5yo on a bus?

thepeach80

Senior Community Member
Would you let your 41#, newly 5yo ride a regular size school bus? AJ will be in Summer Fun Club for 5 wks this summer and he'll probably be taking a field trip sometime. If it's on a Monday or Friday it's a non-issue b/c he can just stay home, it's it's T, W, or TH do I let him go or make him stay at the Y?
 
ADS

courtfrog2

Active member
I would let him ride on the bus. Buses are much safer than cars. That's what we learned in class. It's something called departmentalization that the seats absorb the force in case of an accident.

Plus, you don't hear about many bus accidents and when you do very rarely are injuries.

I put my daughter on a bus when she was 5 for preschool everyday.
 

CDNTech

Senior Community Member
Compartmentalization should start to work for kids bigger than 40lbs... from what I remember.

Aiden is now 39lbs (was 36 at the beginning of the school year)... for field trips around town and into Calgary (once a month), I let him take the bus. When they drove an hour and a half away to a dinosaur museum, he rode with me in the van.

So, I guess my answer is yes. :)
 

sirrahn

Active member
My younger DS rode the bus to school starting in K (he probably wasn't quite 40lbs) and my older DD (who is 40 now) will next fall. I have no issue at all with my school age kids riding the bus.
 

mish

New member
I think it is fine for your child to ride the bus. They are safer in a bus than in a car.
 

skaterbabs

Well-known member
I would not be comfortable if it were my child, because compartmentalization is just starting to become effective at 40 lbs. And we all know children at the bottom end of the acceptable range for something aren't as well protected. Yes, buses are safer than cars, but for MY child I would not be comfortable with it.
 

Mommypooh

New member
I would not let my child ride the bus. I plan to drive my daughter every day for the next 5 years to school she can ride a bus in middle school. I will have to have my daughter at school at 9:30 my son at school at 12:30 and then pick up my daughter at 3:45 and my son at 4:00 so I will be busy not to mention I will either keep them home on field trip days or drive them myself.
 

courtfrog2

Active member
My DH and I work full time so we have had no choice but to have her ride the bus. I would SO rather her ride the bus than in someone else's car!

What is the statistics on injuries involving buses compared to personal vehicle accidents? I'm guessing Car/Van accidental deaths are SO much higher than bus accidents.

If you are that concerned, the 1st couple seats on all our school buses have seat belts. Buckle his carseat up on it! I offered that to my 3rd grader who rides in a Regent in our vehicles and she was mortified!

I feel buses are safe IMO.
 

MumtotinyM

New member
I would not be comfortable if it were my child, because compartmentalization is just starting to become effective at 40 lbs. And we all know children at the bottom end of the acceptable range for something aren't as well protected. Yes, buses are safer than cars, but for MY child I would not be comfortable with it.

:yeahthat: Another thing that bothers me about buses, most of the kids do not sit correctly on the seats. I have driven behind school buses numerous times, and seen kids kneeling up on the seats, twisted around. I remember going on school buses as a kid, and I know I was always turning around to talk to friends and such. My daughter is also only about 34lbs, so she still has a while to go before reaching 40lbs.
 

skaterbabs

Well-known member
That's the other eason I won't let my 45 lb child ride the school bus. Granted for us it's not an issue for another year, but the odds of her sitting properly are pretty low AND it won't matter if she's sitting properly if her neighbors aren't.
 

Jeanum

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus
Staff member
I pondered this quite a bit last year as my now 6 year old ride started kindergarten last fall. She rides the school bus to and from school most days because I feel she would be safer in terms of lower crash frequencies for school buses compared to passenger vehicles. Riding the school bus also saves on gas, wear and tear on my car, and as Papooses pointed out when I was pondering this, decreases the risk that I would be in a crash along with her little sister who would be riding along with me to and from school drop off and pickup (two round trips a day) if big sis didn't ride the bus. :twocents:
 

