buses are wonderful. If we didn’t live across the street from the school, I would demand bus service. Next year, I have to DRIVE KitKat to high school. It will be a nightmare.
PS–I love how you played along under your own rules. :)
.-= Lolli´s last blog ..Mommy, I Got Some Advice For You! =-.
It’s a big yellow limo driving down the street.
The bad part? My husband gets my 6YO on the bus so I get daily text messages from him about our neighbor and her obsession and love for the “whine.”
.-= Future Blackmail´s last blog ..R-E-S-P-E-C-T =-.
I love our bus but understand being afraid in the beginning. Living on a military base they use the buses to go to Elementary, Middle and High School. That means my 5 yr old rides with SENIORS! Ah! But it has turned out to be great because they adore her so the big kids make sure she gets where she needs to and protect her from other pesky 1st graders. Our school bus ROCKS!
.-= Keyona´s last blog ..Titles Are Overrated =-.
You always make me laugh my head off : )
I interepret her theme LOOSELY myself every week.
I try to be more normal but it just never works!
And don’t worry, that cigarette smoking bus driver is going to get eleventy eleventy million lectures from his little passengers on the dangers of smoking as the year goes on!
.-= Life with Kaishon´s last blog ..Today is the first day of the rest of your life. =-.
–>I love the yellow school bus except when I’m driving behind them and can’t pass, then they stop and I’m usually running late…but otherwise, who doesn’t love free transportation!
http://www.websavymom.com
.-= Hokie Deb´s last blog ..What Bloggers Like – 10 Things =-.
We have the same brain.
I fought this fight last week.
On facebook though.
And posted it.
I loves me some big beautiful bus NOW! I don’t have to strap in three munchkins and race every bus in the kingdom .. to get her to school on time.. that’s someone ELSES responsbility now yo!!
lol. fun posts.. I always enjoy lurking around some of your posts even the loose ones.
d
I took the bus growing up and loved it. I was in first grade when I first started taking it and the kindergarten teacher’s husband drove it and he’d always tell us he was going to take us to Six Flags instead of school.
Glad the experience is working out.
I still am undecided about the whole bus thing. I never trusted bus drivers and if they really protect kids from getting bullied.
I’m scare to let my kids ride the bus. I keep envisioning these horror stories about my son getting lost and bewildered and crying and, it’s just not pretty.
Ok, not to freak you out, but read this. I came out of it unscathed, hahaha but my mom still talks about this and we have a little laugh…
http://ifthesassfits.blogspot.com/2009/08/wrong-bus.html
LOL! I always drive my elementary school daughter to school the first day, but then after that she rides the bus. We do love the bus driver man! They know what they’re doing… And usually there’s a teacher who rides along.
Oh the simple pleasures in life!!! Awesome that she loves it; like a true spoiled brat, I would have told my kindergarden teacher that my parents were abusive if they ever made me ride a bus.
:) The fun of being a little kid. Gie her a couple of years. The novelty will wear off…
Please say you’re joking. They don’t REALLY allow the driver to smoke cigarettes while transporting the children!
No, no, no- not while driving! But he does kind of stink like smoke.
Ah, I love our school bus… They pick up and drop off right at our driveway and I don’t even have to leave the house! Although, I am sometimes embarrassed for the bus driver to see me wearing the same bathrobe at 3:45 pm that I had on at 8:45 am…
LOL, I am the same way. Whatever. I’m sure he’s seen worse.
Sometimes I loosely play along to my own workshops. I hate it when I boss myself around.
Maile will be riding that giant beast of a vehicle in less than a week. My biggest fear is that she’ll get on the wrong bus coming home and end up in Wyoming or something. You give me hope…
.-= Mama Kat´s last blog ..Writer’s Workshop: Take THAT Google Adsense! =-.
I heart the magical yellow school bus, too, and if you go up to the second story porch in the back of my house you can- ahem- actually see the school. But the bus is just so SEXY the kids were dying to take it, which melded perfectly with my extreme laziness, so now it picks them off and drops them off in front of the house. With 4 kids in 4 different schools this year, I need all the help I can get! Also- added bonus: the bus driver is really mean this year, which makes me look less mean in comparison!
.-= marymac´s last blog ..15 Minutes of Fame? Out. Sweatpants? In. =-.
Convenience…what a fantastical thing! And yellow is such a cheery color!
I wrote a post about using the bus last week. Commuters LOVE it when parents use the bus because it frees it up the road for us. I’m all for it…. until my kids have to go to school. LOL
.-= Jennifer´s last blog ..Pretty Legs, Wordless Wednesday =-.
