There are unspoken rules when it comes to riding the bus to school, I unfortunately never really got to experience true bus ridership when I was a child. We lived within walking distance to Meadowbrook Elementary (actually it was .84 miles according to MapQuest) so my friends and I didn't get to enjoy all that goes with taking school transportation. We instead got to experience walking which included, but was not limited to: falling down hills, being chased by small dogs and wandering through culverts and cemeteries on our way to school.
My sister and I instead had to beg mom to let us take swimming lessons at the YMCA in downtown Rapid City so we could experience riding a bus. All we really ended up with was pneumonia (it was the winter when we took our lessons) and the knowledge of how to do the sidestroke, which I truly believe is an extinct swimming stroke.
Anywho...
Now that little man has started kindergarten, both of our children take the bus to/from school and my how their experiences have varied.
For AE the bus has been fun, albeit painful at times. We have had musical seats with a couple of her friends which leads to elementary angst, but overall it has been positive. Each year she moves a little farther back to big kid territory.
The 6th graders get the really cool back seats and the kindergartners must sit in the front or with a sibling. I have worried a bit about little man and the inevitability that he may actually have to sit with his sister. I was having flashbacks to my sister and I having to do anything together and my father worrying we would make completes asses out of ourselves. I too have this fear with our children - they just can't control themselves when it comes to their sibling and the opportunities for public humiliation in front of the entire neighborhood really are endless on the bus.
I guess all of my worrying may have been for naught. JG has completely circumvented the whole bus hierarchy thing. He has somehow weaseled his way to the back of the bus and is sitting with the 6th graders which has been unheard of, however which is now possible thanks to unassigned seating.
AE is a bit miffed that he hasn't put in his bus dues, but she will get over it. I am just waiting for the day when she gets in the back of the bus and may have to ask her "little" brother for a seat.
My sister and I instead had to beg mom to let us take swimming lessons at the YMCA in downtown Rapid City so we could experience riding a bus. All we really ended up with was pneumonia (it was the winter when we took our lessons) and the knowledge of how to do the sidestroke, which I truly believe is an extinct swimming stroke.
Anywho...
Now that little man has started kindergarten, both of our children take the bus to/from school and my how their experiences have varied.
For AE the bus has been fun, albeit painful at times. We have had musical seats with a couple of her friends which leads to elementary angst, but overall it has been positive. Each year she moves a little farther back to big kid territory.
The 6th graders get the really cool back seats and the kindergartners must sit in the front or with a sibling. I have worried a bit about little man and the inevitability that he may actually have to sit with his sister. I was having flashbacks to my sister and I having to do anything together and my father worrying we would make completes asses out of ourselves. I too have this fear with our children - they just can't control themselves when it comes to their sibling and the opportunities for public humiliation in front of the entire neighborhood really are endless on the bus.
I guess all of my worrying may have been for naught. JG has completely circumvented the whole bus hierarchy thing. He has somehow weaseled his way to the back of the bus and is sitting with the 6th graders which has been unheard of, however which is now possible thanks to unassigned seating.
AE is a bit miffed that he hasn't put in his bus dues, but she will get over it. I am just waiting for the day when she gets in the back of the bus and may have to ask her "little" brother for a seat.
Comments
sometime we'll tell you the story about me and carey and the bus, susan.
let's just say we would NOT be friends if we had started out life as bus mates :)
he he.