What do you do about buses and field trips?

MyBeachBabies

New member
My son is in Kindergarten and his class will be going on their one and only field trip in April. The buses have lap belts. The trip will be over an hour each way on a busy interstate.

My son is 5, 46 inches and 43 lbs. He rides in a Regent, but still fits in a Marathon.

My initial response is to drive him down there myself or to just keep him home and do something else fun. If I drive him myself I have to check him out of school and they will count him absent, then I take full liability for him myself. It sounds like a lot of red tape.

I don't want him to miss out on all the fun of his first field trip, but the buses make me nervous especially with the distance they will be traveling.

So what do you think? What would you do?
 
ADS

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
I'd drive him. How absurd that that would count as an absent day. I can see why you'd have to sign him out, but then the teachers should be able to vouch that he was with you.

Wendy
 

ginny4

New member
where my kids go to school it is REQUIRED that they take the bus to & from the place with or without you as a chaperone. they do NOT allow for anyone to follow or siblings or anyone. so......i've gone with my kids with just abotu every school trip. i get my mom or DH mom to watch my other chidlen. basically i just PRAY. tho buses are made differently than cars so......i take the risk. i'll be putting my DD on the bus to school staring in sept. & she'll be a new 4yo. granted she is a big 4yo but still. she rides in a regent in our car & in nothing on the bus but a lap belt. i'll be nervous but i'll just pray for her & her brothers safety
 

singingpond

New member
Just have to comment that our school buses around here don't even have lap belts. Fortunately (?) we have almost no K field trips, because of school budget cuts in the last few years. I did chaperone on the only field trip DS#1's K class has been on this year, but that was only about 10 minutes on a bus, to a neighboring town. I do let DS ride on the bus to/from school almost every day, and mainly put my faith into the good accident statistics of school buses over the years.

As for the original question, I would have qualms too about a 1+ hour ride on the interstate (partly because it's hard to image a group of excited 5-6 year-olds sitting still for that long), but I'm not sure whether I would let my child go or not. Probably yes, in the end...

Katrin
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
Buses are about 8 times less likely to crash than family vehicles & the crash type is usually much less severe. School bus seats are also designed to keep kids the size of an average 6 year old safe via compartmentalization (different than family vehicles).

IMPO, unless you feel comfortable with the increased risk of crashing in your own vehicle then either ride with him or just forego the trip altogether -- I personally factor in my worry that kiddo needs a healthy, safe mama too so I'd rather ride the bus with her than increase both our risk of crashing in a family car (especially my own risk where the bus is more likely safer for me so I can more likely still be around to mommy my child)

My DD fit the bus seats fine in PreK, but most of her classmates didn't. Even so, I taught her proper bus safety: butt sits all the way back, facing front, etc. Now that she's in Kindergarten, I have no worries with her riding the bus each morning. She's safer that way than if I were driving her (we both are).
 
i drove a scholl bus for years and honestly the kindergarden trips are not really the ones to be concerned about. at that age the teachers are realy attenetive to the kids and what they are doing and are constantly reminding them to sit down facing forward. if the bus has lap belts i'm sure they will all be buckled as we had to check on the vans since or big buses did not have them except the two front seats for our own kids carseats. if it realy concerns you i'd give the teacher a call and explain to her how you feel and perhaps request she keeps your daughter near her or another chaperone to make sure she is sitting properly. i've driven quite a few of the kindgarden, 1st and 2nd grade trips and those kids are very well behaved with the parent chaperones and teachers. its the older kids that seem to have issues sitting down.
as a pp said the buses are very safe and are designed much diffently then your car. i have seen many different accidents over the years (they said a notice out to each location whenever a bus somewhere is in an accident to remind the drivers about safety) buses sliding off the road in snow and ice, rear ended, side hit when driving. the buses take alot of force and rarely even affect the children inside in any way. i have seen a bus rear ended on a highway in traffic. (we were on a field trip and traffic occured and a suv didn't pay attention and hit the bus in front of me when we stopped and they did not) i'm glad to say every child walked off that bus fine and the majority had no idea what had even happened. only the ones in the back that saw the car knew. these were first graders.
i would let ds go. it is a big deal for the kids to go on their first frield trip and they will talk about them for days. by not letting him go not only does his miss the educational value but most times the teachers use the trips as refernece for the next few days about what they are learning. also the other kis in his class will talk about it and he won't be able to be involved in the conversation which is important at his age.
 

MyBeachBabies

New member
IMPO, unless you feel comfortable with the increased risk of crashing in your own vehicle then either ride with him or just forego the trip altogether -- I personally factor in my worry that kiddo needs a healthy, safe mama too so I'd rather ride the bus with her than increase both our risk of crashing in a family car (especially my own risk where the bus is more likely safer for me so I can more likely still be around to mommy my child)

Unfortunately only 1 chaperone per class can ride the bus and the rest have to follow in their own vehicle, so I may have to drive either way. Actually if DH can get off work, he will go so I can stay home with my younger 2. It would be nice he if could be the chaperone on the bus :)
 
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I have already had to deal with this at my son's preschool. I drive him...I think I will do this for awhile as well. I don't trust my busses around here. They drive like maniacs.
 

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