I drive my girls to and from school, but they would LOVE to ride the bus (they’ve ridden buses before on field trips). But the subdivision we live in, there’s only one way in/one way out… just a bunch of cul-de-sacs. So the buses don’t come into the neighboorhood (I guess ’cause they can’t turn around?). Of the few kids that live here that do ride the bus, they have to catch it at the entrance to the subdivision. My kids would then have to walk from the entrance to our house… or I could be like the other moms and sit in my car at the entrance, waiting on the bus. I’d rather just drive the one mile to school myself.
.-= Shannon´s last blog ..Gratuitous Daniel Craig Photo of the Week =-.
8:50?? LUCKY! Our school begins at 8:10, so we have to be up at 7am if there’s going to be any hope of feeding, clothing, and making it remotely on time. We live close enough that I’m planning to walk (nothing like a forced march first thing in the morning) for much of the year…. but we’ll see how I feel about that when it’s 2 degrees outside. I’m sure I’ll be much more excited to bundle up a toddler, strap him into his seat, drive the 400 yards to school & wait for 20 minutes behind some a-hole in a Hummer. Yay for school starting!
.-= Amy´s last blog ..Fab Friday: August 28 =-.
Our house would be so unpleasant if it came at 8. The extra 50 minutes make for such a relaxed morning. I adore it.
Sounds like a fantabulous invention.
Our school is at the end of the street, though – we wouldn’t use it if it existed here.
.-= Mwa´s last blog ..Right paw forward =-.
Hayden will be riding the bus too. I am so nervous about it for the reasons you stated but you have given me hope. Thank you.
.-= Jen, buried with children´s last blog ..Room 35 =-.
It’s adorable that the boys wait for her to get home!! And, on a totally different note, I am LOVING the new Whitney CD.
Ohhhh, good to know.
I can’t decide on the school bus theory. I know that as a kid, I learned FAR more bad behavior from the school bus than I ever did on the playground. Plus kids nowadays aren’t as threatened by mean school bus drivers the way they were when I was a kid.
But, my tax $$$ are paying for it. And it’s convenient. And, come November, I think I’m going to start liking it a lot once I have a toddler and a newborn and it’s winter…
.-= Texan Mama´s last blog ..The First Day of Dry Sheets =-.
Come November I am going to be kissing the wheels.
Oh I hear ya. Last year was our first bus experience, and my girls were 7 and 6. I was so worried, but turned out to be their favorite part of the day.
We are blessed to have a wonderful driver, so it makes it more comfy for me to send my babies via bus!
Our driver is fine, kind of a teddy bear with a rough exterior. But I like the kids she rides with and her teacher meets her at the bus. And she LOVES it. For now at least, it’s perfect. :)
I hated taking the bus. I begged and pleaded with my mom to let me ride my bike, but she always said no. I fully intend to use it when my child is able though. Car pickups at schools are usually a nightmare.
.-= Bruce Teague´s last blog ..Help Me Get My Son In The Pool With Out Drowning Him =-.
I grew up in a rural community where the high schoolers and kindergartners rode the same bus. We were the last stop and the bus was always full. I would try to squeeze a spot on the edge of a seat with a much older kid and get the stink eye and also get my ears flicked by the high schoolers in the seat behind. It was hell on a stick.
But my parents liked that it picked me up. lol! There is no way, it is as bad for your kids, so just forget I told that story.
.-= SeattleDad´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday: Tips for Getting Your 2-year-old to Sleep =-.
I’m not listening! I’m not listening! La,la,la,la… {covering ears}
I am so glad to hear a happy school bus story! I am working up to letting my youngest ride the bus next year – we still carpool it. I didn’t let my oldest ride the school bus until high school. I know, that’s totally overprotective, but I had some spine-chilling experiences on the school bus back in the day. It thrills me to know that maybe this is one of the things that’s gotten better!
For some reason I always hated riding the bus and would beg my Mom for a ride… But all of my memories of riding the bus are good ones.
And don’t worry about the smokey smelling bus driver… In my life her name was Ms. Hall and I adored her. Each one of us was given a day where we got to pick what radio station we listened to on the way home even though the bus drivers weren’t supposed to let us listen to the radio. It was almost always on the same station, but it definitely made us feel special on our day to be able to pick.
.-= Grizzly Kitteh´s last blog ..I’ll save that drama for another day… =-.
Awww, I love that. :)
When I was in kindergarten I accidentally got off at the wrong stop and wandered around our neighborhood for an hour before my mom found me. Ever since then I’ve had a bit o’ fear of the big yella beast. Having said that, if we didn’t live directly across from the elementary school AND middle school, I would have my kid on that bus so fast it would make their head spin.
.-= Cara´s last blog ..Croquet Anyone? =-.
Oh, that’s terrible!! I love you for that last comment.
When you started to describe the driver, I immediately went to the Simpsons. Weird?