jwren

New member
My son is 48 lbs (turns 5 in August) and I live right next door to his school so lucky for me that won't be an issue, I don't even think they offer bus service for me being we could walk there. But I will take him in my car, (down the mountain to the school below) when he finishes 6th grade, if we are still here, then maybe he can ride the bus to the mid school.. but maybe not.. we'll see. At this age I feel more comfortable with him in his 5pt harness..:twocents:
 

zactayaus

Well-known member
My dd was only 38lbs when she was 5yo and started riding the bus to school and she was still in a 5-point harness seat in our vehicles until she was seven. Our buses have seat belts in all the seats and an aid on the bus to help little ones with the belts. They also have a parent ride with the child on the bus for the first day of school for a shortened day (only a couple of hours) which starts a day before all the other kids in the school start. My ds will be starting school this September. He only weighs 36lbs right now and will be riding the bus.
 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus
My dd rode the bus when she was 5. She was probably around 35lbs at that time. I did insist on using her carseat when we went on a field trip with her preschool (at age 4), though.
 

thepeach80

Senior Community Member
Oy, you guys are no help. :p I think I'll ask my boss today and see if she knows about any field trips for this summer. It would just be here in town and I think he'd do pretty well sitting properly (my mom says I've brain washed him). He went on the bus yesterday, but the pre-K students have to ride the special ed buses and use the harnesses, I was SO happy to hear that. That means I don't have to go on the next field trip either, woohoo! ;) The buses this summer will be full sized normal buses. I did let him use the Disney transportation buses, but I was there w/ him, I felt better being w/ him.
 

kater-tot82

New member
I would do it. My DD (5 years, 37 lbs) rode a bus to a field trip at YMCA daycamp last week. I warned her about sitting correctly on the bus. In New York state (where we live) I believe there are seat belts on school buses. I am debating about letting her ride the bus to school for K in the fall. It's not an easy decision, but both DH and I work and I think I could actually put her on the bus myself and still get to work on time, which is huge for us. One thing I'm learning is that I work to keep her as safe as I can when she's with me and teach her as much as I can about safety so she can hopefully make wise choices when she's older... but I can't control everything. This is JMO. Good luck with your decision:)
PS--did you decide where you're sending AJ to school in the fall? I remember your thread awhile ago about being unsure of where he'd go to Kdg. I hope you made a decision you're comfortable with:)
 

MommyG

New member
I pondered this quite a bit last year as my now 6 year old ride started kindergarten last fall. She rides the school bus to and from school most days because I feel she would be safer in terms of lower crash frequencies for school buses compared to passenger vehicles. Riding the school bus also saves on gas, wear and tear on my car, and as Papooses pointed out when I was pondering this, decreases the risk that I would be in a crash along with her little sister who would be riding along with me to and from school drop off and pickup (two round trips a day) if big sis didn't ride the bus. :twocents:

These statistics (the most recent I could find) seem to support your analysis:

http://www.trb.org/news/blurb_detail.asp?id=673
http://www.pr9.net/teens/teenlife/7539march.html (same stats...just explained)
 

Mommypooh

New member
Must be nice having seat belts on school buses no buses other than the Special ed buses have them and only then they have them in only the first couple of seats for children under 40 lbs, so that is not going to work with my son who has been offered the bus for preschool cause he will be assisting in special ed class as a play buddy. He may be under 40 lbs for now but I know that won't last long and I don't want him to ride now and then throw a fit over not being able to ride when he is over 40 lbs or in K. Just my thoughts. I know my kids do not have the maturity to sit still and stay in place. My daughter would be everywhere and I know it.
 

BookMama

Senior Community Member
We let DS ride the school bus when he was 5.5 and about 38 lbs. We had no choice - he went to the school's after-school child care program, which was housed (for everyone in the district) at the middle school 5 minutes away. There was no way that DH or I could drive him there. I was confident that he would sit properly, and there were really only a handful of kids on the bus anyway - not as distracting as a busful of kids might have been.

That said, he's in a different school this year (that's a whole other story) and there are no busses so DH drops him off and I pick him up. The after-school child care program is actually at the school. He has ridden the bus for a couple of field trips this year but I'm kind of glad he doesn't have to ride the bus every day. But I'd let him if he had to.
 

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