Bus Stop Question

[HelenePA]

What age/grade did you stop walking your kids to the bus stop? Just curious. I was NEVER walked to the bus stop when I went to school. I will walk my kids but what age is appropriate to stop walking them? Its less than a block away. No busy streets, we live on a dead end road.

 

[golfgal]

I never walked my kids to the bus stop. When they were in elementary school they walked to school with the other neighborhood kids (6 blocks) and when they started riding the bus they were in 6th and 9th grades.

 

[kirbsam]

walk them the first day of kindergarten. after that they are on their own.

 

[Breezy_Carol]

I went with my kids (now 20 and 23) all through elementary school. The stop is at the end of our road on a busy road with no shoulders. (We are in a rural area.) We also had had some trouble with strangers coming to bus stops and sitting in cars. I did let them walk home from the stop in the afternoon when they didn't have to stand by that road.

 

[Liberty Belle]

My husband walks our youngest (first grade) to the bus stop in the morning. We can see the bus stop from our house, but I guess he doesn't feel comfortable letting him walk by himself. I do not pick him up from the bus stop, but he walks to our house with some older boys who live across the street.

I'd bet next year my husband will probably just stand at the door and watch him go to the bus stop. If not next year, then definitely the next.

 

[RadioNate]

Either my DH or I stand at the front door and watch DS go to the bus stop. It is kitty-corner (catty-corner?) from our house.

He is in 3rd grade. I also go out and watch him cross the street when he comes home.

I know that it is slightly over protective but there are no other parents watching the stop so I feel like someone should be paying at least a little attention.

 

[KSchwagg86]

Yea, especially after hearing that this girl was abducted from the bus stop right in front of her stepdad, I say you can't be too safe!

 

[CJ's Mommy]

walk them the first day of kindergarten. after that they are on their own.

You are joking right? Kindergarten, really?

 

[MariDisney]

I walked to school and then took a public bus to HS and was never walked by my parents.

My DD is 9, going into 5th grade. Last year I let her walk alone (sometimes there would be some other kids), but I would be about a block away and look for her. After a few months, I stayed inside. One rule was she had to text me when the bus was a few blocks away and keep her phone in her pocket. So far, no worries.

 

[MariDisney]

walk them the first day of kindergarten. after that they are on their own.

Out of curiosity, how far are you from the stop?

 

[locolala]

Maybe 3rd grade? Our stop was about a quarter mile away. I got driven to the stop sometimes if the weather was bad while I was in elementary school, and then again when I broke my ankle in middle school, I was on my own to get home.

 

[HelenePA]

You are joking right? Kindergarten, really?

I was never walked I was 4 when I started K I was okay. Can I just say our school wants a parent at the bus stop to pick up the kids until after 2nd grade if a parent isn't there they wont let the kids off.. this must be a semi new rule because I went to the same school and like I said I was NEVER walked to the bus besides the first day of K. It was 1/2 block away. My kids bus stop is 1/2 block away too, Dh wants me to walk them there until they are in 6th grade.. if my tween can't walk a 1/2 block safely by then I'm in trouble!

 

[CJ's Mommy]

I was never walked I was 4 when I started K I was okay. Can I just say our school wants a parent at the bus stop to pick up the kids until after 2nd grade if a parent isn't there they wont let the kids off.. this must be a semi new rule because I went to the same school and like I said I was NEVER walked to the bus besides the first day of K. It was 1/2 block away. My kids bus stop is 1/2 block away too, Dh wants me to walk them there until they are in 6th grade.. if my tween can't walk a 1/2 block safely by then I'm in trouble!

I am not trying to call you old....lol, BUT things were different back then. My DS is starting kindergarten at the elementary school that I went to, this year. We are walkers, so I will be walking him. That being said, our district has a policy that all kindergarten children must have a parent/guardian waiting for them at the stop or they will not be released from the bus driver's care. I am in 100% total agreement with that policy, and in fact would rather it include 1st and 2nd grade like your district. Better safe than sorry IMO.

 

[HelenePA]

I'm only 3 yrs older than you but if DH thinks I'm walking them down til 6th grade he's crazy. I asked him when his mom stopped walking him.. I'm thinking it was around 6th grade because he wont answer me! then he wonders why he never had a gf who's mom walks them to the bus stop (which was across the STREET from his house!) til 6th grade?!?!

 

[IDoDis]

You are joking right? Kindergarten, really?

My DH had to walk himself to school on his very first day of 1st grade, never having attended kindergarten (either his school didn't have it or it was only 1/2 day and wasn't required. He didn't know what to do or where to go when he got there. He didn't know who his teacher was or where his classroom was. DH was raised by his grandma who was raised on a farm and didn't go to school, so she probably didn't know the protocol.

DH said when he saw the school library for the very first time, he was in total awe and couldn't believe that he could check out any books there he wanted (no one ever took him to a library prior to this). He went to a school where the families didn't value reading, but he loved books, so the librarian became his BFF. Kind of like the movie "Matilda."

 

[CJ's Mommy]

Hahahaha...you are NOT old!! You know what I mean, though? Things are just different now. I think we know more, and therefore people are more cautious. I just had this discussion with my DH, after seeing the story on the news about Jaycee lee Duggard. Like I said before, we are walkers and are about 2 1/2 blocks from the school (k-5) and I told DH that I will be picking DS up/walking him until he gets a bus in 6th grade!!! What do they call us these days, helicopter moms??? I don't care!!!! Maybe I'll feel different in a few years, who knows. But right now, I just see my sweet innocent little angel and can't imagine letting him walk to school alone!! Your DH and I are on the same page!

 

[C.Ann]

DGD (entering middle school this Sept.) still gets picked up and dropped off right in front of the house.. When the day comes that the bus stop changes, my Dson-in-law will probably want to switch her to home schooling..

When my kids were little, they got the bus at the top if the hill where we lived.. When the oldest was in 4th grade I stopped walking them and all 3 walked together..

 

[honugirl]

We didn't have buses to my elementary school when I was a kid so I either walked with my cousins, rode my bike/scooter, or got driven. It had to have been in the lower grades that I started going on my own, maybe around 3rd that I started heading up the pack. Before that, I probably walked with my older cousin. I don't remember. I lived about 8 blocks from school, most of it on a fairly busy road.

 

[disneymarie]

The best thing is to co-parent walk taking turns if there are a few near by,
The sad truth is, even in our arearual PA, there have been several attempts to grab of recent.

The predators just look for the kids walking alone and snatch. At least until they are 6th or 12, they are at risk.

I think every bus stop needs a parent at it.

I was a walker, the teen boys tormented me...the boys at the bus stop picked on me, especially on rainy days with worms on the pavement.
through 5th grade I took mine to the stop in front of our home.
di

 

[mjkacmom]

We don't have busses, but my kids start walking to school (5 minute walk with crossing guards) in first grade.