How did they do on their first school bus ride?
By katsmeow1213
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
United States
August 23, 2010 11:07am CST
Today I brought my son in for his preschool orientation. He's been very excited about going to school, and has no anxieties about it what so ever. He strolled right into class and found some things to play with and fit right in. Then it was time to practice riding the bus, which was his very first time ever. I didn't think he'd have a problem, we've been talking to him about it since the day we learned he was going to preschool... but once he got on the bus he was hysterical. I ended up having to go on the bus ride with him. He calmed down as soon as he knew I'd be there the whole time. I hope he'll be okay on the first day of school when I won't be able to ride the bus with him! The twins will be on the bus with him that first day, because they go to the same school, but they will not be able to sit near him... the bus drivers put the preschoolers and kindergarteners up front and the older kids go towards the back... but I think just knowing they're on the same bus should calm his anxieties a bit.
2 people like this
7 responses
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
23 Aug 10
The fact that he fitted in right away says that his socialization skills are way up there.Couldn't you talk to the bus driver and let him ride with the twins for a while until he feels more secure? Could not an exception be made as he is still a little boy? I hope so.But do what you think best - my first son cried every day for a year.I kid you not
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
23 Aug 10
I don't think they'd allow special treatment, I'm sure he's not the only child who'll have an older sibling on the bus with them.. but they also have the little ones in front because they get off the bus first so the teachers can find them without confusion and escort them to their rooms. Give him a couple days and he'll be used to it without a problem.
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
24 Aug 10
He's very excited about school.. not sure if he realizes yet that I won't be with him everyday.. but I don't think it will take long for him to get used to it and be okay. He's a strong boy emotionally.
@AmbiePam (85496)
• United States
25 Aug 10
I hated riding the bus. The school I went to was 30 minutes away, so my sister and I rode the bus for five years before we changed schools. The worse thing was when other kids would get sick. Usually, it was after school, not before school. So we'd be on the way home, and some kid would have had too much for lunch or some kind of snack right before school let out, and then they would throw up. And we'll all raise our feet off the floor as it sloshed about.
Gross. Sorry my trip down memory lane took a gross detour.
@gemini_rose (16264)
•
31 Aug 10
It is so hard seeing them off to school for the first time, I walk my children to school so I don't know how I would go on having to send them on a bus! My daughter will start full time school next week, she will be induced for the first three weeks and will go 9 - 12 the first week, 9 - 1pm the second week, 9 - 2pm the third week and then full time 9am - 3.15pm from the fourth week. I am looking forward to it but at the same I am dreading it, she is my last baby!
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
26 Aug 10
Kathryn never rode the bus until she was already in first grade because we were out of area for most of her kindergarten year. She did fine the first time that she rode the bus and it was only a week later that she didn't want me walking up to the corner to meet the bus anymore.
I would think that having his older brother and sister on the bus with him will make a huge difference. Perhaps, if you really think it will be a problem you could talk to the bus monitor about letting his siblings sit with him on the bus at first.
@sender621 (14894)
• United States
23 Aug 10
My children are experienced schhol bus riders. on my son's first day on a school bus, i was a nervous wreck. iwas more worried than he was. i was afraid he wouldn't get on the right bus. i worried about rowdy behavior on the long bus ride home. Then i worried when the school bus stopped that he wouldn't know to get off. Now i wonder what i ever worried about. My children laugh at my horried school bus stories.@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
24 Aug 10
With my older kids we always had an orientation day before the school year actually started and I always asked how the bus drivers and teachers organized the students getting on and off the busses.. because I too was worried they wouldn't find their teacher or wouldn't get on the right bus. They always assured me the kids are well looked after.
The preschoolers get off the bus first, and they'll have tags so the teachers can find them and assemble them and walk them down to the classrooms.. then the kindergarteners are let off and have different colored tags and are assembled the same way. Then the rest of the kids get off the busses and find their own way to their class (but there are other teachers and admins there in case some students need help finding their way).
Then at the end of the day each child has a tag that says what bus they take and the teachers of the younger kids walk them all to their busses and make sure each child gets on the right bus.
