5yo on long bus ride?

Should she ride the bus?

  • Yes, she'll be fine

    Votes: 7 100.0%
  • No way, driver her yourself

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other...please elaborate!

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    7

northernmommy

New member
If the kids and I relocate, DD will have at least a 20 minute bus ride to get to Kg, which I'm really nervous about. She'll have just turned 5, and is about average size. I just don't see how a small child is safe on a school bus, plus my mom just informed me it goes off the road about once a year (there's a big hill leading to the school). Am I just being neurotic, or should I be worried about this? Do busses allow you to install a carseat? Or will it be safest if I drive her each day? I don't know if that's going to be logistically possible, as I don't know what I'm going to be doing for work yet (though I have applied to drive a bus...:whistle:, maybe dd's?).

Any thoughts?

ETA: Ignore the spelling mistakes in the poll, apparently I'm more tired than I thought!
 
ADS

QuassEE

Moderator - CPST Instructor
Statistically, she's much safer riding the school bus versus being driven in a private vehicle. School buses are beasts, and even when they're involved in incidents the kids are generally fine. In fact--more children have been hurt entering/exiting school buses versus actually on them. They don't generally have seatbelts here in BC, and the whole seatbelt on bus thing is a much larger issue that I won't get into here.. School bus seats are designed to compartmentalize, and so if used properly kids will be protected and contained between the seats. I personally would not allow my child to sit three across in a seat, especially if they were in the aisle.. nor would I allow them to sit in a front row with no seat in front (or similar seatback barrier).. Other than that--I'd probably allow my child to ride the bus. I did NOT allow my kids to go on fieldtrips on the bus until grade 4 here, because they sit 3 across before that....and when I did start letting them ride the bus, I said they HAD to sit in the back row at all times because I didn't trust other kids to behave and sit in position on the bus. However--kids riding to and from school on a daily basis tend to know the safety drill better than a group of excited kids going on a once-yearly bus fieldtrip.

-N.
 

hipmaman

Moderator - CPST Instructor
This was a topic that I lost sleep over when my dd#1 started Grd 1 (she just turned 6 yrs old) and needed to ride the bus 15-20 min each way for twice a day, 5 times a week. Needless to say, I've come to term with it based on what I've learned. I echo what Nicole/QuassEE said.

They have orientation days here for the kids about to ride the school bus for the 1st time. The kids are taught what is safe and what is not safe. (Most of the time), the kids behave themselves on the bus. Parents attend with the kids and get to ride on a 5-10 min. demonstration ride.

In addition, at the beginning of the school yr, there are always two dedicated old(est) kids riding on each bus to watch out for anything considered as a misbehaviour or dangerous behaviour on the way to and fro.

Try to find out thru the school or the bus company if there are such measures/steps to help the kids to learn about bus safety. There is also a Pooh video that available with the safety tips. The kids watch this video as part of the orientation.

My dd#1 is now entering Grd 4 and my ds is Grd 2 riding the same bus system. And they will continue riding until they can drive :) and the baby will ride the bus when she gets to Grd 1 too.

What I still struggle with is the occassional field trips where they would be on the hwy and/or going further than the normal 20 min. I've driven them on some of those field trips when they first started out but increasingly I've stopped. Luckily, there was only one or two field trips a yr for Grd 1 and it has not been far (30 min.) ride and on local roads.
 

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