Anything that makes kids happy about going to school is golden in my book. How sweet that your boys look forward to meeting her.
.-= Ryan Ashley Scott´s last blog ..Secret Cartoons =-.
I laugh every time my son talks about our driver….he adores him. I just keep picturing the bus driver from the Simpsons. Awesome.
And, yes, the bus is just about the best thing ever. We have to pay for it here in Kansas, though. Odd. It was free in Colorado and most other places I know of. Anyway, we love it. And, I think when we buy a house after this first year of getting to know our new city, I will be sure to buy one far enough from the school to be given a bus. Makes sense to me!
.-= Starnes Fam´s last blog ..Smart Shopping….Just A Little Out Of Order =-.
Free!? When I rode the bus it was $45 a month!
If she’s riding with her friends then I’ll bet that she’s well protected from those fifth grade hooligans.
.-= Lori Z.´s last blog ..When Creativity Strikes =-.
Certainly puts school buses on a lovely pedastal. Loved that way you ended this!
~ Wendy
.-= Wendy´s last blog ..One Question Friday =-.
I am oddly afraid of the school bus, and I’m typically one of those moms that isn’t bothered by much. Well, except snakes. But you make it sound like nirvana. Maybe I’ll have to reconsider.
.-= KathyB!´s last blog ..I’m like rubber, you’re like glue =-.
I totally second that. I miss the school bus! Now I need to bring her to school myself, which means I need to get both kids ready by quarter to 8, and somehow manage to get myself ready too, and don’t forget to have breakfast, as it often happens. Bring on the school bus, please!
.-= Elisa´s last blog ..The birthday post, part 2: the showoff =-.
God Bless the school bus. Only, I wish that ours would get their act together and decide if they’re coming at 7:35 or 7:50 becuase I’m tried of driving the neighborhood to school because they missed the bus. The letter said 7:52 so let’s try really hard to get within 5 min of that, mmmkay?
Sorry, I’ll just call the bus manager and talk to him. Glad it’s working out for you, though. :-)
.-= heidi´s last blog ..Friday Freebie!!! =-.
Welcome to the BlogFrog! ‘Ethel’ and I are community leaders, but we’ve BOTH been trying to figure out new computers for the 10 days. YIKES.
Anyway, we’re glad your on board! And the school bus story brings back fond memories :)
Helen/’Lucy’
.-= Helen´s last blog ..Friday & the Full Moon =-.
Hi, I’m following your website on blogged.com.
I went through the same anxiety when I considered putting my three boys on the bus.
Unfortunately, our bus costs over $1,000 per child thus helping me to make my decision. By driving the kids back and forth to school every morning I am more involved but what I would give for the convenience of a bus and I would have an additional three hours to myself every day.
I guess it’s all par for the course! Glad your having good results. My youngest son goes to kindergarten next year.
.-= Jillian´s last blog ..Fast Strength Training Results =-.
I am so glad that I finally made it over here. I see your name all over the place, but am only now sorting through all of those business cards from blogher and stopping by.
School bus rocks -mostly- I used to have service but not so much anymore. Noe I have to put on clothes and load up the car to drive both ways. Enjoy bus service.
.-= WeaselMomma´s last blog ..Doing Time =-.
I just found out that when my daughter starts kindergarten in a couple years (omg can’t believe it is only a couple years!) that she will not be bused. I always thought she would but turns out our house is 1.4 miles away from school. You have to be 1.5 miles to take the bus. So it will drive right by our house to pick up the neighbor’s kid next door but not mine. I’m not liking that yellow thing right about now, lol.
.-= Midwest Mommy´s last blog ..There’s More Than Corn In Indiana! =-.
Ohhhh, I’m terrified for when my oldest starts riding the bus. Because, well, she hasn’t even started school yet. So her riding the bus? Would mean school. Which means she’s *old enough* for that. And that makes me feel old. And sad.
Where’s my tequila?
.-= LinLori´s last blog ..I got a badge, I got a badge… =-.
I am a huge fan of the bus. I never took one myself since I went to private school, but Oliver’s special pre-school is provided through the public school district and I think it’s GREAT! Finally – a year without a commute. I’m so excited.
.-= Kate Coveny Hood´s last blog ..What Would We Do Baby, Without Us =-.
My kids would love to get on one of those “Magic School Bus’ buses as suburbian schools don’t have buses here and no country buses are yellow. What a great service and an awesome way to get to school.
.-= blueskyhi´s last blog ..Book Sharing Monday – How Santa Really Works =-.
I wish I had the courage but I just don’t. I’m sure it would be fine but since we just moved here a couple of months ago I’m a little hesitant. Of course I’m about to have a baby so I may be changing my mind REALLY quickly….
.-= Elaine´s last blog ..Rewards & Awards =-.
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